Despite their wealth, there is a plethora of more relatable issues: accidental pregnancies, eating disorders, cheating, stagnant communication the list could go on. Thats even more interesting! At times, it feels as though there are too many details, too many implausible things that go wrong, tied up with all-too-convenient deus ex machinas. Subscribe to our email newsletter. Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in: You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. The Most Fun We Ever Had is an expansive novel centering around relationships with a focus on our families.Written by Claire Lombardo, a Chicago native and Iowa Writers' Workshop graduate, her debut novel based in her home state captivates with precise prose and well-developed, realistically flawed characters. Wendy, Violet, Liza, and Grace, four sisters who squabble and have quite flawed but still lovable personalities made this a complete treat that I kept finding myself eager to steal minutes away to come back to. share. The "shining unfathomable orb of their parents, two people who emanated more love than it seemed like the universe would sanction," sets a powerful but daunting example for the couple's children. Though it doesnt seem like much fun theyre considerate and selfish in equal measure, they do things for one another without mentioning it and then stab one another in the back its theirs. The work begins with Marilyn Sorensons perspective as she reflects on her four daughters, Wendy, Violet, Liza, and Grace. But this book? Trust me. The class calibrations are divine even as the utter apolitical whiteness of the Sorenson world becomes hard to fathom. And honestly, even though I think the author went about those non P.C. Liza becomes unexpectedly pregnant and begins an affair to avoid dealing with her relationship issues. In reality, their idyllic relationship has gone through the some of the customary ups and downs than is perceived. Things get even weirder as classes are unlocked and they stop fitting into nice easy boxes.The best part is finding synergy! Jonah acclimates to living with David and Marilyn, but he witnesses Liza kissing another man and inadvertently discloses this information to Ryan. We had one narrator but once I got used to the story, the flashbacks stopped confusing me. Don't Threaten. The really tragic thing about this spoiler is that whoever has created it probably thinks that they have been really creative and innovative, whereas, in reality, they have just made their slightly shabby sports car look even trashier. Summary. Sure, David and Marilyn might have had four daughters several people for whom things can go wrong but need all of them be plagued by multiple unresolved demons? They're capable of coming to each other's rescue, but not dependably. . ( Reading Goldfinch was not challenge, it was long and all those amazing sentences needed to absorb slowly like sipping a cold, splendid, special drink which burns down your throat and awakens all your senses! At one point Wendy wonders whether all Asians are prim and conservatively dressed a confusing question to ask when she must encounter Asians every day right outside her luxury apartment, on the streets of the third largest city in America. I do think Lombardos a good writer- I loved seeing how well she fleshed out all of these characters, how the four very different sisters personalities tracked across decades of their lives and how they all interacted with each other. Knopf Doubleday. Its a love story, its a coming of age story, its a generational story, and yet despite everything the book encompasses, its primary purpose seems to be entertainment. Strange, perhaps, for a woman who'd added four beings to the universe of her own reluctant volition, but a fact nonetheless: Marilyn rued the inconvenient presence of bodies, bodies beyond her control, her . I listened to the audio on a staycation so I'll remember it for a while as the book that kept me company, especially since the audio wouldn't end. Which also happened to qualify as "sidequests" for that goal, Which triggered the personal quest "Have two team mates retire", And it was our 15th total scenariowhich triggered that personal quest. From the beginning, I realized that Most Fun would be a new standard for me, Lombardo has a way with words and creating characters that just leapt off the page. Into this family arrives Jonah, the son Violet had given birth to and then had adopted, whose presence is much needed by the family as can be seen in the impact he has. I kept waiting for drama or for something exciting to shake things up but by this point, for me, that was lacking. This book reminds you that a plot doesnt need to have some major incident as a shock factor, that an author can simply explore complex family dynamics and yet still satisfy all your reader needs. We all desperately want your life and we all know well never have it, the third-oldest, Liza, confesses in a moment of truth. Still getting used to this book reviewing deal. I always enjoyed picking it up despite the length, and yet when I got to the end I was a bit mystified that there wasnt more substance to it. As the novel moves through the single tumultuous year following the arrival of Jonah Bendt given up in a closed adoptions by one of the daughters fifteen years before we are shown the rich and varied tapestry of the Sorensons past: years marred by troubled adolescence, infidelity and resentment, but also the transcendent