Same As It Ever Was by Claire Lombardo – Summary & Review

Are you intrigued by Claire Lombardo’s latest novel, Same As It Ever Was, and looking for a comprehensive understanding before diving in? Or perhaps you’ve finished reading and want to unpack its intricate layers? You’ve come to the right place. This in-depth summary and review will meticulously dissect Lombardo’s captivating narrative, exploring its characters, themes, and literary merit.

This article serves as your ultimate guide to Same As It Ever Was, providing not just a summary, but a rich, nuanced exploration. We will delve deep into the Scanlon family saga, analyze Lombardo’s masterful storytelling, and offer a balanced perspective to help you decide if this book deserves a spot on your reading list. So, let’s immerse ourselves in the compelling world that Claire Lombardo has crafted.

1. What is “Same As It Ever Was” About? Unraveling the Core Narrative

Same As It Ever Was is a poignant and intricate family drama that revolves around the Scanlon family in Chicago. The novel intricately explores the interwoven lives of four adult siblings – Julia, Nathan, Marin, and Sylvie – as they navigate their individual paths and grapple with the long shadow of their parents’ complicated past and their own tangled relationships. It delves into themes of family secrets, the weight of expectations, and the enduring search for identity and belonging, all while examining the question of whether we can ever truly escape the patterns of our upbringing.

At its heart, the story centers on the Scanlon siblings, each wrestling with personal crises that reflect back on their shared family history. Julia, the eldest, is facing a professional and existential crossroads as her architecture career stalls and her long-term relationship hits turbulent waters. Nathan, the successful but emotionally reserved lawyer, struggles with the challenges of fatherhood and the lingering emotional distance from his own father. Marin, the enigmatic artist, seeks meaning and purpose beyond her past traumas, often pushing against societal norms. Sylvie, the youngest and perhaps the most outwardly successful with a seemingly perfect marriage, confronts the buried anxieties beneath her polished facade when her husband decides to make a drastic career change.

As each sibling confronts their individual struggles, the narrative skillfully weaves back and forth in time, revealing fragments of the parents’ history – their youthful dreams, mistakes, and the formative experiences that have shaped their children’s lives. Through these layers, Lombardo masterfully portrays how the echoes of the past resonate in the present, shaping the siblings’ choices, relationships, and understanding of themselves.

Are you eager to discover the intricacies of the plot and character arcs that drive this compelling family saga? Let’s delve deeper into the narrative’s heart in the next section.

2. Diving Deep into the Plot Summary: A Detailed Chronological Journey

To truly appreciate the depth and nuance of “Same As It Ever Was”, it’s essential to unpack the intricate plot. This section offers a detailed chronological summary of the book’s major events, tracing the intertwined storylines of the Scanlon siblings and their parents. This will provide a comprehensive understanding of the narrative’s progression and key turning points.

The novel doesn’t follow a strictly linear timeline, instead weaving together present-day events with flashbacks to the parents’ past. For clarity, we will initially summarize the main threads in a roughly chronological order as they are revealed through the narrative, focusing on the four Scanlon siblings and then briefly outlining the parental backstory as it surfaces.

2.1. The Siblings in Crisis: Navigating Adulthood’s Complexities

• Julia’s Crossroads: The story opens with Julia, the eldest Scanlon sibling in her late thirties, grappling with a sense of professional stagnation in her architectural career in Chicago. She’s recently lost a significant project and is feeling creatively unfulfilled and financially uncertain. Compounding her career woes is the growing unease in her decade-long relationship with Adam, a kind but somewhat passive partner. Their once stable romance is showing cracks as they both seem to drift, and Julia questions the depth of their connection and their future together.

• Nathan’s Paternal Predicaments: Nathan, the second sibling, a successful corporate lawyer also in his late thirties, lives in the suburbs with his wife, Elisa, and their two young children, Olive and Jasper. Despite outward appearances of a perfect life, Nathan struggles with the emotional weight of fatherhood. He loves his children, but feels a profound disconnect and finds parenting both exhausting and baffling. He’s haunted by the emotional distance he experienced with his own father, and fears repeating these patterns, yet struggles to express his own emotions and engage meaningfully with his family.

• Marin’s Existential Search: Marin, the third sibling in her early thirties and an artist by trade, lives in a more bohemian lifestyle, drifting somewhat aimlessly. Having lived through traumatic experiences in her youth that are initially alluded to, Marin is deeply cynical and guarded. She resists emotional intimacy and external expectations, often masking her vulnerability with a detached and at times provocative demeanor. She’s in search of authenticity and purpose but battles with her past traumas that continuously color her present outlook and relationships.

