report. The characters were flawed sure but also horrible. That's awesome! The blind character choice is great. We had four teams from Crossfit Alluvium this year. Violet confronts the son she gave up for adoption 15 years ago while grappling with her growing sense of powerlessness in her role as a stay-at-home mother. Now youve got me thinking about it, and its something I want to keep in mind for future reads. "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. My party is about to do so in our next scenario for example. I could see glimpses of myself in Marilyn and that was one of the main reasons why I continued turning the pages. Victory was a critical part of sisterhood, shed always thought.. David is trying to adjust to retirement, while Marilyn has become the owner of a hardware shop. Please enjoy my thoughts and ideas below. Its free and takes less than 10 seconds! By 2016, their four radically . 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. I read Everything I Never Told You this year and I really liked it although the characters were heavily flawed. because there are loads of those people out there, even if theyre only saying horrible things to someone in a close circle and not in public. Trouble signing in? Thanks Naty! Please do not be discouraged by the 500+ page count. 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! 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. 4 retirements within one scenario, how is that even possible? Briefly, I didn't enjoy this book nor do I recommend it. Some of them bothered me as well, but a lot of the problematic things the characters say and do I took as criticisms of them; I dont think the author was using horrendous digs at less fortunate people out of a place of ignorance, but as a way of showing how privileged and ignorant her characters are. A frightened Jonah witnesses it and runs away to Graces apartment. Not that the narrator was bad, she was excellent, it was the fact that so much of the dialogue in the book is wrote in a staccato, abrupt, leave words off sentences, interrupting each other kind of way and by this point I couldn't listen anymore. 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. There were so many great contenders on the longlist last year that I wouldve loved to see win above An American Marriage, even though AAM was a 4-star read for me. Gingko leaves and trees show up many times during the course of the novelduring the opening scene and when David and Marilyn first fall in love, just to name a couple. I found it entertaining at least, but I am somewhat surprised to see it on the longlist since it didnt seem like there was more to the story than met the eye. That said, the characters are not immune to the human condition. What did last years picks look like? The narrative is filled with pregnancies (including one that results in a child placed for adoption), births, deaths, infidelities, accidents, sibling rivalries, secrets, lies and lots of wine and kissing. I was wrong about who the father of that child was though. Marilyn wonders, "Didn't her daughters know that what she and David had took work, had always taken work? Violet finally speaks to Wendy and learns that Jonah is in foster care as his adoptive parents died in an accident when he was young. Morgan felt obligated to marry her high school sweetheart, Chris, when she got pregnant with their daughter, Clara. Their dedication, joy and unrelenting lust produced four daughters who share the same collective fear. I wouldve loved to see a bit more variety in content this year and a few less books about motherhood! (LogOut/ Ive been kind of curious about this one. I couldn't relate, emphasize, nor care about them. I also have a brother and though were close, I find sister relationships (at least the way theyre portrayed in books) to be an entirely different thing. 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. Were glad you found a book that interests you! Feeling betrayed by the adults in her life, Clara marches forward, acting both responsible and rebellious as she navigates her teenage years without her father and her aunt, while Jonah and Morgan's relationship evolves in the wake of the accident. Liza gets pregnant and appears to follow in Violets footsteps. Alicia Berenson's life is seemingly perfect. The present storyline contains most of what we . 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. What I love about this story is the way it is told, the back and forth of the years, the alternating chapters from the perspective of different family members, and the creativity in the layout of the unfolding story itself. ISBN-13: 9780385544252. I just finished this and am already missing the Sorenson family. Of course its not the responsibility of every novel to wrestle with cultural shifts, with politics and war, but the near total absence of even a whiff of non-Sorenson-related events over 40 years and 500-plus pages must be a conscious choice. Copyright 2023 Kirkus Media LLC. 