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!

Such a lovely, beautifully written family saga. I'm drawn to novels that explore the depths of family and Claire Lombardo has creating a novel with getting into. Told from multiple perspectives using both past and present to represent the story, a reader gets to understand the heart of this family. This novel will captivate you, it sure did for me.

I am really torn about this book. I called it a "did not finish" at about 50%. I really, really wanted to like it - I'm a librarian in the area where the book takes place, and it's tremendously popular in our community right now. So, I guess it doesn't matter too much what my opinion is, the book clearly sells itself. :) I will say that the storyline of the eldest daughter Wendy is by far the highlight of the book. She is funny, irreverent, and altogether entertaining. There's not enough of her! The feature that made me put the book down was the seemingly endless parade of interminable passages describing how in love the parents are with each other. It became weird how the author seemed hellbent on driving that home. Once I found out how young the author was, that made sense - she wasn't really writing that part from any sort of life experience. The thing that made me sad to put the book down was that it IS very entertainingly written. Some of the passages are simply captivating. I loved feeling part of this moneyed family, and of course the local appeal is there too. Claire Lombardo has some real talent and is a writer to watch - I will definitely look out for her next novel. Thank you!

Sometimes you're just in the mood for a family saga and this one does not disappoint. It's plot points are similar to other dramas, the difference being the palpable love of the characters for each other, fully fleshed out.

A story of life and love and family. The Sorenson's adore each other, David and Marilyn can barely keep their hands off of each other, much to the embarassment of their 4 daughters. Their daughters struggle to find love and happiness that measure up to their parent's. But are their parent's as happy as they seem?

The Most Fun We Ever Had by Claire Lombardo was one of the most delightful books that I've read this summer! I fell in love with all of the members of the Sorenson family and hated to finish the book and leave them all behind. David and Marilyn are living a crazy life of work and raising their 4 daughters while still remaining as in love as they were at the beginning of their relationship. So many family secrets and dramas abound in this book. Read and enjoy!

The Most Fun We Ever Had by Claire Lombardo was one of my favorite reads so far this year. It was joyful, heartbreakingly sad, and full of love all at the same time. It’s a multigenerational story of a family, their relationships to each other, the outside world, and the things that both bind them together and tear them apart.

Having a daughter of my own I found myself thinking often about what she’ll be like when she grows up, will I face any of the same challenges in the book, or have the same closeness. It made me appreciative for my own insane family of misfits and wish we weren’t so dispersed across the globe.

All in all, I loved it, and I hope you will too. I also listened to the audiobook, and it was beautifully narrated by Emily Rankin. In fact, she did such a wonderful job I’m already searching for other audiobooks she’s performed.

Books over 300 pages intimidate me, but somehow I was able to get through this one easily. The Sorenson family starts like any normal family would - with love. But having four girls will create a chaotic life for just about anyone. The family faces many struggles but somehow still finds themselves there for one another in the end.

The book drew me in with the character development, and how open and honest the lives of the family members felt. Truly no stone was left unturned. I can't even count the number of "oh my gosh," moments that I had throughout this book.

I hope you are able to get your hands on a copy of this book soon! Thank you NetGalley, DoubleDay Books, and Claire Lombardo for an ARC of this novel!

Where do I even begin? This novel completely captivated my heart from page one in a way that is almost indescribable.

I am a mother of five girls and I am madly and ridiculously in love with my husband of almost 2 decades. I connected with Marilyn and David in ways that I've never connected with characters before.

I'm not exaggerating when I say that page after page I gasped at the way Claire Lombardo puts words together. I am going to buy this book so that I can highlight the passages that I fell in love with. Lombardo describes parenthood, love, sisterhood, and life PERFECTLY.

This book is an absolute gift and a beautiful treasure. It will be in my heart and on my mind for many years to come.

