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EVENT OVERVIEW: Claire Lombardo will be in conversation with Rainy Day Books bookseller, Chantel McCray, presenting her new novel, Same As It Ever Was on Tuesday, July 7, 2024 at 7:00 PM at the Fairway City Hall (just down the parking lot from Rainy Day Books). DOORS WILL OPEN AT 6:15PM - there will be drinks served to those that attend.ABOUT THE BOOK: Same As It Ever Was
The New York Times bestselling author of The Most Fun We Ever Had(“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.
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 novelests of her generation.
REVIEWS:
“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)
“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
“Sparkling. . . Readers will be torn between their instinct to race to the finish and their desire to savor every page.”
–Publisher’s Weekly Summer Reads
“Witty and insightful…a powerful exploration of marriage, motherhood, and self.”
–Bonnie Garmus, bestselling author of Lessons in Chemistry
ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Claire Lombardo's debut novel, The Most Fun We Ever Had, was an instant New York Times bestseller and has been translated or is forthcoming in over a dozen languages. Her second novel, Same As It Ever Was, is forthcoming in June 2024 from Doubleday Books.
Claire is a graduate of the University of Illinois-Chicago and the Iowa Writers' Workshop. Her short fiction has appeared in, among others, Playboy, Barrelhouse Magazine, Little Fiction, and Longform. Her story, "I Only Want to Talk About the Nice Things," was one of 2016's Best of the Net, and was #1 on Longform's 2015 fiction list.
Prior to publishing The Most Fun We Ever Had, Claire spent several years working with homeless children and families in Chicago. She has taught fiction writing at the Iowa Writers' Workshop and Grinnell College and currently works part-time as a bookseller at Prairie Lights Books. A native of Oak Park, Illinois, she now lives in Iowa City, Iowa, with her dog, Renee.
EVENT DATE & TIME: Tuesday, July 7, 2024, at 7:00 PM (Doors open at 6:15pm)
EVENT LOCATION: Fairway City Hall, 5240 Belinder Ave, Fairway, KS 66205
ADMISSION PACKAGE: $34.00 (plus Eventbrite Ticket Fee) includes 1 copy of Same As It Ever Was, 1 Admission Reservation, and 1 Guest Admission Reservation. General Admission Seating, includes drinks from Front Range Cafe and Provisions.
EVENT FORMAT: Claire Lombardo will be in discussion with Rainy Day Books bookseller Chantel McCray, for her new book Same As It Ever Was. The discussion will last approximately 30 min with questions from the audience, meet and greet, and book signing to follow.
DISCLAIMER: All author event sales are final and non-refundable. Eventbrite ticket fees are non-refundable.
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Event Venue & Nearby Stays
Fairway City Hall, 5240 Belinder Rd,Westwood,KS,United States, Roeland Park
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