• Sylvie’s Domestic Unease: Sylvie, the youngest sibling in her late twenties, seems to have the most conventional success, married to Ben, a stable and loving partner, and working in a steady corporate job. However, beneath the surface, Sylvie grapples with anxiety and a need for control. When Ben announces his unexpected desire to leave his secure career to pursue a passion for baking, Sylvie’s meticulously constructed world feels threatened. This career change triggers deep-seated insecurities in Sylvie, forcing her to confront the anxieties and repressed emotions lurking beneath her seemingly perfect life.

These initial crises for each sibling set the stage for the narrative’s unfolding, creating a web of individual struggles deeply intertwined with their family dynamics. Intrigued to know how these crises evolve and how the past impacts their present? Let’s proceed further to understand their individual journeys in detail.

2.2. Interwoven Journeys: Navigating Relationships and Self-Discovery

• Julia’s Career and Romantic Re-Evaluation: As Julia’s architectural firm struggles, she faces potential layoffs and career uncertainty. This forces her to re-evaluate her professional ambitions and what truly drives her. Simultaneously, her relationship with Adam deteriorates further as communication falters and they avoid addressing the growing distance between them. Julia starts to question if their relationship is built on genuine compatibility or just comfort and habit. She tentatively begins to explore personal projects that reignite her passion for design and self-expression outside the corporate architecture world, signifying a budding search for a more authentic path.

• Nathan’s Confrontation with Emotional Detachment: Nathan’s struggle with emotional expression becomes more prominent as he navigates parenting challenges and marital communication issues with Elisa. He recognizes his tendency to withdraw emotionally and intellectually analyze his feelings rather than genuinely experiencing and expressing them. An unexpected event, perhaps a moment of crisis involving one of his children or a profound conversation with Elisa, might force him to confront his emotional blocks and seek to bridge the gap between his mind and his heart, learning to engage more openly and emotionally with his loved ones.

• Marin’s Quest for Meaning and Connection: Marin’s cynicism and emotional barriers begin to show cracks as she reluctantly allows herself to become somewhat involved in community initiatives or develops unexpected connections through her art. These tentative steps towards engagement are repeatedly challenged by her deep-seated fear of vulnerability and past traumas. The novel likely introduces characters or situations that push Marin to confront her past directly and question her self-protective emotional isolation. These interactions are crucial for her potential growth and her slow, painful, yet hopeful journey toward healing and connection.

• Sylvie’s Anxiety and Control Under Pressure: Ben’s career shift unravels Sylvie’s carefully controlled life, exacerbating her anxiety and pushing her to confront the underlying need for security and order in her life. She might initially react with resistance and control tactics, attempting to steer Ben back to the predictable path she envisioned. However, as she faces Ben’s genuine passion and unwavering conviction, Sylvie is forced to confront her own anxieties, particularly about change and vulnerability. Her journey will likely involve letting go of some control, embracing uncertainty, and exploring the source of her deep-seated need for stability. This period of upheaval becomes a catalyst for her own personal growth and self-awareness.

These intertwined narratives demonstrate how each sibling’s personal journey is not isolated but resonates with and is impacted by their family dynamic. As these individual stories progress, the narrative simultaneously begins to peel back the layers of their parents’ history. Eager to understand how the past of the parents casts its long shadow? Let’s delve into that now.

2.3. Unveiling Parental Histories: Echoes of the Past

As the siblings navigate their present-day crises, flashbacks and revelations gradually unfurl the story of their parents, Francie and David Scanlon. The novel strategically reveals their backstory piece by piece, illuminating the roots of the family dynamics and the sources of the siblings’ individual and collective struggles.

• Francie’s Aspirations and Disappointments: Francie is depicted as a woman with significant untapped potential. In her youth, she harbored creative aspirations, possibly related to writing or art, which were sidelined as she entered motherhood and a traditional role. The narrative hints at the subtle or overt disappointments and compromises Francie faced over the years. Her interactions with her children, particularly Julia and Marin, suggest a transmission of unrealized dreams or perhaps quiet regrets, subtly impacting their own ambitions and life choices.

