But this book? Courtesy of HBO. Basically, a book with loads of potential to explore something interesting, but doesnt go there? To be sure, Lombardos characters exist in a world in which money is of no object or concern, conveniently available because of the marriages the four daughters have made generally to wealthy lawyers or businessmen who seem perpetually frazzled thanks to their jobs and often find themselves in awe of the strong women with whom they chose to spend their lives. I had to laugh at your suggestion that the lesson learned might be to have a less stable marriage! That's the year David Sorenson, a shy premed student, and Marilyn Connolly, an outspoken English major, met and fell in love. Create a free website or blog at WordPress.com. The project is based on the. The book primarily focuses on Jonahs integration back into the family. RELEASE DATE: Dec. 10, 2019. Instead, there are plenty of life events. It was charming and frustrating at the same time. April 15, 2000. Grace confesses her lie and returns home to live with Marilyn and David while she contemplates her next move. There are a FEW more likable characters though so its maybe not a totally lost cause! , Ah, Im glad youre enjoying the family focus this year! I did like the relationships between the characters and seeing how their choices panned out, effecting the whole family in the end. 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. As you can see, there are SO many different personalities in this book. The Most Fun We Ever Had is certainly not boring. report. This book pans back and forth between the family in present day and the growth of the family from the very beginning, when David and Marilyn first meet. Yikes. Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in: You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. Please avoid obscene, vulgar, lewd, racist or sexually-oriented language. 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. I dont have a sister, myself. But I do agree that theres tons of potential for deep exploration here, which sadly is never quite realized. 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. Its free and takes less than 10 seconds! He stumbles on his grandparents flirting in the kitchen and pauses to examine these people who consciously chose to talk about weeds with their crotches touching. A very accurate description of enviable long-term commitment. David is trying to adjust to retirement, while Marilyn has become the owner of a hardware shop. 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.) Violet also makes amends with Jonah. 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. Meanwhile, youngest daughter Grace perpetrates a whopper, and every day the lie was growing like mold, furring her judgment. The writing here is silky, if occasionally overwrought. But let's not lose sight of Lombardo's considerable achievement. ", Lombardo's sweeping family drama, fueled by power plays between spouses and between sisters, is operatic in both good ways and bad. This surprise, about which I'll only say that it introduces another convincingly complex character, brings out the best and worst in various family members and leads to the most moving scenes. 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. 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. She wonders how her daughters could have all turned out so markedly different, not only from one another but also from her. 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. Claire Lombardo's dazzling debut, The Most Fun We Ever Had, is a rich, multigenerational novel that tells the story of four adult daughters of a Chicago couplestill madly in love after forty yearswho recklessly ignite old rivalries until a long-buried secret threatens to shatter the lives they've built. Other people overwhelmed her. Wendy also has a knack for speaking her mind and exhibits no shame in any of her actions. Liza asks her father to connect with his colleague Gillan Levin to deliver her baby. Strong and fierce, but sad and lonely. Characters flip between bottomless self-regard and pitiless self-loathing while, as late as the second-to-last chapter, yet by Theres four of you? he asked. After a while, you feel that you've always lived with the Sorenson family, and always will. I cared and cringed and chuckled and cried with each of the four sisters and their parents (and then theres the third gen of kids). Lastly, I sincerely hope you have a good day! This is one of the best reads of 2019, bar none. Grace, the baby, tries to see how long she can live a lie. 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. '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 Most Fun We Ever Had (TV Series) - Release Info - IMDb Edit The Most Fun We Ever Had Release Info Showing all 2 items Jump to: Release Dates (0) Also Known As (AKA) (2) Release Dates It looks like we don't have any release dates for this title yet. At its core, The Most Fun We Ever Had isnt much more than an entertaining drama about four sisters and their futile competition to prove themselves most worthy of their picture-perfect parents- and each other. Ah yes, I was so confused about what the author was trying to say about marriage, since all of these characters seemed so quick to condemn this really successful one! The title really makes little sense and is only a bland reference to one scene that comes late in the book. 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 Most Fun We Ever Had is a family saga that spans decades and closely follows multiple POV characters. I can't say enough how much I couldn't stand Wendy especially followed by Violet. 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. Please comment your thoughts on how I did or what you thought of the book. Things get even weirder as classes are unlocked and they stop fitting into nice easy boxes.The best part is finding synergy! That said, the characters are not immune to the human condition. By rejecting non-essential cookies, Reddit may still use certain cookies to ensure the proper functionality of our platform. RELEASE DATE: June 25, 2019. 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. Oh man, I appreciate your honest review!! Order our The Most Fun We Ever Had Study Guide, teaching or studying The Most Fun We Ever Had. Voracious reader and reviewer The Most Fun We Ever Had. this imperfect story realistically captures the essence of the imperfect complexities of marriage, parenthood, sisterly bonds, and familial ties. What do they represent? Newcomer Lombardo brews all seven deadly sins into a fun and brimming tale of an unapologetically bougie couple and their unruly daughters. Part Three, Fall, tells how Marilyn nearly died giving birth to Grace, and Gillian Levin saved her. Each character was individualized and any one of them could have leaped off the pages. Many thanks to Orion. 