Frenemies

Can all female friendships be classified as frenemies?

Recently, I reviewed Lucinda Rosenfeld's "I'm So Happy for You," a novel that's the antithesis to popular culture's traditionally rosy portrait of sisterhood.

The book portrays female friendships in a bleaker tone, focusing on the underlying jealousy that almost always accompanies pleasantries between women.

I was a little bit put off by portrayals of friendship in "Sex and the City" and "The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants."

For many women, myself included, those fictional characters illustrated an unrealistic kind of female friendship: the variety that transcends differences in salary, marital status and career success.

It's great to have a shoulder to cry on.

But sometimes you hit a point in your life when, regardless of the support it provides, that friendly shoulder can just as easily be classified as That Friend Who's Always Hitting on My Boyfriend.

Or That Friend Who Starts Every Other Sentence With, "Don't take this the wrong way, but..."

Friendship isn't easy, nor is it always as accurate as the friendly reassurances it provides.

Thoughts?