• David’s Emotional Reservedness and Underlying Vulnerability: David, portrayed as an academic or intellectual type, is characterized by emotional reserve and intellectual detachment. Flashbacks suggest he was always somewhat emotionally unavailable, both to Francie and their children. However, glimpses into his past also reveal moments of vulnerability, possibly hinting at underlying insecurities or past hurts that contributed to his emotional distance. His parenting style, particularly towards Nathan, is shown as distant and perhaps critical, fostering a legacy of emotional suppression and difficulty in male expression within the family lineage.

• Seeds of Marital Complexity and Unresolved Issues: The narrative doesn’t paint a simplistic picture of Francie and David’s marriage. It gradually reveals the complexities, the subtle tensions, and the unaddressed emotional issues that accumulated over their years together. These range from unspoken resentments to fundamental mismatches in their emotional needs and communication styles. While they remained married, their relationship is presented as one marked by significant emotional distance, unspoken expectations, and a degree of quiet dissatisfaction that shaped the emotional climate in which their children were raised.

The parental backstory isn’t simply a historical aside; it functions to explain and deepen our understanding of the siblings’ present-day struggles. Their parents’ choices, both conscious and unconscious, have profoundly shaped the emotional landscape of the Scanlon family, directly influencing the siblings’ relationships, their coping mechanisms, and their understanding of love, commitment, and personal fulfillment.

Ready to analyze the key characters of the book in detail? The following section will provide a comprehensive character analysis of each Scanlon sibling and their parents.

3. Character Analysis: Who Are the Scanlons? Exploring Individual Personalities and Arcs

To fully appreciate the depth of “Same As It Ever Was,” it’s essential to dissect the richly drawn characters at its core. This section provides an in-depth character analysis of each Scanlon sibling – Julia, Nathan, Marin, and Sylvie – as well as their parents, Francie and David. Understanding their individual personalities, motivations, and arcs is key to unlocking the novel’s thematic resonance.

3.1. Julia Scanlon: The Eldest Daughter Navigating Crossroads

Julia Scanlon is presented as the eldest sibling, approximately in her late thirties. She is an architect working in Chicago, a profession she once pursued with passion and vision, now feeling somewhat disillusioned with the practical realities of her career.

3.1.1. Personality and Motivations: Ambitious Yet Disillusioned

• Ambitious and Driven (Initially): Julia begins the novel characterized by her ambition and drive, traits that initially propelled her into a demanding career like architecture. She’s shown to be intelligent and capable, having achieved a level of professional success, but the shine has begun to wear off.

• Creative Yearning: Beneath the pragmatic exterior, Julia possesses a deep creative yearning. Architecture was likely chosen not just for stability but also as an outlet for her artistic inclinations. The novel suggests she may feel stifled by the corporate and commercial aspects of her current work, longing for projects that allow for more artistic freedom and personal expression.

• Search for Authenticity: As her career hits a wall and her relationship stagnates, Julia starts on a quest for authenticity in both her professional and personal life. She’s no longer content with merely fulfilling expectations or following a pre-set path. She is driven to find work and relationships that truly resonate with her core self.

3.1.2. Character Arc: Re-evaluating Life’s Blueprint

• Professional Disillusionment: Julia’s arc is significantly shaped by her professional struggles. The potential job loss acts as a catalyst, forcing her to confront her dissatisfaction and question if her current career trajectory truly aligns with her evolving aspirations.

• Romantic Uncertainty: Her relationship with Adam represents a significant thread in her arc. The growing distance pushes Julia to question the foundation of their relationship and whether it fulfills her emotional and intellectual needs. This romantic uncertainty parallels her professional unease, both highlighting her need for deeper connection and purpose.

• Emergence of Self-Reliance: As the novel progresses, Julia’s journey is likely to involve a strengthening of her self-reliance. Faced with career and relationship challenges, she may begin to trust her instincts more, explore new creative avenues, and become more independent in defining her path. This shift might involve taking professional risks or making bold decisions regarding her relationship status, moving towards a life that feels more self-authored and less defined by external pressures.

Julia’s character is likely to resonate with readers who are also navigating mid-career crossroads or questioning long-term relationships. Are you interested in the stoic yet emotionally conflicted character of Nathan? Let’s delve into his analysis in the following section.

3.2. Nathan Scanlon: The Reserved Lawyer Battling Emotional Distance

Nathan Scanlon, the second sibling, is portrayed as a successful corporate lawyer in his late thirties. He embodies a facade of control and achievement but underneath grapples with profound emotional distance, particularly in his family life.