moments of joy that make everything else worthwhile. Jonah calls Wendy from Montana and she retrieves him. Required fields are marked *. Yet, I felt compelled to see it through and finish. It doesnt help that Miller already has a jealous girlfriend who stalks him via text from college. Grace, the baby, tries to see how long she can live a lie. It looks like the judges were just very interested in books about parenthood this year for some reason! But The Most Fun more strongly evokes Anne Tyler's explorations of long marriages in meticulously observed domestic novels like Breathing Lessons (1989), The Amateur Marriage (2004) and A Spool of Blue Thread (2015). Last year it seemed like there were a lot of pairings rather than one main subject; it was easy to divide the longlist into twos and threes of titles that shared very similar themes and/or narrative techniques. The present storyline contains most of what we . When Marilyn Connolly and David Sorenson fall in love in the 1970s, they are blithely ignorant of all that's to come. In Part Two, Summer, Jonah moves in with Wendy to find that she is grieving the loss of her husband, and copes with alcohol and promiscuity. Thank you! The adopted boy has, by a bad stroke of luck, spent most of his life in the foster care system, and his sudden need for care provides a rude awakening for the sisters whove grown up with two loving parents in a big house with adequate income. The Most Fun We Ever Had is a novel about a family and follows in the footsteps of other reknown novels the chronicle the intricate complexities of close relationships. I also didn't like the timeline jumps. The ruthless competitiveness between these sisters is the driving force of the novel. The flashbacks and cast of characters large enough to people a sitcom give the reader someone to root for, and one could read all 500 pages in a week like one might binge a soap opera. The outside world barely enters into the cosseted lives of the Sorensons. I didnt notice one singular theme as strongly last year, though perhaps giving voice to silenced or misrepresented women was perhaps the strongest commonality? Flashbacks in Part One tell the story of David and Marilyns fortuitious meeting at college and Davids proposal and invitation to join him in Iowa where he will attend medical school. Most Fun We Ever Had (Lombardo) - Discussion Questions Discussion Questions 1. Claire Lombardo's The Most Fun We Ever Had debuted on the New York Times bestseller list an impressive start for this first-time novelist who started life in Oak Park. He is a good kid with good morals that makes you laugh. In a narrative that shifts between past and present, there are complicated, flawed and tangled relationships, resentments, jealousies, births, marriages, deaths, turbulence, messiness, infidelities, mental health issues, secrets, lies, love, loss, surprises and life's challenges that their wealth cannot insulate them from. It made me laugh, made me cry and made me angry. Jonah and Jenny eventually broke up, but years later they had a one-night stand and Jenny got pregnant with their son, Elijah. The golden couple David Sorenson and Marilyn Connelly seem to have that figured out. 91% Upvoted. I dont like to think that the author is being ignorant, but there are other books Ive read where I seriously just wasnt sure. And, of course, the two who started it all have their own issues to deal with: getting older, watching their daughters change, and taking in a grandson to raise after they thought their childrearing days were done. FAMILY LIFE & FRIENDSHIP. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); Design a site like this with WordPress.com. Liza is neurotic and indecisive while the youngest, Grace, is simply lost and living a lie of her own making. So this one was (maybe) a 3.5 read for me. I think there are actually some similarities to Fleishman in this book, especially with characterization and marriage commentary, so Im not sure youd enjoy this one much! Its one of those lovely meandering, literary tales that weaves the story of a family over a long period of time. It is a stellar. The Most Fun We Ever Had? THE MOST FUN WE EVER HADBy Claire Lombardo. Sadly the shortlist seemed a bit uninspired compared to the longlist, so Im very curious to see which books will make the cut this year- hopefully not the disappointing ones! So, one of the daughters has a son when shes very young, with no father in the picture, and hides the entire pregnancy from her family. The Most Fun We Ever Had. Jonahs not much younger than Grace, the baby of the family, who is hiding out in Portland, living a lie about her law-school status and worried that she is a giant disappointment to the parents she reveres. I could see glimpses of myself in Marilyn and that was one of the main reasons why I continued turning the pages. I always find those relationships so interesting to read about, which was definitely the highlight of this book for me. Marilyn wonders if she failed the girls. Next up is Violet, unassuming and mild. Create a free website or blog at WordPress.com. Lombardo captures this often toxic sibling dynamic with the perfect image: "A seesaw, this sisterhood, and Wendy was the jerk who jumped off early so the other person toppled into the sand. My party is about to do so in our next scenario for example. His return years later is what wakes everyone up to the enormity of what the four daughters have been hiding. Very exciting!! The