Claire Lombardo

"A multi-generational novel in which the four adult daughters of a Chicago couple--still madly in love after forty years--match wits, harbor grudges, and recklessly ignite old rivalries until a long-buried secret threatens to shatter the lives they've built"--

The Most Fun We Ever Had

'A literary love child of Jonathan Franzen and Anne Tyler ... an outstanding debut, assured and highly enjoyable' Observer 'Should appeal to fans of Maria Semple, Emma Straub and Jennifer Egan ... A moving, immersive, often very funny study of family and sisterhood' Sunday Times 'As good as Jonathan Franzen's The Corrections or Jennifer Egan's A Visit from the Goon Squad; it is almost impossible to believe that it is a debut. The Most Fun We Ever Had is as good as books come' Telegraph 'Like Meg Wolitzer. A forensic dissection of family past and present, I loved it. If you like reading about relationships, this one is for you.' Pandora Sykes MEET THE SORENSON FAMILY MARILYN has somehow fallen into motherhood and spent four decades married to DAVID, who's pretty certain he loves her more than anyone has ever loved another person. WENDY, their eldest, a cause for concern, soothes herself with drink after being widowed young, while VIOLET, lawyer-turned-stay-at-home-mother, is disturbed by the reappearance of a son placed for adoption fifteen years earlier. LIZA, a professor, is pregnant with a baby she's not sure she wants by a man she's not sure she loves and GRACE, their dawdling youngest daughter, lives a lie that no one in her family suspects. 'A gripping and poignant ode to a messy, loving family in all its glory' Madeline Miller, author of Circe and The Song of Achilles 'Everything about this brilliant debut cuts deep: the humor, the wisdom, the pathos' Rebecca Makkai, author of The Great Believers

Katie Thyer

It's not always the most logical decision that's the right decision.

I think so much of making a relationship work has to do with choosing to be kind even when you may not feel like it. It sounds like the most obvious thing in the world but it's much easier said than done, don’t you think?

The people who seem like they have it together are the most overlooked, because everyone thinks those people never need anything, but everyone needs things.

Longlisted for the Women’s Prize for Fiction 2020

Elad Schulman

Abbie Duggan

Reviewing this book is challenging as I know so many have rated it very highly. On that point, maybe read other reviews after mine before you decide on adding this book to your list… or skipping it (which is what I recommend).

As a whole, this book had so much potential and just… went… nowhere. It was painfully long with the same dilemmas repeating themselves on a loop. This book doesn’t build, it doesn’t have a climax, and it just sort of… does nothing for me.

On a positive note, I enjoyed the structure of the book with a historical timeline of the family tucked in between the present day story. The way it was structured did give a lot of context to the characters… although this is probably why I was so disappointed to see absolutely zero character growth at all.

*HEAVY SIGH*

Amelia C 

3.75 rounded up for me. It was a fantastic portrait of family, how pain and joy can exist and how to deal with all of the sh*t that comes with being alive. I felt hot on the head by the amount of times the love and sexual attraction between Marilyn and David was mentioned but hey I suppose that’s better than them hating each other

Families are messy. This story about the Sorensons makes that abundantly clear. Four daughters-Wendy, Violet, Liza, and Grace. Their problems growing up and in adulthood permeate the novel. The beautiful tie binding it all together was the love that David and Marilyn, the Sorenson parents, had for one other. Marriage is difficult; it was a delight to see an example of one who stayed intact because of commitment and perseverance. 

I feel like I know these characters and am already missing them. That is how good of a writer Claire Lombardo is.

Cheri McElroy

Families are messy. This story about the Sorensons makes that abundantly clear. Four daughters-Wendy, Violet, Liza, and Grace. Their problems growing up and in adulthood permeate the novel. The beautiful tie binding it all together was the love that David and Marilyn, the Sorenson parents, had for one other. Marriage is difficult; it was a delight to see an example of one who stayed intact because of commitment and perseverance. 

I feel like I know these characters and am already missing them. That is how good of a writer Claire Lombardo is.

Kacie bulpitt

Sarai Johnson

Moments of this book were deeply, deeply moving. Particularly moving in light of the fact I recently had a child. Don’t think I would have cared for it as much otherwise. There is a lot of unchecked privilege in this book… and some preposterous nonsense. I didn’t like any of the characters very much. Jonah seemed cool. The “secrets” are milquetoast at best. It’s a portrait of upper-middle class white suburban life.

Hanna Born

I’m usually drawn in by books that have a little bit more of a fantasy element, or books that have a lot of traditional “edge of your seat” moments. But there was something about this story that felt like it connected with my soul. The perspectives were beautiful and it was such a fantastic way of telling a family’s story. I can’t recommend this enough! 

Longlisted for the Women's Prize for Fiction When Marilyn Connolly and David Sorenson fall in love in the 1970s, they are blithely ignorant of all that awaits them. By 2016, their four radically different daughters are in a state of unrest. Wendy, widowed young, soothes herself with booze and younger men; Violet, a litigator turned stay-at-home-mom, battles anxiety and self-doubt; Liza, a neurotic and newly tenured professor, finds herself pregnant with a baby she's not sure she wants by a man she's not sure she loves; and Grace, the dawdling youngest daughter, begins living a lie that no one in her family even suspects. With the arrival of Jonah Bendt--a child placed for adoption by one of the daughters fifteen years before--the Sorensons will be forced to reckon with the rich and varied tapestry of their past: years marred by adolescent angst, infidelity, and resentment, but also the transcendent moments of joy that make everything else worthwhile.

Charmaine

The undeniable bonds of family, even through hardship, that will be there out of love ❤️

"The Most Fun We Ever Had" is exactly the kind of book that I have most amount of fun reading. It has everything that I love in a book - complex characters, complex family dynamics, dual timelines, multiple POV's, beautiful writing, and a handful of tear-jerking moments. 

The best reason I can use to describe my five star rating for this book is that by the end of the book, you forget all the problems you might have faced with the book (moments in the book that might have felt a bit slow, characters that you didn't agree with), because the good moments in the book completely outweigh the bad. For more than 500 pages, you see all the characters in their best and worst moments - when they're happy, you're happy, and when they're sad, you're sad. It's as simple as that. And when you finish the book, you just want to go straight back to the beginning and start all over again, if only for a few more minutes of feeling like an extra family member of the Sorensen clan. 

The Most Fun We Ever Had

Reviews

Highlights