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. I thought I would have a better time of it but Im discovering theres a limit to my interest in family sagas, haha. She was just trying to do the right thing, but that wasnt so easy, because everyone in her life had a different conception of what the right thing was, and she herself was caught somewhere in the middle.. Please do not be discouraged by the 500+ page count. I wouldve loved to see a bit more variety in content this year and a few less books about motherhood! You will never not be entertained. The Most Fun We Ever Had. Thanks Naty! -- Laline Paull, author of THE BEES I adored The Most Fun We Ever Had. The story centers around a couple (David and Marilyn) from when they met toward their golden years, and each of their four very different daughters. Whats that like? / Its a vast hormonal hellscape. I listened to the audio on a staycation so I'll remember it for a while as the book that kept me company, especially since the audio wouldn't end. "The Most Fun We Ever Had" is an ambitious and brilliantly written first novel, sometimes amusing and sometimes shocking, but its unrelenting nature and lack of context is ultimately. https://literaryelephant.wordpress.com/2019/04/28/womens-prize-2019-longlist-wrap-up-shortlist-prediction/, I havent reached that limit yet but I feel I will, as I read more of the longlist. More points for Lombardo. Thank you! Even family interactions elicit a mix of exasperation and comfort. The prevalence of plot points only made possible thanks to a steady flow of cash is not so much a criticism of the novel as it is something to be aware of before reading: If problems of the rich arent your cup of tea, this book isnt for you. I was frustrated that Violet acted like a complete child throughout the whole book and that the 16 year old kid was acting like more of an adult than her. Oh, jeez. Create an account to follow your favorite communities and start taking part in conversations. By 2016, their four radically different daughters are in a state of unrest. The project is based on the. Colleen Hoover. (LogOut/ Thanks, Emily! At a family wedding, the four Sorenson sisters polka-dot the green lawn in their summer pastels, with varying shades of hair and varying degrees of unease. I feel like even though the book claims each sister is in a state of unrest, Graces struggle is somehow not quite as severe as the others. The Most Fun We Ever Had: A Novel Kindle Edition by Claire Lombardo (Author) Format: Kindle Edition 5,310 ratings Editors' pick Best Literature & Fiction See all formats and editions Kindle $13.99 Read with Our Free App Audiobook $0.00 Free with your Audible trial 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. The Most Fun We Ever Had? The book primarily focuses on Jonahs integration back into the family. The novel is told from the third-person, and provides perspectives from numerous characters. 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. I am a fan! Claire Lombardos dbut, The Most Fun We Ever Had, chronicles the life of a family over the course of a year, yet it passes as quickly as the pages turn. Marilyn Connelly and David Sorenson's love for each other has more than survived the decades, they have 4 now adult daughters, Wendy, Violet, Liza and Grace who have felt pressured to emulate the loving example of their parents. IMDb is the world's most popular and authoritative source for movie, TV and celebrity content. Ah yes, I was so confused about what the author was trying to say about marriage, since all of these characters seemed so quick to condemn this really successful one! This Study Guide consists of approximately 52 pages of chapter summaries, quotes, character analysis, themes, and more - everything you need to sharpen your knowledge of The Most Fun We Ever Had. Sadly the shortlist seemed a bit uninspired compared to the longlist, so Im very curious to see which books will make the cut this year- hopefully not the disappointing ones! Points for Lombardo, again. Completing the quartet is the recently tenured professor Liza, whose own crumbling relationship is constantly falling short of David and Marilyns union. Yes, Violet was not my favorite character, but I appreciated how Lombardo portrayed her because it made me feel. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); Design a site like this with WordPress.com. Sure, David and Marilyn might have had four daughters several people for whom things can go wrong but need all of them be plagued by multiple unresolved demons? Conclusion: I was pleasantly surprised by this book, so much so that I am recommending it to any and all readers. Which also happened to qualify as "sidequests" for that goal, Which triggered the personal quest "Have two team mates retire", And it was our 15th total scenariowhich triggered that personal quest. I just finished this and am already missing the Sorenson family. But I expect more from the Womens Prize than a simple good time, and I didnt find any standout depth or technical skill here. A superb debut novel by Claire Lombardo! Grace confesses her lie and returns home to live with Marilyn and David while she contemplates her next move. 