1 of 1 copy available
“Infidelity, dysfunction, secrets – this family novel delivers."—The New York Times • "Lombardo has such a fine eye for the weft and warp of a family’s fabric." —The Washington Post • “Witty and insightful...a powerful exploration of marriage, motherhood, and self.”–Bonnie Garmus, bestselling author of Lessons in Chemistry
Same As It Ever Was showcases the consummate style, signature wit, and profound emotional intelligence that made The Most Fun We Ever Had one of the most beloved novels of the past decade. Featuring a memorably messy family and the multifaceted marriage at its heart, Lombardo’s debut was dubbed “the literary love child of Jonathan Franzen and Anne Tyler” (The Guardian) and hailed as “ambitious and brilliantly written” (Washington Post). In this remarkable follow-up—another elegant and tumultuous story in the tradition of Elizabeth Strout, Ann Patchett, and Celeste Ng—Lombardo introduces us to an unforgettable cast of characters, this time by way of her singularly complicated protagonist.
Julia Ames, after a youth marked by upheaval and emotional turbulence, has found herself on the placid plateau of mid-life. But Julia has never navigated the world with the equanimity of her current privileged class. Having nearly derailed herself several times, making desperate bids for the kind of connection that always felt inaccessible to her, she finally feels, at age fifty seven, that she has a firm handle on things.
She’s unprepared, though, for what comes next: a surprise announcement from her straight-arrow son, an impending separation from her spikey teenaged daughter, and a seductive resurgence of the past, all of which threaten to draw her back into the patterns that had previously kept her on a razor’s edge.
Same As It Ever Was traverses the rocky terrain of real life, —exploring new avenues of maternal ambivalence, intergenerational friendship, and the happenstantial cause-and-effect that governs us all. Delving even deeper into the nature of relationships—how they grow, change, and sometimes end—Lombardo proves herself a true and definitive cartographer of the human heart and asserts herself among the finest novelists of her generation.
-
Creators
-
Publisher
-
Release date
June 18, 2024 -
Formats
-
OverDrive Listen audiobook
- ISBN: 9780593865538
- File size: 528856 KB
- Duration: 18:21:46
-
-
Languages
- English
-
Reviews
-
Starred review from April 1, 2024
Lombardo (The Most Fun We Ever Had) returns with the pitch-perfect tale of a complicated friendship and the fallout from an extramarital affair. Julia Ames, 57, is a married mother of two living in a Chicago suburb. While grocery shopping for her husband’s 60th birthday dinner, she encounters an older woman named Helen Russo, one of the “small handful of people whom she has truly hoped to never encounter again.” Julia first met Helen 20 years earlier in the botanic garden where she used to take her first child, Ben, when he was three. Back then, in her “pre-Helen energy,” Julia was a “hollow-eyed, socially inept young mom” who cried easily. Helen, a wealthy retired attorney and mother of five, took Julia and Ben under her wing, welcoming them into her charmingly messy “Capital-H Home,” where people were cheerfully discerning about wine and casually referenced their distinguished forebears. Julia, who came from modest means and was estranged from her mother, was enchanted. Lombardo effortlessly flits from Julia’s present-day party preparations and other family occasions—Ben’s wedding, her daughter’s departure for college—to flashbacks of the women’s burgeoning friendship, slowly building to the reason for its dissolution two years after it began: Julia’s affair with Helen’s 29-year-old son, Nathaniel, who had the “biceps of a Renaissance sculpture.” Lombardo is compulsively readable and consistently funny, and it’s impossible to look away as Julia continues to self-sabotage. This domestic drama hits all the right notes. Agent: Ellen Levine, Trident Media Group. -
Hearing the dry, intense voice of narrator Emily Rankin as she portrays Julia Ames is like being a psychoanalyst who is listening to a particularly troubled patient. Julia grapples with her identity as a daughter, wife, mother, friend, and, briefly, an adulteress. She is insecure, emotionally vulnerable, witty, pessimistic, and totally self-absorbed. Rankin presents all aspects of Julia's personality: her moods, her longings, her hatreds, and her sardonic sense of humor. This immersive family drama moves back and forth in time. There are solid depictions of the many people who impact Julia's life. Anita, Julia's cold, struggling single mother, is especially well drawn. Listeners won't like her, but they will come to understand her. This detailed portrait of a woman is lengthy and absorbing. D.L.G. © AudioFile 2024, Portland, Maine -
December 6, 2024
Lombardo's (The Most Fun We Ever Had) sophomore novel opens as Julia encounters her estranged friend Helen at the grocery store, and this event reveals a complicated past that bears heavily on the present. Julia's father disappeared when she was young, leaving Julia and her embittered mother alone. Julia's mother drank too much and refused to answer Julia's questions. As an adult, Julia married smart, funny Mark. After the birth of her first child, Ben, Julia was overwhelmed--an insecure stay-at-home mom with no connections. Then she met successful, confident Helen, who took Julia under her wing, though Julia's self-destructive choices would later destroy their relationship. In the present day, a 57-year-old Julia is still confused about love and loyalty. With Ben preparing to marry, and Julia's youngest daughter heading off to college, Julia reckons with her past and her looming future. Narrator Emily Rankin brings Julia's character to life, gently taking listeners through the numerous flashbacks and sensitively conveying the reasons for Julia's emotional struggles. VERDICT The audio is long, but many listeners will find resonance in this layered consideration of motherhood, marriage, and human frailty.--Joanna M. Burkhardt
Copyright 2024 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.
-