The Most Fun We Ever Had: A Novel

I loved this book. I love the way Claire writes, for the way she tells a story, for the pace. I have ADHD, and my mind goes a million miles an hour, so the way it reads, is fast, and lovely. It may be over 600 pages, but to me it could have been longer. I definitely recommend this book, it tells a family story, love, loss, the constant of a supportive family, the dynamic of sisters. It's superb, especially knowing it's Claire Lombardo's debut novel.

We read this book in our book club. This is a book I wouldn’t normally read. It was a slower read, but I felt like it paid off! It was such a wholesome story. As a mother with adult children, I could relate to this in different ways. Everyone’s perspective is different and two people can have the same experience but two totally different perspectives on what happened. As the book goes on, another layer of each character is revealed. It’s not a typical happy-ending, which I did like, but want more of what happens with Jonah. I really enjoyed the book and think it opens the door to many good discussions on life, family and love!

Wow! Lombardo’s wit and wisdom pours out of the Sorenson family — the flaws, the faults, the feelings. Impeccably written and easy to read, I thoroughly enjoyed the story. I generally am not a fan of novels told in different years scattered among the chapters but this works and it helps us slowly unfold the layers that make David, Marilyn, Wendy, Violet, Liza, and Grace who they are. For me this novel is a reminder of who we want to be and how hard sometimes it is to be that person. It heralds the importance of family of connection and of forgiveness. It is 600+ pages but when I realized I was at the ending, I wanted more. This is a family love story filled with all the twists and turns of family

Gosh, I found this book very, very long and the farther I got into it, the more compelled I felt to finish it... But, more from a sense of the time I'd put in to reading it than a need to find out what happens. I did find the characters fleshed out by about 75ish pages in (it's difficult learning and keeping up with a large family of 6, plus partners, plus kids) and while I felt like some of their choices were simply down right *mean*, I enjoyed everyone's overall story arc. The pacing was slow, like a long slag through these people's deepest histories that we, as readers, *need* to know to understand the present. Not sure all of the backstory was necessary; or a lot of the present story? This is a tale of family life; lived, raw, realistic, committed, ugly—and growing. But man, was that a huge, huge read for not a whole terrible lot to happen in. It had it's cliff hanger moments, but in the way real life does. Only 3 choices in 625 pages really intrigued me as, "wow, I can't believe she is doing this! I need to know more." It's not a bad read though, if you've got the time and you're looking for something slow, easy, and generally realistic about the skeletons a family can keep in their closets.

Yes, it is very long, and yes, I will finish it. And not because I love it. The characters are hard to like. The writing didn't always flow smoothly, for me. But the one thing that has driven me crazy from the very beginning, is POV. Each character is the focus of a chapter on an almost rotating basis, but it's very hard to figure out WHICH character the author means. The author all too often starts a chapter with the pronoun, not the character's name, and it may be several paragraphs or even more, before we know who the chapter is focusing on. If this doesn't bother you, you will likely enjoy the book more than I have. I keep books I enjoy, and reread them sometimes many times. This book is NOT one I'll keep. UPDATE: While I stand behind my previous statements, I have to say that the last chapter was lovely. Completely worth the confusion in getting there. So, I upped my stars to 4.

This a good book read!!!! I enjoyed it. I read a few selections from the Reese Witherspoon Book Club. You will enjoy it.

I feel like I need to digest what I just read to do a review justice. But here goes. I love a good family/drama saga and this is just that. Did this book need to be 600 pages, no, and it was repetitive at times. Violet was a character that was just a big B, a character you love to hate. I did enjoy this book and surprised myself that I was so engrossed considering the length of this book. It’s not for everyone. Having just read a much shorter family drama prior to this book but both have something to offer in their own unique way. I really wanted Wendy to have a beauty for ashes moment or something good for all of her trauma. Overall, I loved it what can I say. 4.5 ⭐️

I enjoyed this book, particularly since you heard the perspectives of all of the family members from childhood through adulthood. The highs and lows of family life were noted realistically and in great detail. The characters were all well defined and you really got to know them, their personalities and their places within the family. David and Marilyn (the Mom and Dad) were the ideal parents and all of the children aspired to have relationships like theirs. They continued to support their children throughout their lives in whatever capacity was needed. They did so, not out of obligation, but out of love. I have already recommended this book and will continue to do so.

this was such a great book, a lovely story! i was sad to read the last page. thank you! during a difficult time in our world a few beautiful days of reading.

This is a captivating novel about the lives, struggles and relationships between the members of the Sorensen family - the parents, the four daughters and one of the daughter's illegitimate son. It is told from the perspective of all seven characters throughout several decades from the 1970's to the present. I was really captivated by the story and it made me think about my own family.

ISA TALKS ABOUT... Lisa Talks About… LOST IN A BOOK SOMEWHERE. SEND TEA. 15TH AUGUST 2019 REVIEW: THE MOST FUN WE EVER HAD BY CLAIRE LOMBARDO Title:The Most Fun We Ever Had Author: Claire Lombardo Pages: 544 Pages Publisher: Doubleday Books The Blurb When Marilyn Connolly and David Sorenson fall in love in the 1970s, they are blithely ignorant of all that’s to come. By 2016, their four radically different daughters are each 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 when the darkest part of her past resurfaces; 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. Above it all, the daughters share the lingering fear that they will never find a love quite like their parents’. As the novel moves through the tumultuous year following the arrival of Jonah Bendt–given up by one of the daughters in a closed adoption fifteen years before–we are shown the rich and varied tapestry of the Sorensons’ past: years marred by adolescence, infidelity, and resentment, but also the transcendent moments of joy that make everything else worthwhile. Spanning nearly half a century, and set against the quintessential American backdrop of Chicago and its prospering suburbs, Lombardo’s debut explores the triumphs and burdens of love, the fraught tethers of parenthood and sisterhood, and the baffling mixture of affection, abhorrence, resistance, and submission we feel for those closest to us. In painting this luminous portrait of a family’s becoming, Lombardo joins the ranks of writers such as Celeste Ng, Elizabeth Strout, and Jonathan Franzen as visionary chroniclers of our modern lives. The Review Oh wow. Claire Lombardo’s book The Most Fun We Ever Had is a modern day sweeping family saga filled with drama, mystery, intrigue, and love. The Most Fun We Ever Had focuses on the Connolly family: the parents, four daughters, and the assortment of grandchildren. It looks at the way in which we can never really fully know the people who we are most close to. We are only really allowed to know what the individual person allows us to know. It shows us how secrets can never be kept fully hidden; how eventually we will have to deal with the demons of our past. It shows how fragile relationships between the ones you love can be. How loving someone doesn’t necessarily mean you have to like them. Lombardo really has got inside the nooks and crannies of family life. She shows the nuances and drama can be both big and small and still have a massive impact. The Most Fun We Ever Had is a novel to get fully invested in. It has the making of a Netflix series written all over it. Come on Reese Witherspoon – get this book optioned. The Most Fun We Ever Had by Claire Lombardo is available now.

Absolutely wonderful read. I loved how the characters slowly revealed more of their lives, loves & their past. It was very engaging and I found it hard to put down. Excellent.

A must read. Thoroughly enjoyed it.