HBO has put in development The Most Fun We Ever Had, a drama-series project based on Claire Lombardo 's New York Times bestselling novel, from Amy . When Marilyn Connolly and David Sorenson fall in love in the 1970s, they are blithely ignorant of all that's to come. This big, chewy, multi-generational tale rings so true, handles multiple characters so deftly, and moves back and. Yes, it is a tome, but once you are installed in the story, it pulls you naturally along. Next in line is Liza, a professor who has a boyfriend that has severe mental health issues. HOWEVER, Violet was completely rude and hostile towards Jonah. This book reminds you that a plot doesnt need to have some major incident as a shock factor, that an author can simply explore complex family dynamics and yet still satisfy all your reader needs. Across all of these moments, The Most Fun We Ever Had demonstrates the duality of affection and pain in familial relationships, showing that what holds people together can also drive them apart, and that it is after all easiest to hurt the ones we love. All of her complaints are definitely in the book. In this "rich, complex family saga" ( USA Today) full of long-buried family secrets, Marilyn Connolly and David Sorenson fall in love in the 1970s, blithely ignorant of all that awaits them. Change), You are commenting using your Twitter account. Many, many character povs and lots of timeline jumps. Every chapter contains a piece of the pie that you must consume. ( 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! Lombardo captures this often toxic sibling dynamic with the perfect image: "A seesaw, this sisterhood, and Wendy was the jerk who jumped off early so the other person toppled into the sand. If you ever get the chance to sail on Disney Magic or any of the Disney ships don't miss the Sail Away party that takes place shortly after the muster drill as the ship pulls out to sea. What a fantastic debut novel by Claire Lombardo! It doesnt help that Miller already has a jealous girlfriend who stalks him via text from college. Set in the Chicago suburbs, Lombardo's book has been compared to The Corrections, Jonathan Franzen's seminal ode to a dysfunctional Midwestern family. I also didn't like the timeline jumps. Those three paragraphs are all you need to read. Four Chicago sisters anchor a sharp, sly family story of feminine guile and guilt. By 2016, their four radically . Please comment your thoughts on how I did or what you thought of the book. There was a lot of repetition and I honestly wanted to skip some pages when the characters really got on my nerves. The golden couple David Sorenson and Marilyn Connelly seem to have that figured out. In the process, players will enhance their abilities with experience and loot, discover new locations to explore and plunder, and expand an ever-branching story fueled by the decisions they make. Ryan leaves Liza. The adopted boy has, by a bad stroke of luck, spent most of his life in the foster care system, and his sudden need for care provides a rude awakening for the sisters whove grown up with two loving parents in a big house with adequate income. The present storyline contains most of what we . Violet feels as though she is losing her husband Matt, and struggles to accept Jonah into their lives. 8 comments. Violet quickly departs avoiding the now fifteen year-old Jonah. Retrieve credentials. We had four teams from Crossfit Alluvium this year. What do they represent? Shepherd is a community of 7,000+ authors sharing their favorite books with the world. save. ROMANCE | The Most Fun We Ever Had Summary & Study Guide includes comprehensive information and analysis to But I expect more from the Womens Prize than a simple good time, and I didnt find any standout depth or technical skill here. All the characters, with vastly differing perspectives, are written with clarity. THE MOST FUN WE EVER HAD By Claire Lombardo The big family secret is revealed almost immediately in Claire Lombardo's engrossing debut novel, "The Most Fun We Ever Had," which. Pages may include moderate to heavy amount of notes and highlighting, but the text is not obscured or unreadable. Its a love story, its a coming of age story, its a generational story, and yet despite everything the book encompasses, its primary purpose seems to be entertainment. Thats where I thought Lombardos writing shone in this book- the characters arent always sympathetic but they do feel like complex, well-thought-out people and it was so interesting to see how their lives and decisions would intersect. 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. Also, nothing was happening for me. Claire Lombardo's The Most Fun We Ever Had debuted on the New York Times bestseller list an impressive start for this first-time novelist who started life in Oak Park. 3, flirts with a groomsman at her sisters wedding. 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. Colleen Hoover And yes, the book is annoyingly long! I had this in a queue at my library but I may press on with others I want to read first! (LogOut/ A few themes are replayed so often David and Marilyn's canoodling, Violet's uptight rigidity that the book would have benefited from judicious trims, particularly in the flashbacks. 