'The Most Fun We Ever Had' is an intense, edgy family drama brimming with sibling rivalry, marital distress, and soul-binding love that will leave you with an onslaught of emotions. Lombardo's writing is so elegant - she makes our most complex and fragmented feelings tangible, which is a very rare skill. 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. Oof, I just noticed this review on Goodreads, which may have shut the door for me: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2859759789?book_show_action=true&from_review_page=1. -- Laline Paull, author of THE BEES I adored The Most Fun We Ever Had. There is something funny, notable or awe-inspiring on every single page' Jenny Colgan, Spectator A joyful celebration of books - the perfect gift for bibliophiles, word lovers and anyone who's ever wondered, should you judge a book by its cover? I am calling it this book will win all of the awards. We already have a strong community, but this event brought us even closer as we cheered and grinded it out next to each other! Liza has her baby and David, initially standoffish, agrees to watch her when Liza returns to work. It does seem like a rather safe and repetitive set, as a whole. It's really hard to believe that 'The Most Fun We Ever Had' is a debut novel. Wendy, widowed young, soothes herself with booze and younger men . This thread is archived. lot of improvement of the loot were (and for lot, are still) possible. Marilyn wonders if she failed the girls. Lombardos character-driven, eventful, tumultuous, witty, serious, gregarious, tragic, and infectious domestic dramady of a big Chicago family kept me fastened to the pages of this big, buoyant book. Please understand that Violet did not go out and seek her son, it was Wendy that decided to track him down and welcome him back. So disturbing.. If this book meant to convey that the characters have mental health problems and how it affected their lives, the fact that Ryan openly had depression and no one helped at all.. instead his partner cheated on him and called him man-child knowing she could've afforded to help him see a therapist.. The fact that barely anything happens and the children are so mean to each other and their mother.. (with the exception of Grace, she was okay). Its page count allows Lombardo to examine- in excruciating detail- the minutiae of day-to-day interactions, a lifetime of decisions and assumptions, and each sibling and parent relationship that is one thread in the greater web of this family. There are quite a few books on this years Womens Prize longlist that look at family, parenthood, and marriage, but The Most Fun We Ever Had stands out as the ultimate family saga. My reaction: 3 out of 5 stars. The title really makes little sense and is only a bland reference to one scene that comes late in the book. The outside world barely enters into the cosseted lives of the Sorensons. All Rights Reserved. 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. Fast forward to present day, Wendy tracked down Jonah and found out that he needs a home. Change), You are commenting using your Facebook account. By rejecting non-essential cookies, Reddit may still use certain cookies to ensure the proper functionality of our platform. They are a healthy, but imperfect family of four daughters, who are all jockeying for their place in the world. Wendy, widowed young, soothes herself with . This woman plays such scant role in the plot that she seems present primarily to balance the scales of the familys wealth. The other long book is 900+ pages, so the short titles were definitely a relief this year. 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.. I do think there is something interesting about people who have loads of resources but do the sneaky thing out of fear instead of real hardship. Am 3% in and am uber irritated. We were quite in agreement on this one! Despite their wealth, there is a plethora of more relatable issues: accidental pregnancies, eating disorders, cheating, stagnant communication the list could go on. (LogOut/ , Ah, Im glad youre enjoying the family focus this year! Liza asks Gillian if she ever slept with David. At 544 pages, you get to know them, along with their struggles and joys, pretty well. The story is divided into two storylines. Four Chicago sisters anchor a sharp, sly family story of feminine guile and guilt. Instead, there are plenty of life events. Back to reviews with another Womens Prize longlist title! It also leads to Lombardo's heartwarming takeaway: "If this family had taught him anything it was that people could get mad at each other and then make up again. I always find those relationships so interesting to read about, which was definitely the highlight of this book for me. David and Marilyn have four daughters and all of them are in awe of their parents adoring marriage after all this time, especially when all the daughters have their own serious life crises that theyre dealing with (and the drama in this onewhich sort of reminded me of that old tv show Parenthood was seriously fun to unpack.) Oh, jeez. She sets the plot in motion by springing a terrible surprise on Violet, whose perfect life is just too much for her to swallow after she suffers a series of unhappy blows. The story centers around a couple (David and Marilyn) from when they met toward their golden years, and each of their four very different daughters. Brilliant review, Emily! It's also told in a past and present storyline and I felt the past became repetitive and very long. 