I loved this. I saw someone compare it to Commonwealth, which I think is apt--they're both about the weird, complicated, intense bonds between siblings that form when their parents are more interested in themselves than in their children. In Commonwealth, that was actually the case, but in The Most Fun We Ever Had, the idea that their parents love each other more than them seems to be as much a story the siblings tell each other as it is the actual truth. Lombardo does a masterful job interweaving the different characters' histories and moving back and forth through time in a way that heightens interest in both the present-day story (which is increasingly gripping without ever quite tipping into melodrama) and the unfolding history (ditto).

I was totally caught up in this story about a family, particularly one of four sisters. I saw so many things that reminded me of my relationships with my own sisters.

Thoroughly enjoyed this engrossing family saga which portrays the Sorensons and their four grown daughters who are each struggling in their adult lives. The daughters see their parents love and marriage as perfection making their own relationships difficult to compare. However, the story includes flashbacks to the early years of the marriage and cracks in the relationship emerge. Both humorous and heartbreaking at times, this novel insightfully displays the emotional complexity of family dynamics with richly drawn characters.

The Most Fun We Ever Had was an extremely slow read for me. Though I was fascinated by the complexity of the characters, and intrigued by the premise, I cant say I was particularly riveted by this novel. It's definitely multi-generational as advertised. I really had to pay attention to the timeframes as the story moved about in time, and that got quite complicated. I do have to say that I felt compelled to follow the characters and see how everything turned out. The amount of detail made it inconvenient to skim, The Most Fun We Ever Had became a book I would take frequent breaks from, which didnt help the flow for me.
I think this novel will appeal to readers who are looking for story and substance on a large scale. There are a lot of discussion and debate opportunities. I expect it to become a book discussion selection staple. 3.5
I received my copy through NetGalley under no obligation.

I started reading The Most Fun We Ever Had, and was immersed right away into the lives of the Sorenson family. I loved how the story opened and we first get to see the love between Chicago couple Marilyn and David, the matriarch and patriarch of the family tree, and their four daughters.

Little by little we get to meet each of the four daughters, from eldest Wendy, to baby Gracie, and I am once again reminded at how much I love a novel with rich family dynamics.

Spanning over the years from the 1970’s to 2016, this book takes you through the ups and downs of marriage, parenthood, friendship, trust, lies, adolescence, infidelity, resentment, joy, affection, love and at the true center, sisterhood.

*Thank you netgalley and DoubleDay books for this free ebook in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own

I loved this book! It took me some time to get through as I’d read it in short spurts before bed. However, while on a flight from Portland to the Midwest I got the chunk of time I needed to sink into this book, and was sad when it ended! Above all, I felt like the author captured adult sisters really well! The characters felt real, and the story was interesting enough to elevate it from a portrayal of believable characters to something that keeps you invested! Recommended to you if you like multigenerational family sagas. Thanks to NetGalley and Doubleday for the e-copy in exchange for my honest review!

Marilyn and David are married and have four daughters - Wendy. Violet, Liza and Grace. When we first meet the Sorensons, all four daughters are grown and out of the house. Each of them has their own struggles, but when 15 year old Jonah arrives on the scene, things really ramp up. Jonah is the son Violet gave up for adoption when he was born. As he tries to figure out this new family of his, we get to do the same.

Each of the daughters think their parents have a marriage that is free of turmoil and has been nothing but smooth sailing. But in chapters related to Marilyn and David's relationship through the years, we find out that this is not necessarily the case.

It was fun spending time with the Sorenson's. At first I thought - man, this family is wacko. But in all honesty. they are probably not that much different than most families. It was interesting to see how they play off one and other, sometimes for the good and sometimes for the bad. Ah yes - family - isn't it wonderful?!

My thanks to Doubleday and Netgalley.