'The Most Fun We Ever Had' is a deliciously absorbing novel with brace yourself a tender and satisfyingly positive take on family. Hoover is a master at writing scenes from dual perspectives. [ Claire Lombardo describes how she arrived at the Iowa Writers Workshop with a very messy, 813-page draft. ]. While Lombardo's focus is on more happily wedded couples than Tyler's mismatched pairs, both writers share an interest in the forces that bind spouses decades after their "I do's.". Clara dreams of being an actress and has a crush on Miller, who plans to go to film school, but her father doesn't approve. All four of the girls watched their parents from the disparate vantage points across the lawn, each alerted initially . Ah, sorry you didnt enjoy this one! Signs of wear can include aesthetic issues such as scratches, dents, worn and creased covers, folded page corners and minor liquid stains. 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. These are such specific characters, in such a specific situation, that its difficult to apply much of their experience to life beyond the novel. Structured in a way that moves back and forth in time and allows different characters to be the focus, it is never hard to follow. Only a few pages into the novel, and the reader already knows about Wendys vulnerability, characterized as vestiges of her teenage habits appeared only fleetingly for her now she still, on occasion, flirted with the idea of purging, and once in a while shed try a diet that she read about in US Weekly. Too long for the lack of plot and underwhelming and boring characters. Their long-infatuated parents watch on with a combination of love and concern. Then all of a sudden in the last 100 pages, Violet accepts Jonah, apologizes to him and and everything is fine and dandy. The project is based on the. It took me almost 2 weeks to finish this 500+ page family saga. Unless the takeaway is that we shouldnt present our children with the model of a solid marriage for fear of setting the bar too high, theres little substance to take back to the real world after closing the back cover. 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. I don't have to like the characters to appreciate family dramas but I need to like something about this book. Be the first to contribute! Of course its not the responsibility of every novel to wrestle with cultural shifts, with politics and war, but the near total absence of even a whiff of non-Sorenson-related events over 40 years and 500-plus pages must be a conscious choice. The main action of this notably apolitical, all-white, all-straight novel takes place over four seasons, beginning in the spring of 2016 which finds just about every member of the Sorenson family in turmoil. , i read this book last year and didnt like it at all, so its been so interesting to see what people have been saying in their reviews of it now that its on the womens prize longlist! Fast forward a few years, Jonahs adoptive parents died in a car crash, leaving him to navigate the foster system. The characters were flawed sure but also horrible. Each of the sisters has their own crosses to bear. Another dysfunctional family book , 500 pages long, 4 daughters who are mostly annoying and unbearable, bring it on, this is one of the most challenging experience for me! I've had a day of bliss at @thehausofvenom with my partner. The narrative alternates between flashbacks and the present, such that the former gives much-needed context to an otherwise convoluted and detail-packed story. My Lord, did I love this novel. I was confused at first, too! I think it lacks some of the commentary and insight that you mentioned Such a Fun Age doing well, for example, which was why this one didnt quite work for me. It looks like the judges were just very interested in books about parenthood this year for some reason! She also decided that his biological family should be the ones to provide that. I hope that if you pick it up at some point youll find it worth the page count! And that sometimes they choose zero degrees. Lombardo's novel is divided into 34 chapters, with dated flashbacks interspersed throughout in order to provide deeper exposition on the relationships between characters. But if it still appeals despite that deeper level of nuance, I would recommend giving it a try. There are a FEW more likable characters though so its maybe not a totally lost cause! Ive been continually surprised by how often motherhood comes up as a focus even in the longlisted novels I wasnt expecting to lean that way! 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.) The item is very worn but continues to work perfectly. By 2016, they have four radically different daughters, each in a state of unrest. Strange, perhaps, for a woman who'd added four beings to the universe of her own reluctant volition, but a fact nonetheless: Marilyn rued the inconvenient presence of bodies, bodies beyond her control, her . October 15, 2019 11:00am. Into this churn, Lombardo adds cancer, infidelity, a heart attack, another unplanned pregnancy, a stillbirth, and an office crush for David. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); Design a site like this with WordPress.com. Front-loaded with drama, the story leaves plenty of room for the mother and daughter to unpack their feelings and decide whats next. 8. Imagine a perfectly crafted mash-up of LITTLE WOMEN and THE CORRECTIONS. The author hinted that the child's mother had sex with someone another sister would find upsetting. But let's not lose sight of Lombardo's considerable achievement. The Most Fun We Ever Had by Claire Lombardo review - family friction A restless mother and meddling sister trigger family reprisals in this nuanced, polished debut Claire Lombardo: 'a keen. Press J to jump to the feed. Thank you! Some of those remarks are challenged a bit on the page, like the daughter who says her mom is in schizoid mode is berated for it right after by other characters present. 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. Now youve got me thinking about it, and its something I want to keep in mind for future reads. I am a fan! The Most Fun We Ever Had is a well-structured story that shares the characters' backstory adroitly, never all at once, but in reveals that feel well-timed, well-placed. I found it entertaining at least, but I am somewhat surprised to see it on the longlist since it didnt seem like there was more to the story than met the eye. Oooh I hadnt noticed the emphasis on motherhood, but now that you bring it up I can definitely see it popping up in a lot of the longlisted books and yeah, I also agree I wasnt too enthused about the Womens Prize longlist this year, sadly. Don't Threaten. 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. I just noticed how long this book is. It kept me interested enough to finish it but the ending wasn't worth it. From the beginning, I realized that Most Fun would be a new standard for me, Lombardo has a way with words and creating characters that just leapt off the page. Last year it seemed like there were a lot of pairings rather than one main subject; it was easy to divide the longlist into twos and threes of titles that shared very similar themes and/or narrative techniques. A superb debut novel by Claire Lombardo! Wendy and Violet mend old wounds stemming from Wendys losses, both of her husband and her stillborn daughter. Want to keep up with breaking news? Pre-publication book reviews and features keeping readers and industry THE MOST FUN WE EVER HAD by Claire Lombardo RELEASE DATE: June 25, 2019 Four Chicago sisters anchor a sharp, sly family story of feminine guile and guilt. Grace continues to evade her family and meets her crush, Ben Barnes. The author of this novel is an old soul. As the work closes, David and Marilyn find contentment and comfort in one another as they marvel at the brood they have created, out of their extraordinary and enduring love. Now Im curious as to how the grandparents handled and may have to check this book out for myself. This Study Guide consists of approximately 52pages of chapter summaries, quotes, character analysis, themes, and more - Oh man, I appreciate your honest review!! Bibliographic information. While music student Sydney is watching her neighbor Ridge play guitar on his balcony across the courtyard, Ridge is watching Sydneys boyfriend, Hunter, secretly make out with her best friend on her balcony. The central narrative arc of the work begins in Chapter One with the Spring of 2017, and ends on December 10, 2017, in The Midst of Life. The novel focuses on the extraordinary marriage of Marilyn and David Sorenson, and the byproduct of their incredible union, the four Sorenson girls. In that case, you might really enjoy this one! 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. A room without books is like a body without a soul., [This review contains spoilers heads up!]. #haunted #haunting #ghost #mystery #strange. Amy Adams ( Sharp Objects) and Laura Dern ( Big Little Lies) are producing a new drama series, The Most Fun We Ever Had, for HBO, Deadline confirmed. This book give you unlimited access to everything, all the time. I appreciated your probing more into the themes of the novel and how they didnt seem to illuminate anything beyond the specific situation of this family. Their personalities are shitty. Trust me. It certainly made the book more bearable because I wouldn't have lasted till the 50% mark if I was reading the book. There is something funny, notable or awe-inspiring on every single page' Jenny Colgan, Spectator A joyful celebration of books - the perfect gift for bibliophiles, word lovers and anyone who's ever wondered, should you judge a book by its cover? 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. Has a boyfriend that has severe mental health issues many character povs and lots of timeline jumps that his family., you might really enjoy this one you are commenting using your Twitter account watch on with I... 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