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Same As It Ever Was
- Author
- Claire Lombardo
- Narrator
- Emily Rankin
- Publisher
- Orion
- Publish Date
- 18 June 2024
- Run Time
- 18 hours 22 minutes
- Format
- Audiobook
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What to expect
'SUCH A PLEASURE' CLARE CHAMBERS
'WITTY AND INSIGHTFUL' BONNIE GARMUS
At fifty-seven, Julia Ames finds herself with an improbably lovely life. She has a husband she loves, two happy children and a contented existence in the suburbs.
She's unprepared, though, for what comes next: a surprise announcement from her straight-arrow son, a soon-to-be empty nest, and a seductive resurgence of the past - all of which threaten to derail Julia's hard-earned peace.
Wise, witty and deeply moving, this brilliantly observed domestic drama asks what it takes to make - and not to break - a family.
'A FAMILY SAGA TO SAVE AS A TREAT AND DEVOUR WHEN YOU SHOULD BE DOING SOMETHING ELSE' INDEPENDENT
'LOMBARDO IS THE NEW ANNE TYLER, WITH TEETH' ERICKA WALLER
'A BIG AMERICAN NOVEL TO GET TOTALLY LOST IN' CLAIRE POWELL
Critics Review
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Witty and insightful. A powerful exploration of marriage, motherhood, and self
Bonnie Garmus, author of LESSONS IN CHEMISTRY
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It was such a pleasure to bury myself in this book, a literary novel of family life which moved and surprised me. Claire Lombardo creates such interesting characters and predicaments and manipulates the revelations and emotional bombshells so expertly that you read on ravenously
Clare Chambers, author of SMALL PLEASURES
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This is such a wonderful book: unsentimental yet full of feeling, with such sharply-written, loving and generous characterisation. It has everything I adore in a novel. I finished it in floods of tears, and had to sit for a minute or two to pull myself together. It absolutely floored me. What a joy to let a writer of such talent suffuse us with a life's worth of humour and pain, affection and mess!
Jessie Burton, author of THE MINIATURIST
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You need to read this novel. I never wanted it to end. Claire Lombardo is the new Anne Tyler, with teeth
Erika Waller, author of DOG DAYS
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A big American novel to get totally lost in. Rich and compelling and funny and true
Claire Powell, author of AT THE TABLE
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Same As It Ever Was is one of those big, grown-up existential novels about parenthood and marriage and teenagers and friendship and family life . . . But there is also something new to it, something that is both easy reading and profound at the same time, specifically on feelings of failure and abandonment, all of it cleverly brushed with wit and humour. A strong recommend
Matt Haig, author of THE MIDNIGHT LIBRARY
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A gorgeous, strange domestic drama that flows between timelines as we approach the wedding of our protagonist Julia's adult son. We are treated to her complicated and revelatory inner life. I loved it
Observer
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Infidelity, dysfunction, secrets - this family novel delivers . . . A 500-page, multigenerational examination of the ties that bind . . . Lombardo refashions domestic drama into something rich and strange, with echoes of Lorrie Moore's sardonic humour and Jonathan Franzen's dissection of class . . . Like Franzen's Marion Hildebrandt, or Faye, the narrator of Rachel Cusk's Outline trilogy, Lombardo gives us a woman whose inner life is knotted and revelatory . . . Same as It Ever Was is a brave, nuanced book, lulling us with its rhythms but taking risks when we glance away
New York Times
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A family saga to save as a treat and devour when you should be doing something else, in which events past and present upset a long marriage
Independent
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Lombardo has such a fine eye for the weft and warp of a family's fabric. She understands the chemistry of that special epoxy of irritation and affection that keeps a marriage glued together. One finishes Same As It Ever Was with the satisfaction of knowing this complicated woman well - and the poignant disappointment of having to say goodbye
Washington Post
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Moving back and forth in time, Claire Lombardo's astute and often moving second novel charts the life of the breathtakingly self-sabotaging Julia Ames . . . Lombardo's psychological acuity and her compassion for her characters amply reward attention
Wall Street Journal
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Lombardo loves her characters, taking time to peel back each of their layers through the time-lapse structure of the novel and her rich descriptions. . . A sure bet for fans of Richard Russo and Jane Smiley
Booklist
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One of those beautifully written, keenly observed novels where not that much happens - other than, you know, life itself - but also so much happens . . . Claire Lombardo has written a whole cast of characters so detailed, so specifically themselves, that you almost feel you could reach out and touch them
NPR
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Pitch-perfect. . . 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
Publisher’s Weekly (Starred Review)
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Sparkling. . . Readers will be torn between their instinct to race to the finish and their desire to savour every page
Publisher’s Weekly Summer Reads
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An insightful, moving look at what it means to juggle motherhood and marriage while maintaining your sense of self
Good Housekeeping 50 Best Ever Beach Books
User Reviews
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Details
- Author
- Claire Lombardo
- Narrator
- Emily Rankin
- Duration
- 18 hours 22 minutes
- Release Date
- 18 June 2024
- ISBN
- 9781399608350
- Format
- Audiobook
- Publisher
- Orion
- Genre
- Family life fiction / Stories about family, Fiction: literary and general non-genre
Synopsis
'I FINISHED THIS WONDERFUL BOOK IN FLOODS OF TEARS' JESSIE BURTON'SUCH A PLEASURE' CLARE CHAMBERS'WITTY AND INSIGHTFUL' BONNIE GARMUSAt fifty-seven, Julia Ames finds herself with an improbably lovely life. She has a husband she loves, two happy children and a contented existence in the suburbs.She's unprepared, though, for what comes next: a surprise announcement from her straight-arrow son, a soon-to-be empty nest, and a seductive resurgence of the past - all of which threaten to derail Julia's hard-earned peace.Wise, witty and deeply moving, this brilliantly observed domestic drama asks what it takes to make - and not to break - a family.'A FAMILY SAGA TO SAVE AS A TREAT AND DEVOUR WHEN YOU SHOULD BE DOING SOMETHING ELSE' INDEPENDENT'LOMBARDO IS THE NEW ANNE TYLER, WITH TEETH' ERICKA WALLER'A BIG AMERICAN NOVEL TO GET TOTALLY LOST IN' CLAIRE POWELL
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