{"product_id":"same-as-it-ever-was-hc","title":"Same As It Ever Was HC","description":"\u003cdiv data-expanded=\"true\" class=\"a-expander-content a-expander-partial-collapse-content a-expander-content-expanded\"\u003e\n\u003cspan class=\"a-text-bold\"\u003eNATIONAL BESTSELLER • NAMED A BEST BOOK BY \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-bold a-text-italic\"\u003ePEOPLE \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-bold\"\u003eAND \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-bold a-text-italic\"\u003ePARADE • \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-bold\"\u003eThe \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-bold a-text-italic\"\u003eNew York Times \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-bold\"\u003ebestselling author of \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-bold a-text-italic\"\u003eThe Most Fun We Ever Had\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-bold\"\u003e (“wonderfully immersive…deliciously absorbing”—NPR) returns with another brilliantly observed family drama in which the enduring, hard-won affection of a long marriage faces imminent derailment from events both past and present.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“Infidelity, dysfunction, secrets – this family novel delivers.\"—\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-bold a-text-italic\"\u003eThe New York Times\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-bold\"\u003e • \"Lombardo has such a fine eye for the weft and warp of a family’s fabric.\" —\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-bold a-text-italic\"\u003eThe Washington Post\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-bold\"\u003e • “Witty and insightful...a powerful exploration of marriage, motherhood, and self.”–Bonnie Garmus, bestselling author of \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-bold a-text-italic\"\u003eLessons in Chemistry\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-italic\"\u003eSame As It Ever Was\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e showcases the consummate style, signature wit, and profound emotional intelligence that made \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-italic\"\u003eThe Most Fun We Ever Had\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e 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” (\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-italic\"\u003eThe Guardian\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e) and hailed as “ambitious and brilliantly written” (\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-italic\"\u003eWashington Post\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e). 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.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eJulia 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.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eShe’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.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-italic\"\u003eSame As It Ever Was \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003etraverses 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.\u003c\/span\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Friends of the Mill Valley Library","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51770203996391,"sku":null,"price":4.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0730\/3397\/3991\/files\/51RUeV5nlcL.webp?v=1770338133","url":"https:\/\/friendsmvl.org\/products\/same-as-it-ever-was-hc","provider":"Friends of the Mill Valley Library","version":"1.0","type":"link"}