Kate and Tully aren't fast friends, but they are friends forever, despite some serious bad behavior on Tully's part. But Tully is cool and charismatic, hard to let go from your life.
Firefly Lane follows the two women's friendship from when they meet as angry teens, through the angry teenhood of a daughter. Though they remain close, their lives diverge when driven Tully's career begins to take off, and when family focused, anxious Kate gets her man.
Tully's relationships (this one with her hairdresser) are like
Time spent together created an intimacy that didn't quite spill over into friendship. A very New York type of relationship. [Is that true of NYC relationships? I'm not sure.]
There were times when I felt like the book had an antifeminist message because the career gal is portrayed as empty, half a woman, and the family lady's life seems far more fulfilled. Then again, maybe she's easily satisfied, like this description of her relationship with her father.
He'd heard what he wanted to hear, not what she'd said. Her mom had said it was because he worked so many hours at the plant.
Kate could have been more upset by his distraction, but somehow it had made her love him even more.
FL seems to be about friendship, but really it's about mothers. Tully has a shitty one, and Kate's is great. Kate's mothering is in question, and then a Bad Thing happens, that happened to Hannah's own mother.
The novel is too long, and while it is genuinely moving at the end, the progression feels false, a little deus ex machina.