The Most Fun We Ever Had by Claire Lombardo – 384 pages
ARC courtesy of Doubleday Books in exchange for an honest review.
Book 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.
My Review: 5 stars
The Most Fun We Ever Had read like a Netflix program I was bingeing on. I didn’t want to come up for air. The Sorenson family was the family next door, a family from TV and your own family all scrambled together. Every reader can relate to some part of it. This prolific story covered a gamut of issues that can often feel forced, but not in this gem. The issues came about in an authentic and meaningful way.
I’ve been recommending this book to everyone and some have been scared off by the length. Do not worry about it, you’ll end the book wanting to metaphorically binge on the next season (sequel?). It’s interesting that the author is a mere thirty-years-old, with no children, and has created a wise and nuanced novel with such emotional precision. In an interview in the NY Times she says, “I had to remind myself I’m allowed to write about things I don’t know, like a 40-year marriage. I just had to do my emotional homework.” This whole book is an ode to family, including all the highs and lows of marriage, parenting, sibling rivalry, birth order, secrets, disfunction, adoption, tradition, widowhood, infertility, depression, anxiety, the resurfacing of lies, secrets and the power of love.
Each of the characters were allowed their own perspective and often transitioned between past and present, character to character within a page. Thank you, Claire Lombardo, for believing that we, the readers, can follow along with the story without having to timestamp and document whose voice is coming through. This was brilliant storytelling! I also appreciated Jonah’s character; his voice, as an outsider to the Sorenson’s dysfunction, was a great lens to looks through.
Not to pressure the author, but she’s got a lot to live up to so this isn’t a one-hit wonder. I’m certain she’ll hit it out of the park if this book is any indication of what’s in store for her next book.
Highly recommend!
Quotes I liked:
Normalcy: it bore a second look, sociologically speaking.”
“It’s my plan to outlive everyone and spend my days reveling in a disgusting level of opulence.”
“He’s sorry. He’s embarrassed. He’s hungry. The Catholic trifecta. You’ve taught him well.”
“Pregnancy was the cruelest evolutionary fuck-you, filling you with more anxiety than you’d ever experienced in your life while prohibiting you from imbibing anything that might calm your nerves.”
“How could you grow people inside your own body, sprout them from your own extant materials, and suddenly be unable to recognize them?”
“Nobody’s ever prepared to care for a child full-time, is what I mean. Nobody understands what that means until they do it for themselves. We’re all just holding our breath and hoping nothing catastrophic happens. And how deeply you get hurt doing that! It’s constant pain. It’s a parade of complete and utter agony, all the time, forever.”
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