Let me get this out of the way, TMFWEH is an excellent book. For sure one of my favorite reads of the year. I thought Lombardo did a great job really investing the reader in the Sorensen family, so much so that you have no problem reading 500 pages about their family dynamics and issues. I think a lot of that is due in part to the narrative structure and the really effective use of time jumps: telling the story out of order really helped create drama and tension and mystery: what caused such a rift in Wendy and Violet’s relationship? Did David cheat on Marilyn? Why is Grace such a lying loser? Haha, I will say at a certain point I was a little exhausted with so many grown white women blaming all of their problems on their parents for being amazing, loving people who did a pretty solid job raising 4 whiny, privileged daughters (I actually had to put the book down and read something else for a while). With that being said, this minor criticism should not put you off from reading this one as overall I thought it was pretty fabulous and worth checking out, especially if you were a fan of recent books such as #AskAgainYes, #NormalPeople, and #WhiteElephant. Thanks to my friends at @doubledaybooks for the gifted copy of this one!

Family drama centered around a Chicago suburban family with 4 daughters who, despite their seemingly perfectly in-love parents, have various levels of issues/drama/obstacles to handle. It helps having a connection to the Chicago area as it adds some nostalgia to this book, but overall I really enjoyed getting to know the Sorenson family. All the characters seemed very real and flawed in a way that made you hate them or empathize for them (sometimes both at once).

{My Thoughts}
I’ve said it before and I’m sure I’ll say it again, but it bears repeating, “Every family has a story.” That is especially true in Claire Lombardo’s gorgeous debut, The Most Fun We Ever Had. Spanning nearly 50 years and over 500 pages that flew by, Lombardo delivers to us the Sorenson family with all their triumphs and failures. Always maintaining focus on the family, she wisely told her story in alternating timelines.

One began in 1975 as Marilyn and David first met, fell in love and married. That timeline moves slowly forward as the reader gets to know the Sorensons as a couple and as parents. We’re introduced to each of their four daughters and watch them grow up, change and begin their own lives. This is the timeline where we really get to know this family of six, though it takes all 500+ pages and the journey right up until 2016 to truly understand them.

I’m giving nothing away when I tell you that the catalyst for the second timeline, is the arrival of Jonah, a 15-year old boy who had secretly been given up for adoption by one of the sisters. This is not a family that wants to let go of one of their own, yet Jonah’s arrival stirs the pot of tensions between sisters that has been threatening to boil over for many years. As the two timelines finally mesh, the full picture of the Sorenson family finally becomes clear.

I loved so much about The Most Fun We Ever Had, starting with the relationship between Marilyn and David. It was so refreshing to read a story about a couple that truly loved each other and were committed to their relationship despite hardships. The daughters’ frequent embarrassment with their parent’s amorous behavior just added to the beauty of their marriage.

“The room spun again. Kid made her think of her parents, suddenly, of her father bowing theatrically to her mother at Wendy’s wedding, hearing Otis Reading – “win a little; lose a little” – and declaring, “It’s our song, kid.” Every song belonged to her parents it seemed; everything recorded in the last six decades had something to do with David and Marilyn, those two inexplicable people from whom she hailed.”

I also found the complicated relationship created between the two oldest daughters, Wendy and Violet, especially poignant. If you’re a fan of family dynamics and/or character-driven stories, you will love The Most Fun We Ever Had. I predict you’ll find it high on my list of top books for 2019. Grade: A

Note: I received a copy of this book from Doubleday (via NetGalley) in exchange for my honest review.

I'm a sucker for multigenerational family stories (a la Commonwealth) and this might be my favorite yet. Lombardo's writing is stunning, so visceral yet beautiful, it's hard to believe it's a debut novel. Her ability to depict the complicated and nuanced relationships that exist within families is wise beyond her years, the characters so sharply drawn you feel like to intimately know each of them. At 532 pages, this book is not short, but I could have stayed with the Sorensons forever, so absorbed was I by this family. No matter what size family you come from, you'll be able to relate to the complex, intricate, tangled relationships between siblings, parents, and lovers. I highly and enthusiastically recommend this book!