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. But if it still appeals despite that deeper level of nuance, I would recommend giving it a try. save. Where to start this book was amazing in so many different ways. Morgan felt obligated to marry her high school sweetheart, Chris, when she got pregnant with their daughter, Clara. On the heels of Wendys birth, Marilyn becomes pregnant with Violet and the tumultuous child-rearing years begin. But Ridges lingering feelings for Maggie cause heartache for all three of them. Click to see spoiler. Naturally, from the inside it is not without its peaks and valleys. But you don't mind, because the Chicago-based clan of THE MOST FUN WE EVER HAD is definitely worth getting to know. 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. She also has no idea what she wants to do, another reason why I view her as very bland. 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. That was the feeling I had with The Most Fun We Ever Had and it was spot on. The Most Fun We Ever Had by Claire Lombardo The length is a stopper: 532 pages. 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. Perhaps the main message here is something like, love is messy, or theres more to every relationship than meets the eye, but theres nothing groundbreaking or life-altering to be gleaned from such platitudes. Claire Lombardo's debut is a fascinating epic character driven, multi-generational Chicago family drama with all its complexities through the decades from the 1970s. Shepherd is a community of 7,000+ authors sharing their favorite books with the world. The item is very worn but continues to work perfectly. This time were looking at Claire Lombardos The Most Fun We Ever Had, one of the largest books on the list at over 500 pages. This was quite a delightful debut. The Most Fun We Ever Had: A Novel Kindle Edition by Claire Lombardo (Author) Format: Kindle Edition 5,310 ratings Editors' pick Best Literature & Fiction See all formats and editions Kindle $13.99 Read with Our Free App Audiobook $0.00 Free with your Audible trial This is how Lombardo pulls at your heart strings. Grace, the youngest, is living in Oregon after graduating college, hoping to get into law school. I've had a day of bliss at @thehausofvenom with my partner. 49,240 Ratings 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 Want to Read Rate it: She makes you want to yell at the book and throw across the room. We had four teams from Crossfit Alluvium this year. PQ Titles: Study of Anatomy, Trophy Hunt, Zealot of the Blood God, A Helping Hand. Moving on. More points for Lombardo. Lombardo, a Chicago native and recently minted University of Iowa MFA graduate, has crafted an intricate multigenerational saga about the vicissitudes of a passionate but not perfect marriage over a 40-year span. It was definitely a fun read for me even though I was wishing for a bit more thematic depth. 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. Violet feels as though she is losing her husband Matt, and struggles to accept Jonah into their lives. . And I have to agree on sister relationships seeming very different than brother-sister ones; I dont have the strongest of sibling bonds, but even in childhood when my brothers and I got along better it was NOTHING like sisterhood is generally portrayed. Briefly, I didn't enjoy this book nor do I recommend it. I have two brothers, but were not close. '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. Definitely a bit longer than it needs to be, though it wasnt a slog for me. It is an important topic to be sure, but books like this just dont seem to be bringing anything new to the table, sadly. everything you need to sharpen your knowledge of The Most Fun We Ever Had. Set in the Chicago suburbs, Lombardo's book has been compared to The Corrections, Jonathan Franzen's seminal ode to a dysfunctional Midwestern family. "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. But despite the thorough setup, the books commentary barely dips below the surface of the expected. A Rich, Engrossing Family Saga, Spiked With Sisterly Malice, https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/25/books/review/most-fun-we-ever-had-claire-lombardo.html, Claire Lombardo describes how she arrived at the Iowa Writers Workshop with a very messy, 813-page draft.. The work begins with Marilyn Sorensons perspective as she reflects on her four daughters, Wendy, Violet, Liza, and Grace. This secret (which Ill talk about next) is what the book pretty much revolves around. 2. characters the right way, I did think she failed to dig into the criticisms enough to make them strong themes in the book, which definitely explains to me how readers arent tolerating those moments well, whether they see the purpose behind them or not. Violet, however, has two young boys with her husband and does not want to impact their lives. Claire Lombardo is the next Kingsolver. At this point you may be thinking that theres no way four women can spend an entire book being obsessed with their happily married parents and that perhaps I just have some sort of older suburban couple kink. CLAIRE LOMBARDO earned her MFA in fiction at the Iowa Writers' Workshop. 'The Most Fun We Ever Had' is a deliciously absorbing novel with brace yourself a tender and satisfyingly positive take on family. The book opens on one of the daughters weddings, from their mothers perspective. 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! The blind character choice is great. All the characters, with vastly differing perspectives, are written with clarity. Im excited to see everyones wrap-ups and predictions this year. 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. She was born and raised in Oak Park, Illinois. Marilyn Connelly and David Sorenson's love for each other has more than survived the decades, they have 4 now adult daughters, Wendy, Violet, Liza and Grace who have felt pressured to emulate the loving example of their parents. (Perhaps!) The Sorenson daughters all witness their parents sharing an intimate moment beneath the gingko tree and are awestruck at their love. Colleen Hoover Jonah acclimates to living with David and Marilyn, but he witnesses Liza kissing another man and inadvertently discloses this information to Ryan. Wendy, widowed young, soothes herself with booze and younger men . Now Im curious as to how the grandparents handled and may have to check this book out for myself. By document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); Meet Me The Person Behind Books and Bowquets. More Books by Claire Lombardo Der grte Spa, den wir je hatten. 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