THE MOST FUN WE EVER HAD
by Claire Lombardo
I was definitely late to the Claire Lombardo party. Somehow, I hadn’t heard about The Most Fun We Ever Had until people started talking about her second book which was released this summer: Same As It Ever Was. I thoroughly enjoyed The Most Fun We Ever Had from start to finish and have her new book waiting for me in my stack of “To Be Read” books.
The Most Fun We Ever Had lays out the story of the Sorenson family, Marilyn, David and their four adult daughters. Growing up with Marilyn and David as parents, each daughter develops strong ideas about what love between a man and a woman should look like and Lombardo explores their pursuit of that love. We find the oldest daughter, Wendy, still reeling from the too-early death of her husband and seeking solace in alcohol and young men. Violet, a driven attorney who leaves her career to raise her two boys, struggles with anxiety and issues of self-esteem. Liza, a successful academic who finds herself trapped in a relationship with a severely depressed man, finds herself pregnant and unsure of what to do. And then there is Grace, the youngest daughter, who feels she must lie about her life in order to meet her family’s expectations. Into this complicated, competitive world of sisters, Lombardo introduces Jonah, a 15-year-old boy that one of the sisters gave up for adoption without her family’s knowledge. The remainder of the novel explores how each of the characters responds to Jonah’s arrival amongst them and how his presence forces them to redefine family, fidelity and love itself.
It turns out that The Most Fun We Ever Had explores many kinds of love other than that between a man and a woman. Lombardo deftly writes about the love between parents and their adult children, between sisters and between aunts and their nephew. In all, Lombardo exposes love deep and wide. The Most Fun We Ever Had – and the Sorenson family – will stay with you long after you’ve finished the book. This one is a MUST read. (Liz)