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. My head hurts from hearing about all that love repeatedly. Newcomer Lombardo brews all seven deadly sins into a fun and brimming tale of an unapologetically bougie couple and their unruly daughters. Lombardo shows how menial things can be misinterpreted resulting in decades of bad blood. Change). I mean, having caring parents and a stable household doesnt necessarily guarantee a happy childhood and eventually happy adulthood, but it seemed there should be a better way to go about making that point than blaming the people whove had good luck and put hard work into their relationships. Its definitely an interesting story, but not a perfect one. Change). Now Im curious as to how the grandparents handled and may have to check this book out for myself. Its one to be savored. The Most Fun We Ever Had is a saga of Marilyn and David Sorensons forty-year marriage, messiness and all. We had four teams from Crossfit Alluvium this year. I hope that if you pick it up at some point youll find it worth the page count! KimD66 | Nov 29, 2022 |. There are quite a few books on this years Womens Prize longlist that look at family, parenthood, and marriage, but The Most Fun We Ever Had stands out as the ultimate family saga. Violet also makes amends with Jonah. Colleen Hoover WE GET IT. Overarching it all is the unusually ardent connection between Marilyn and David Sorenson. The two begin a songwriting partnership that grows into something more once Sydney dumps Hunter and decides to crash with Ridge and his two roommates while she gets back on her feet. 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. Definitely a bit longer than it needs to be, though it wasnt a slog for me. 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. everything you need to sharpen your knowledge of The Most Fun We Ever Had. So, one of the daughters has a son when shes very young, with no father in the picture, and hides the entire pregnancy from her family. Wendy, widowed young, soothes herself with booze and younger men . The central story unfurls over a single event-choked year, begun by Wendy, who unlatches a closed adoption and springs on her family the boy her stuffy married sister, Violet, gave away 15 years earlier. They're capable of coming to each other's rescue, but not dependably. . All of her complaints are definitely in the book. This big, chewy, multi-generational tale rings so true, handles multiple characters so deftly, and moves back and forth through its own history with such assurance that one would expect Lombardo to have half a dozen practice runs under . Liza becomes unexpectedly pregnant and begins an affair to avoid dealing with her relationship issues. That book, which. A family of six subsisting on one doctors salary didnt exactly equate to the lap of luxury for the four girls while growing up (which isnt to say they wanted for anything), but most of them were able to improve their circumstances even further as they reached adulthood- their own children are well-situated indeed. easter egg, The Last of Us | 1.2K views, 27 likes, 0 loves, 1 comments, 1 shares, Facebook Watch Videos from Nerdist: Every easter egg in The Last of Us episode 7! 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. We already have a strong community, but this event brought us even closer as we cheered and grinded it out next to each other! Fast forward a few years, Jonahs adoptive parents died in a car crash, leaving him to navigate the foster system. share. She sets the plot in motion by springing a terrible surprise on Violet, whose perfect life is just too much for her to swallow after she suffers a series of unhappy blows. When tragedy strikes, a mother and daughter forge a new life. Naturally, from the inside it is not without its peaks and valleys. Keep it Clean. It certainly made the book more bearable because I wouldn't have lasted till the 50% mark if I was reading the book. This is how Lombardo pulls at your heart strings. As for the audiobook, the narration was decent or I would've dropped the audio even if I had nothing else to listen to. This book give you unlimited access to everything, all the time. I dont have a sister, myself. Yet these lush details almost seem to weigh the novel down. A famous painter. Violet finally speaks to Wendy and learns that Jonah is in foster care as his adoptive parents died in an accident when he was young. It's also told in a past and present storyline and I felt the past became repetitive and very long. 