Most Fun We Ever Had: A Novel Hardcover - June 25 2019 by Claire Lombardo (Author) 4,877 ratings See all formats and editions Kindle Edition $13.99 Read with Our Free App Audiobook $0.00 Free with your Audible trial Hardcover $36.95 40 Used from $12.35 3 New from $26.47 Paperback $22.72 16 Used from $15.13 17 New from $16.99 Violet also makes amends with Jonah. Your email address will not be published. It is such a shockingly tender and uncannily knowing novel about the reality of long term love and affection, and the sweetness and claustrophobia of relationships between sisters. Completing the quartet is the recently tenured professor Liza, whose own crumbling relationship is constantly falling short of David and Marilyns union. But flashbacks to exhausted, fraught times make clear that the Sorensons' relationship hasn't been as smooth as it appears. The oldest daughter is an erratic alcoholic racked with grief; the second is a control freak who doesn't want to meet the son she put up for adoption 15 years ago; the next is pregnant and falling. Even family interactions elicit a mix of exasperation and comfort. What did last years picks look like? But I do agree that theres tons of potential for deep exploration here, which sadly is never quite realized. Other people overwhelmed her. Violet also has a big secret that no one supposedly knows about. Thats interesting! Signs of wear can include aesthetic issues such as scratches, dents, worn and creased covers, folded page corners and minor liquid stains. This is how Lombardo pulls at your heart strings. She was born and raised in Oak Park, Illinois. Violet feels as though she is losing her husband Matt, and struggles to accept Jonah into their lives. Shepherd is a community of 7,000+ authors sharing their favorite books with the world. Anyone can read what you share. I hope youll have a good time with it if/when you pick it up! As a subscriber, you have 10 gift articles to give each month. From this glimpse alone the reader can see that there is plenty of interest going on beneath the surface of this happy family, though we soon come to learn that their mother doesnt know half of it. The Most Fun We Ever Had proceeds in a steady march through the Sorensons' major life events to reveal how the daughters a blindsided widow; a tightly strung stay-at-home mom with a law. I love domestic fiction, especially ones that examine marriages, sibling rivalries, and socioeconomically differences. I dont have a sister, myself. Each character was individualized and any one of them could have leaped off the pages. The Most Fun We Ever Had is a brilliant, if meandering, portrayal of family ties, with a sharp eye for dialogue and an acute understanding of familial and sibling relationships. The Sorenson daughters all witness their parents sharing an intimate moment beneath the gingko tree and are awestruck at their love. If all of Lombardos future writing reach such a sprawl, however, we may (unfortunately) have to wait a while for her next novel. When tragedy strikes, a mother and daughter forge a new life. Not only do I get to read about the perspective of one sister, I get to read about the thoughts and emotions of all three sisters, their parents AND Jonah. Diving into a 550-page novel as opposed to, say, a 300-page novel is the difference between a dalliance and a full-blown commitment. Basically, a book with loads of potential to explore something interesting, but doesnt go there? The emotions run high, the conversations run deep, and the relationships ebb and flow with grace. It hits plenty of high notes, but like opera, it runs long and tends toward histrionics and repetition. The Most Fun We Ever Had: A Novel Hardcover - June 25, 2019 by Claire Lombardo (Author) 6,526 ratings Editors' pick Best Literature & Fiction See all formats and editions Kindle $12.99 Read with Our Free App Audiobook $0.00 Free with your Audible trial Hardcover $31.66 135 Used from $1.64 2 New from $31.60 13 Collectible from $8.01 Paperback The Most Fun We Ever Had is a family saga that spans decades and closely follows multiple POV characters. She was just trying to do the right thing, but that wasnt so easy, because everyone in her life had a different conception of what the right thing was, and she herself was caught somewhere in the middle.. My reaction: 3 out of 5 stars. Here it is in writing, in January of 2019, and I can't wait to look back on this and know how right I was. The central story unfurls over a single event-choked year, begun by Wendy, who unlatches a closed adoption and springs on her family the boy her stuffy married sister, Violet, gave away 15 years earlier. https://literaryelephant.wordpress.com/2019/04/28/womens-prize-2019-longlist-wrap-up-shortlist-prediction/, https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2859759789?book_show_action=true&from_review_page=1, Book Review: The Most Fun We Ever Had by Claire Lombardo Gil Reads Books, Womens Prize 2020: Longlist Wrap-Up, Shortlist Predictions | literaryelephant, Review: Such a Fun Age | literaryelephant. How? The Most Fun We Ever Had is an ambitious and brilliantly written first novel, sometimes amusing and sometimes shocking, but its unrelenting nature and lack of context is ultimately off-putting . The book opens on one of the daughters weddings, from their mothers perspective. Fast forward to present day, Wendy tracked down Jonah and found out that he needs a home. 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