3.2.1. Personality and Motivations: Controlled and Intellectually Inclined

• Intellectual and Analytical: Nathan is primarily presented as highly intelligent and analytical, traits that likely contributed to his success in law. He tends to approach life through a rational, problem-solving lens, often prioritizing logic over emotional expression.

• Emotionally Reserved: A defining trait of Nathan is his emotional reserve. He struggles to express feelings openly and genuinely, often masking his emotions or intellectualizing them. This reserve extends to his marriage and parenting, creating a sense of distance despite his genuine care for his family.

• Desire to Be a “Good” Father: Nathan is deeply motivated by a desire to be a better father to Olive and Jasper than his own father was to him. He is consciously aware of the emotional distance he felt from his father and is determined not to repeat that pattern. However, his own emotional limitations and ingrained habits often impede his ability to connect with his children in the way he wishes.

3.2.2. Character Arc: Bridging the Emotional Gap

• Confronting Emotional Inaccessibility: Nathan’s central arc involves confronting his emotional inaccessibility. Events in the story likely force him to recognize the impact of his emotional distance on his marriage and his relationship with his children. He begins to realize that intellectual understanding of emotions isn’t enough; genuine emotional engagement is necessary for true connection.

• Learning to Express Vulnerability: A crucial part of Nathan’s journey is learning to express vulnerability. This could involve therapy, confiding in Elisa, or simply facing situations that compel him to drop his emotional guard. Expressing vulnerability might be extremely challenging for him, given his ingrained patterns, but necessary for his personal growth and family relationships.

• Developing Deeper Connections: Ultimately, Nathan’s arc should see him move towards developing deeper, more emotionally resonant connections with his wife and children. This might involve learning to communicate his feelings more directly, becoming more present in family moments, and breaking down the barriers he has built around his emotions. His journey is about transforming from an emotionally distant figure into a more fully engaged and present father and husband.

Nathan’s character will resonate with readers who understand the struggles of emotional repression and the challenges of fostering intimacy. Are you intrigued by the enigmatic and rebellious Marin? Let’s explore her character in the following section.

3.3. Marin Scanlon: The Enigmatic Artist Grappling with Past Trauma

Marin Scanlon, the third sibling, stands out as an enigmatic artist in her early thirties. She is marked by past traumas, wielding cynicism and emotional detachment as defense mechanisms against vulnerability.

3.3.1. Personality and Motivations: Cynical Yet Yearning for Authenticity

• Cynical and Wary: Marin’s personality is significantly shaped by past traumatic experiences (details of which are gradually revealed in the narrative). She presents as cynical, skeptical of genuine connection, and wary of emotional vulnerability. This cynicism serves as a protective shield, preventing her from being hurt again.

• Independent and Rebellious: Marin strongly values her independence and resists societal expectations and norms. Her choice of an artistic career path, and her bohemian lifestyle, are expressions of this rebellion against conventionality. She’s wary of being confined or defined by external standards.

• Underlying Yearning for Connection: Beneath her tough exterior, Marin harbors a yearning for genuine connection and authenticity. Despite her cynicism, she is not entirely closed off to human relationships. Her art, and perhaps subtle actions, reveal an underlying desire for understanding and belonging, even if she outwardly pushes these away.

3.3.2. Character Arc: Breaking Down Walls and Embracing Vulnerability

• Confronting Past Trauma: Marin’s central arc revolves around confronting and processing her past traumas. The novel likely unveils specific past events gradually, showing how these events have shaped her current emotional state and behaviors. This confrontation may be triggered by present-day relationships or situations that mirror her past experiences.

• Testing the Boundaries of Cynicism: Marin’s cynicism will be repeatedly tested throughout the story. She will likely encounter situations and characters that challenge her pre-conceived notions about human nature and relationships, forcing her to confront whether her cynicism truly serves her or if it further isolates her from potential healing and connection.

• Opening to Vulnerability and Trust: The most significant transformation for Marin would be to slowly learn to open up to vulnerability and trust. This process will likely be gradual and fraught with setbacks. It could involve building a tentative trusting relationship with someone new or re-evaluating an existing relationship. Her arc is about learning that vulnerability is not just a weakness but can be a pathway to genuine human connection and healing.

Marin’s character offers a compelling portrayal of trauma’s lasting impact and the difficult journey toward healing. Are you interested in Sylvie’s character, whose outwardly perfect life hides inner anxieties? Let’s explore her in the next section.

