The Most Fun We Ever Had
Claire Lombardo, 2019
Knopf Doubleday
544 pp.
ISBN-13: 9780385544252
Summary
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;
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. (From the publisher.)
The book is being adapted for an HBO series.
Author Bio
• Birth—N/A
• Where—Oak Park, Illinois, USA
• Education—B.A., University of Illinois, Chicago; M.S.W., University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
• Currently—lives in Chicago, Illinois
Claire Lombardo earned her MFA in fiction at the Iowa Writers' Workshop. Prior to writing The Most Fun We Ever Had, she spent several years doing social work in Chicago. She was born and raised in Oak Park, Illinois. (From the publisher.)
Book Reviews
A rich, engrossing family saga, spiked with sisterly malice… [rendered] with such skill and finely tuned interest that it feels like a quiet subversion of the traditional family saga.
New York Times Book Review
Ambitious and brilliantly written.
Jane Smiley - Washington Post
If ever there were to be a literary love child of Jonathan Franzen and Anne Tyler, then Claire Lombardo’s outstanding debut, which ranges from ebullience to despair by way of caustic but intense familial bonds, would be a worthy offspring…. This is a novel epic in scope—emotionally, psychologically and narratively. Combining a broad thematic canvas with impressive emotional nuance, it’s an assured and highly enjoyable debut.
Guardian (UK)
An assured first novel…. The fun—well, that’s in the reading of the novel, which nicely blends comedy with pathos and the sharp- with the soft-edged.
Wall Street Journal
[A] remarkable first-time novel offering such an intimate picture of people’s interior lives I feel as if every one of these characters is now a close friend. Lombardo has the remarkable ability to delve into people’s minds so deeply that the most quotidian moments become utterly fascinating.
Ruth Reichl - Los Angeles Times
A wonderfully immersive read that packs more heart and heft than most first novels…A deliciously absorbing novel with—brace yourself—a tender and satisfyingly positive take on family.
NPR
The big family saga of the summer, unfurling the fallout of a long-buried secret and persisting rivalries between four sisters across 50 transformative years.
Entertainment Weekly
This juicy saga spans more than four decades…You’ll be glad this loopy family isn’t yours, but reading about them is a treat.
People
[I]mpressive…. Lombardo captures the complexity of a large family with characters who light up the page with their competition, secrets, and worries. Despite its length and number of plotlines, the momentum never flags, making for a rich and rewarding family saga.
Publishers Weekly
Unfortunately, the author's attempt to flesh out these tropes makes the story bloated and overstuffed. [Although] the novel would have benefited from fewer characters and a tighter plot, readers of women's fiction… may delight in the episodic approach. —Pamela Mann, St. Mary's Coll. Lib., MD
Library Journal
A family epic…. It resembles other sprawling midwestern family dramas, like Jonathan Franzen's The Corrections (2001)…The result is an affectionate, sharp, and eminently readable exploration of the challenges of love in its many forms.
Booklist
Lombardo brews all seven deadly sins into a fun and brimming tale…. Characters flip between bottomless self-regard and pitiless self-loathing while, as late as the second-to-last chapter, yet another pleasurable tendril of sisterly malice uncurls.
Kirkus Reviews
Discussion Questions
1. Gingko leaves and trees show up many times during the course of the novel—during the opening scene and when David and Marilyn first fall in love, just to name a couple. How do gingkoes function as a symbol in the book? What do they represent?
2. Who is your favorite character in the novel? Who are you most similar to?
3. By the end of The Most Fun We Ever Had, we’ve seen decades of David and Marilyn’s marriage unfold through many ups and downs. What do you see as the key to their successful and enduring marriage?
4. Do you think the way Wendy surprised Violet with Jonah was ethical? Do you think Violet’s reaction was warranted?
5. Were you surprised by Violet’s secret that gets revealed toward the end of the novel? How would you react if you were Wendy?
6. Many readers share that reading The Most Fun We Ever Had was an emotional experience. What was the most emotional scene for you to read? Why?
7. The narration switches between the perspective of each family member throughout the course of the book. What did this style add to the novel as a whole? How would the book be different if the author only focused on one character?
8. The book starts and ends with Marilyn’s perspective. Why do you think the author made this choice?
9. In what ways is the Sorenson family like your own family?
10. What did you think about the book’s ending? What do you think will happen to the Sorenson family after the book ends?
11. What other books, movies, and TV shows does this novel remind you of?
(Questions issued by the publisher.)