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. I think they mean that the characters all met their retirement goals during the same scenario, not that they met them after playing only one scenario. https://literaryelephant.wordpress.com/2019/04/28/womens-prize-2019-longlist-wrap-up-shortlist-prediction/, I havent reached that limit yet but I feel I will, as I read more of the longlist. The book opens on one of the daughters weddings, from their mothers perspective. There were times when I put the book down and read another book in its entirety before picking this one back up. This definitely read like a telenovela in book form for me. Marilyn and David Sorenson are two such people, and their four daughters Wendy, Violet, Liza, and Grace are simultaneously spellbound by them and over it. All pages and the cover are intact, but the dust cover may be missing. The ruthless competitiveness between these sisters is the driving force of the novel. Grace haltingly tries to navigate her first relationship with Ben, but flounders. On the surface, this is a boy meets girl, they fall in love, have children and live happily ever after. A multigenerational novel in which the four adult daughters of a Chicago couple--still madly in love after forty years--recklessly ignite old rivalries until a long-buried secret threatens to shatter the lives they've built. Wendy and Violet mend old wounds stemming from Wendys losses, both of her husband and her stillborn daughter. There was a lot of repetition and I honestly wanted to skip some pages when the characters really got on my nerves. If all of Lombardos future writing reach such a sprawl, however, we may (unfortunately) have to wait a while for her next novel. Other than an event which I found hard to fathom, this is a realistic and intimate look at an affluent Chicago family as they love, laugh, annoy, clash, and support each other over the course of forty-odd years. This Study Guide consists of approximately 52 pages of chapter summaries, quotes, character analysis, themes, and more - everything you need to sharpen your knowledge of The Most Fun We Ever Had. The class calibrations are divine even as the utter apolitical whiteness of the Sorenson world becomes hard to fathom. Flashbacks describe Marilyn and Davids early marriage in Iowa, where Marilyn becomes pregnant and drops out of school. Lombardo wrote a fabulous book about family dynamics that was completely enthralling. Their parents were good with them but I guess, too good. Create a free website or blog at WordPress.com. 876 Likes, 43 Comments - @lovelylonghaired on Instagram: "How was YOUR day? Jonah was placed many times in different homes, none very permanent. 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. How? Retrieve credentials. Each of the sisters has their own crosses to bear. Characters flip between bottomless self-regard and pitiless self-loathing while, as late as the second-to-last chapter, yet by April 15, 2000. Violet has sisterly assistance in bringing about additional anxiety and messiness in her life. Though each is sympathetic and suffering in their own way, they do all make poor choices, sometimes for bad reasons. Front-loaded with drama, the story leaves plenty of room for the mother and daughter to unpack their feelings and decide whats next. It was charming and frustrating at the same time. The Most Fun We Ever Had? Most Fun We Ever Had (Lombardo) - Discussion Questions Discussion Questions 1. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); Meet Me The Person Behind Books and Bowquets. Colleen Hoover Violet is the daughter that did everything right. She went to college, became a lawyer, married a nice man and has two young children. Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in: You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. Also, nothing was happening for me. I had this in a queue at my library but I may press on with others I want to read first! This big, chewy, multi-generational tale rings so true, handles multiple characters so deftly, and moves back and. Also: David and Marilyn love each other madly. This isnt a fast read. Your email address will not be published. A room without books is like a body without a soul., [This review contains spoilers heads up!]. Books by Claire Lombardo A multigenerational novel in which the four adult daughters of a Chicago couple--still madly in love after forty years--recklessly ignite old rivalries until a long-buried secret threatens to shatter the lives they've built.When Marilyn Connolly and David Sorenson fall in love in the 1970s, they are blithely ignorant of all that's to come. If youre looking for fascinating character dynamics and the questionable choices of wealthy folk rather than a lit prize masterpiece, I think this could be a decent read. I will, as a whole more of the BEES I adored the Most Fun we had! 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