The book starts in the 1970s when six teens (three girls and three boys) meet at a New England summer camp and become friends. The main character, Jules, is a shy girl with low self-esteem who is dealing with the recent death of her father. She begins to feel like this new group of friends provides something she thinks she is missing from life. She glamorizes their lives because they all live in Manhattan while she lives in a suburb of NYC. After camp is over and they all return to their respective homes, she takes the commuter train into the city to visit them often and idolize them. She starts thinking her suburban life isn't good enough and never really ever lets go of this desire to lead a more interesting life. One New Year's Eve, one of the boys gets into a situation where he is accused of raping one of the girls. This causes a split among them although the majority of them remain friends. Years go on and life goes on. Jules ends up in a regular marriage with a regular guy while two of the other friends from the group become a millionaire power couple. The majority of the book is Jules wishing her life were different or that life could always be like summer camp when she was happy. That was the sad and depressing part for me. If you keep wishing for a different life, you inevitably miss the one you're actually living.
Spanning from the 1970s to today we follow the trajectory of each of the six teens as they become young adults, spouses, parents, and older adults. They are in their mid-fifties by the end of the book. While I didn't mind reading the book, the characters were shallow and it really was just about life. People get jobs, they struggle with depression, they fight with their spouses, they lie, they reconcile, they move on from tragedy, they avoid sticky situations, they drink, they smoke, they are successful, they are mediocre, they are unsuccessful, they are frustrated, they quit jobs, they have kids, they defer dreams, they eat, they sleep, they worry, they stress, they desire, they love, they hate, they make good decisions, they make bad decisions, and it goes on and on. That's life. That's pretty much what goes on in this book. The author tries to make the alleged rape the turning point of the friendships but it only comes up sporadically as the book continues hurtling the characters through life. In the end, that's what I think the book is really about: the banality of life and the fact that we are all hurtling through it. These particular characters weren't developed well enough for me to really care how they got through life, though.
If you read books to escape reality, this won't work for you because I suspect that most people will recognize something of the banality of their own lives in this work. The plus is that the writing flows very well so even though it's 450+ pages, you can move through it smoothly. Also, it does have good closure at the end so you won't feel it was all for naught.
