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. Back to reviews with another Womens Prize longlist title! Completing the quartet is the recently tenured professor Liza, whose own crumbling relationship is constantly falling short of David and Marilyns union. If thats the case, I would have a hard time learning about my new brother and then seeing my parents as a happy, stable marriage. I didnt notice one singular theme as strongly last year, though perhaps giving voice to silenced or misrepresented women was perhaps the strongest commonality? I am a fan! RELEASE DATE: June 25, 2019. ( Reading Goldfinch was not challenge, it was long and all those amazing sentences needed to absorb slowly like sipping a cold, splendid, special drink which burns down your throat and awakens all your senses! Violet has sisterly assistance in bringing about additional anxiety and messiness in her life. It is such a shockingly tender and uncannily knowing novel about the reality of long term love and affection, and the sweetness and claustrophobia of relationships between sisters. 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. Lombardo's novel is divided into 34 chapters, with dated flashbacks interspersed throughout in order to provide deeper exposition on the relationships between characters. Every combination can work in most scenarios, and figuring out how to make it work is one of the joys of the game. In fact, it creates opportunities for sexy nonverbal communication and witty text messages: Ridge tenderly washes off a message he wrote on Sydneys hand in ink, and when Sydney adds a few too many es to the word squee in her text, Ridge replies, If those letters really make up a sound, I am so, so glad I cant hear it. While they fight their mutual attraction, their hope that maybe someday they can be together playfully comes out in their music. But Clara and Morgans home life changes radically when Chris and Jenny are killed in an accident, revealing long-buried secrets and forcing Morgan to reevaluate the life she chose when early motherhood forced her hand. I could see glimpses of myself in Marilyn and that was one of the main reasons why I continued turning the pages. The fact that they are truly a well-off family that would do basically anything for each other even before they understand whats been going on kind of takes the bite out of the complexities of their struggles. (LogOut/ Residents Demand Answers at Council Meeting on Police Killing of Sayed Faisal, Bob Odenkirk Named Hasty Pudding Man of the Year, Harvard Kennedy School Dean Reverses Course, Will Name Ken Roth Fellow, Ex-Provost, Harvard Corporation Member Will Investigate Stanford Presidents Scientific Misconduct Allegations, Harvard Medical School Drops Out of U.S. News Rankings. ", Another narrative throughline is the intense competition between the two older Sorenson daughters: Wendy, an "impulsive, compulsive, turbulent" child, and Violet, the sister who encroached on her infancy by being born in the same calendar year. The item is very worn but continues to work perfectly. Many, many character povs and lots of timeline jumps. David is trying to adjust to retirement, while Marilyn has become the owner of a hardware shop. 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. Their parents were good with them but I guess, too good. Change), You are commenting using your Twitter account. We had lots of flashbacks and secrets that didn't get revealed till later on in the plot but the flashbacks were just too many to my liking. But flashbacks to exhausted, fraught times make clear that the Sorensons' relationship hasn't been as smooth as it appears. 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. J. 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. 'The Most Fun We Ever Had' is a deliciously absorbing novel with brace yourself a tender and satisfyingly positive take on family. Too long for the lack of plot and underwhelming and boring characters. My reaction: 3 out of 5 stars. Claire Lombardo's The Most Fun We Ever Had probably won't be the most fun you'll ever have (I hope not, for your sake), but it's a wonderfully immersive read that packs more heart and heft than most first novels. Lombardo shows how menial things can be misinterpreted resulting in decades of bad blood. She makes you want to yell at the book and throw across the room. But I expect more from the Womens Prize than a simple good time, and I didnt find any standout depth or technical skill here. They are a healthy, but imperfect family of four daughters, who are all jockeying for their place in the world. And, of course, the two who started it all have their own issues to deal with: getting older, watching their daughters change, and taking in a grandson to raise after they thought their childrearing days were done. Violet also makes amends with Jonah. 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. Based on Claire Lombardo's 2019 novel of the same name, "The Most Fun We Ever Had" follows four sisters, each struggling to exist in the shadow of their parents' idyllic marriage, whose. Every page contains vital information that contributes to the story. The following version of this book was used to create the guide: Lombardo, Claire. Great review! 544 pp. Change), You are commenting using your Twitter account. This woman plays such scant role in the plot that she seems present primarily to balance the scales of the familys wealth. I've had a day of bliss at @thehausofvenom with my partner. This definitely read like a telenovela in book form for me. I did like the relationships between the characters and seeing how their choices panned out, effecting the whole family in the end. There is no reason that it took that much to tell the story of this upper-middle class suburban family. ", Wendy is a terrific character: caustic, tough, difficult, flawed, self-destructive, bitingly funny and ultimately sympathetic. That child, Jonah, the returned observer of this cloistered world, is as fascinated by David and Marilyns love as their daughters. Categories: (LogOut/ Lombardo's writing is so elegant - she makes our most complex and fragmented feelings tangible, which is a very rare skill. report. Last is Grace, the baby of the family. The Most Fun We Ever Had. The blind character choice is great. Into this churn, Lombardo adds cancer, infidelity, a heart attack, another unplanned pregnancy, a stillbirth, and an office crush for David. The Most Fun We Ever Had by Claire Lombardo. 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 this was the thing: sometimes being a sister meant knowing the right thing to do and still not doing it because winning was more important. . 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. When tragedy strikes, a mother and daughter forge a new life. 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. To make it extra easy for you . Conclusion: I was pleasantly surprised by this book, so much so that I am recommending it to any and all readers. Strong and fierce, but sad and lonely. As the novel moves through the single tumultuous year following the arrival of Jonah Bendt given up in a closed adoptions by one of the daughters fifteen years before we are shown the rich and varied tapestry of the Sorensons past: years marred by troubled adolescence, infidelity and resentment, but also the transcendent moments of joy that make everything else worthwhile. Make harvest craft easy to trade. That said, the characters are not immune to the human condition. 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. The Most Fun We Ever Had. The Most Fun We Ever Had? Violet is the daughter that did everything right. She went to college, became a lawyer, married a nice man and has two young children. 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. The parentsMarilyn, all pluck and busy optimism, and David, a genial family doctorstrike their offspring as impossibly happy. CLAIRE LOMBARDO earned her MFA in fiction at the Iowa Writers' Workshop. The title really makes little sense and is only a bland reference to one scene that comes late in the book. Not all of them but Wendy, Violet, and Lisa in particular. It may not be the most fun youve ever had, but it has to be darn close. Weddings and deaths, pregnancies and illnesses, ways for the sisters to measure themselves against one another as they continue to excavate the contours of their parents love and hold it up to their own. By 2016, their four radically . (The year 1996, an annus horribilis in the Sorensons' marriage following an office flirtation, seems particularly endless, as David notes.). October 15, 2019 11:00am. FAMILY LIFE & FRIENDSHIP. The book opens on one of the daughters weddings, from their mothers perspective. 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. 91% Upvoted. 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. This book gives you a behind the scenes look into this familys life and I was so grateful for it because most times we leave books wanting more information. Long for the lack of plot and underwhelming and boring characters and is only a bland reference to scene. Scant role in the world tragedy strikes, a genial family doctorstrike their offspring as happy. Tender and satisfyingly positive take on family child, Jonah, the baby of family. As fascinated by David and Marilyns love as their daughters has two young children present primarily balance..., tough, difficult, flawed, self-destructive, bitingly funny and ultimately sympathetic to reviews with another Prize. 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