Same As It Ever Was by Claire Lombardo

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.

Published by Doubleday
on June 18, 2024

Review:

This was my first Claire Lombardo novel, and it did not disappoint! In this book, readers are taken on a poignant journey through the complexities of life, love, and family. Set against the backdrop of our protagonist’s mid-life crisis, this book delves deep into the struggles of navigating relationships while trying to move forward against the pull of the past.

Things have been going well for 57-year-old Julia Ames. She has a loving husband, a good, reliable son who is a professor at a nearby college, and an eighteen-year-old daughter who is as exasperating as she is amazing and about to go off to college. This is a stark contrast to the complicated life Julia led growing up with a single mother who was more critical than loving, leaving her feeling unworthy in many aspects of her life and causing her to make some questionable decisions early in her marriage – decisions she paid for and has left in her past. But then, one day, her past catches up to her while she is getting groceries, and right about the same time, her son drops a bombshell announcement on the family, leaving Julia to reflect on some of her life decisions.

The heart of the novel lies in its exploration of the connections we make in our lives. Lombardo skillfully unravels the intricacies of how relationships evolve, change, and sometimes come to an end. Her prose is sharp, insightful, and profoundly moving. The author has a knack for capturing the nuances of everyday life with a keen eye for detail and a sense of humor that infuses the story with warmth and authenticity. As Julia grapples with her past mistakes and tries to navigate the challenges of the present, readers are taken on a rollercoaster of emotions that had me reflecting long after I turned the last page.

I loved the structure of the novel. It bounces around in time, with each chapter focusing on a key moment in Julia’s life. We have the main timeline that takes place over the course of a few months, but then each alternating chapter takes us back in time to give us a look at what made Julia who she is and shows us how she got to where she is today. Even though it does jump around a lot, I never felt lost or confused, and honestly, the book would not have worked as well had it been structured differently.

One of the most compelling aspects of Lombardo’s writing is her ability to create rich, multi-dimensional characters that feel strikingly real. From Julia’s struggle to connect with her children to her complicated friendship with Helen – a woman from her past – each character is flawed, complex, and utterly captivating. I was absolutely in love with Julia’s character. She was far from perfect, but with each chapter, the author gives us a little more information about things that transpired throughout her life that made her who she is. Did she do things that were questionable? Absolutely, but these faults are what made her character so relatable and believable.

Overall, I found this to be a powerful and thought-provoking novel that asks important questions about the true nature of love, family, and the power of human connection. I loved this book and found it to be equal parts heartbreaking and uplifting. This is one that I’ll be thinking about for a while. Highly recommended.