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! There are much better family sagas out there with better stories and fewer pages. After a while, you feel that you've always lived with the Sorenson family, and always will. However, compared to her sisters struggles, Grace is not quite on the same level. Fortunately, I had a good time reading it, though I cant say it had much else going for it. PLEASE TURN OFF YOUR CAPS LOCK. Claire Lombardo, 2019. influencers in the know since 1933. All Rights Reserved. 2. Though it doesnt seem like much fun theyre considerate and selfish in equal measure, they do things for one another without mentioning it and then stab one another in the back its theirs. All the characters, with vastly differing perspectives, are written with clarity. This definitely read like a telenovela in book form for me. Instead, there are plenty of life events. At the age of 20, Wendy marries Miles, a man 15 years her senior who comes from old money, to escape her family and her eating disorder. October 15, 2019 11:00am. (The sisters improbably kept David and Marilyn clueless with a phony study-abroad scheme.) RELEASE DATE: March 18, 2014. Its page count allows Lombardo to examine- in excruciating detail- the minutiae of day-to-day interactions, a lifetime of decisions and assumptions, and each sibling and parent relationship that is one thread in the greater web of this family. Front-loaded with drama, the story leaves plenty of room for the mother and daughter to unpack their feelings and decide whats next. 650 puslapi ir baigta dar viena mano MET knyga. Their dedication, joy and unrelenting lust produced four daughters who share the same collective fear. 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. In addition to more likable characters this could have used a good edit. I am calling it this book will win all of the awards. Your email address will not be published. No prob! The Most Fun We Ever Had Quotes. I was aware that An American Marriage won last year, but I didnt know it was up against a lot of pretty strong works. Author Claire Lombardo writes every sentence with precision. PQ Titles: Study of Anatomy, Trophy Hunt, Zealot of the Blood God, A Helping Hand. Change), You are commenting using your Twitter account. 876 Likes, 43 Comments - @lovelylonghaired on Instagram: "How was YOUR day? Each of the sisters has their own crosses to bear. Wendy, widowed young, soothes herself with . ( 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! Doubleday, 2019. Into this family arrives Jonah, the son Violet had given birth to and then had adopted, whose presence is much needed by the family as can be seen in the impact he has. On that note, if youre looking for likable characters, this probably isnt the book for you. What did last years picks look like? By 2016, they have four radically different daughters, each in a state of unrest. 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. 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. The novel is absolutely a pleasant and enjoyable read, but is in no way gritty.. 49,240 Ratings A multigenerational novel in which the four adult daughters of a Chicago couple--still madly in love after forty years--recklessly ignite old rivalries until a long-buried secret threatens to shatter Want to Read Rate it: Grace continues to evade her family and meets her crush, Ben Barnes. 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. At its core, The Most Fun We Ever Had isnt much more than an entertaining drama about four sisters and their futile competition to prove themselves most worthy of their picture-perfect parents- and each other. I was cautiously optimistic about this years list at first since so many of the titles surprised me- I was hoping that Id find some hidden depths to these titles that I hadnt been expecting, but unfortunately its not turning out that way. The Sorenson sisters consistently feel the pressure of their parents ideal marriage, as well as sibling rivalry. Theres an exchange near the end when Grace tells Ben shes returning home, and he recollects for her her own descriptions of her family members. Not only did I get to read about whats going on presently, but I got to dive into the history and background, to see how each sisters childhood and her birth order shaped her. 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. 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. , 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! This thread is archived. When you purchase an independently reviewed book through our site, we earn an affiliate commission. Though this year is presented chronologically, the book also delivers numerous flashbacks that showcase virtually every significant moment in each characters life, from the parents origin story, through their four daughters childhoods, and into choices each make as adults, all leading up to this one eventful year. 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