Itzel’s 13th birthday party starts in just about the unluckiest way possible—with her dad having a heart attack. In those frantic moments, the piñata and the frosted sheetcake and the Styrofoam cups of orange soda are forgotten; the day’s highlights end up being CPR, an ambulance ride, and angioplasty. But when her father gets home from the hospital, his problems are far from over—and Itzel’s are just getting started.
Nothing’s Ever the Same chronicles a young girl’s coming of age in Chicago—growing up as her family grows apart. In masterful fashion, Cyn Vargas gives us a touching and memorable and universal story about a marriage on the brink and a teenager looking for love. It''s a short book that packs a wallop; it’s also a beautiful meditation on dysfunction and forgiveness, and all the times in life to which we can never return.
The
New Chicago Classics are a disparate set of titles united around a common theme: showcasing the city''s up-and-coming literary talents as they produce enduring works. These excellent titles are destined to stand in the first rank of literature about the second city.
Industry Reviews
"A charming debut coming-of-age novel."
- Booklist (Starred Review)
“Young and bright Itzel immediately endears herself to readers in this touching coming-of-age story. In the face of her father's betrayal and the deaths of loved ones, the protagonist reminds us of the ways disillusionment both sears and shapes our younger selves. Vargas depicts the heartaches and triumphs of adolescence with tenderness, honesty and humor.”
— Sahar Mustafah, author of The Beauty of Your Face, a New York Times 2020 Notable Book
“Nothing’s Ever The Same is a beautiful, bittersweet snapshot of a family in crisis told in the most believable voice I’ve read in years. The conversational tone is as straight forward and impactful as a kiss or a knife to the heart.”
— Rob Rufus, ALA Award-winning author of Die Young With Me
“In Nothing’s Ever the Same, Cyn Vargas offers a deeply human, empathetic, and masterfully observed chronicle of family, love, and those years at the cusp of adulthood filled with wild and vivid emotion. This compact book contains a mighty heart.”
— Jeff Zentner, award-winning author of In the Wild Light
"Nothing's Ever the Same is a work of restraint and understatement, its young narrator capable of stoic relating of events as well as emotional reaction. The effect is deeply moving."
— Shelf Awareness
“Zeroing in on the moments when a young person is confronted by their parents' flaws, Cyn Vargas shares a tale of acceptance and coming-of-age with supernatural levels of poignancy and poetry. You will fly through this story, as it courses through your veins.”
— Chris L. Terry, author of Black Card and Zero Fade, co-editor of Black Punk Now
“With a keen sense of observation and a sharp sense of humor, Cyn Vargas fully inhabits the voice of Itzel, the narrator of Nothing’s Ever the Same. A moving story of family and the ways we hurt and survive one another, Nothing’s Ever the Same is like Itzel herself: smart, funny, poignant, and real. With this heartfelt novella, Cyn Vargas reminds readers once again why she was named “A Writer to Watch” by Chicago’s Guild Literary Complex. Watch her; read her.”
— Patricia Ann McNair, author of Responsible
Adults
“A heartfelt and bittersweet tale, told with the sort of insight and eloquence we’ve come to expect from the fiction of Cyn Vargas. A master of the ‘child dealing with the problematic behavior of adults’ short story, this time Cyn gives us a novella-length tale with a teen-girl hero you can’t help but root for, the paradise of a childhood innocence lost, and something like the beginning of mature understanding gained. A most satisfying read, to be sure.”
— Eric Charles May, author of Bedrock Faith