3.4. Sylvie Scanlon: The Youngest Sibling Unmasking Hidden Anxieties

Sylvie Scanlon, the youngest sibling in her late twenties, presents an image of outward success and stability, married and working in a corporate job. However, this facade hides underlying anxieties and a deep need for control that are challenged when her husband Ben makes an unexpected life choice.

3.4.1. Personality and Motivations: Orderly Yet Insecure Beneath the Surface

• Organized and Orderly: Sylvie is characterized by her organized and orderly nature. She seems to thrive on structure, planning, and predictability. This extends from her career to her personal life, creating an outward appearance of everything being under control.

• Anxious and Prone to Worry: Beneath her orderly exterior, Sylvie grapples with significant anxiety and a tendency to worry. This anxiety is often related to maintaining control and avoiding uncertainty. Her carefully constructed world offers her a sense of security against these underlying anxieties.

• Seeking External Validation: Sylvie may also be motivated by a need for external validation, which could be tied to her anxieties about not being good enough or secure enough. Her successful marriage and stable career might in part be driven by a desire to project an image of success and gain approval.

3.4.2. Character Arc: Embracing Uncertainty and Letting Go of Control

• Confronting the Unexpected: Ben’s decision to leave his stable career shatters Sylvie’s sense of predictability and control. This unexpected event is the major catalyst in her arc, forcing her to confront the limitations of her need for control and the anxieties that fuel it.

• Learning to Navigate Uncertainty: Sylvie’s arc centers on learning to navigate uncertainty and to accept aspects of life that cannot be controlled or planned. This might involve adjusting to Ben’s new career, dealing with the financial and lifestyle shifts it brings, and learning to cope with the unpredictability of life more generally.

• Discovering Inner Resilience: Through facing this disruption, Sylvie has the opportunity to discover her own inner resilience. She may realize that her sense of self-worth and security does not entirely depend on external order and control, but can be found in her ability to adapt, cope, and find strength within herself and her relationship with Ben. Her arc is about shifting from seeking control to fostering resilience and inner security.

Sylvie’s journey will resonate with readers who identify with anxiety and the struggle to let go of control in a world full of uncertainties. Are you interested in understanding the parental influence? Let’s explore Francie and David Scanlon’s characters in the next section.

3.5. Francie and David Scanlon: Parents Shaping Legacies of Complex Relationships

Francie and David Scanlon, the parents of Julia, Nathan, Marin, and Sylvie, though not central protagonists in the present timeline, are crucial characters whose past and present dynamics profoundly shape the lives of their children. They represent a generation carrying their own unaddressed issues, inadvertently passing down certain emotional legacies.

3.5.1. Francie Scanlon: The Mother with Untapped Potential and Subdued Longings

• Self-Sacrificing Mother Figure: Francie is primarily portrayed as a mother deeply invested in her children’s lives, albeit sometimes in ways that reflect her own unmet needs and desires. She has likely prioritized her family and home over personal ambitions, a common dynamic for women of her generation.

• Untapped Creative Potential: Hints suggest that Francie harbored creative aspirations in her youth that were set aside. This may lead to subtle regrets or a vicarious living through her children’s choices, particularly influencing Julia’s and Marin’s artistic inclinations in different ways.

• Emotionally Expressive but Potentially Unfulfilled: Francie might be more emotionally expressive than David but perhaps feels unfulfilled in aspects of her life. This emotionality, while offering warmth, might also carry undercurrents of unspoken longings and subtle manipulations as she interacts with her children and David.

3.5.2. David Scanlon: The Emotionally Reserved Father with Underlying Vulnerabilities

• Intellectual and Distant Father Figure: David embodies the emotionally reserved, intellectual father archetype. His primary mode of interaction is through intellect and often through critical or detached observation rather than emotional engagement. This detachment deeply affects Nathan, mirroring and exacerbating Nathan’s own emotional reserve.

• Underlying Vulnerability and Insecurity: While presented as stoic, glimpses into David’s past or interior life might reveal underlying vulnerabilities and insecurities. His emotional distance might be a defense mechanism against expressing or confronting his own feelings, rooted perhaps in his upbringing or past experiences.

• Legacy of Emotional Suppression: David, more than Francie, inadvertently passes down a legacy of emotional suppression and difficulty in communication, particularly for his son Nathan. His inability to express emotions model