The Most Fun We Ever Had

 

The Most Fun We Ever Had by Claire Lombardo

Fiction

2019 Random House Audio

Narrated by Emily Rankin

Length: 20 hrs and 33 mins

Finished on September 4, 2021

Rating: 4.5/5 (Very Good)

Publisher's Blurb:

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 the lives they've built.

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 Sorenson's past: years marred by adolescence, infidelity, and resentment, but also the transcendent moments of joy that make everything else worthwhile.

I'm truly surprised that I loved this book as much as I did! I went into it with some trepidation, concerned that it had been over-hyped, much in the way two fairly recent reads (Normal People by Sally Rooney and Anxious People by Fredrik Backman) had been gushed over. Last year a blogging friend (JoAnn of Gulfside Musings) spoke highly of Lombardo's novel and while JoAnn and I aren't true reading twins, we have agreed on several books. This is most definitely one of them!

I listened to the audio edition of Lombardo's debut novel over the course of almost a month (it's over 500 pages in print and 20+ hours on audio) and found it very engaging, eager to get outside on my walks and continue listening. I came to care about the Sorenson family, warts and all. Wendy's caustic criticism and verbal cruelty had me shaking my head in exasperation, wanting to shake her for her rude behavior, until I learned the underlying reasons for her emotional pain. Jonah's tenderness toward his half-brothers tugged at my heartstrings and there were other instances of kindness between other family members that brought a tear to my eye.  Emily Rankin does a superb job reading this multi-generational story and I will seek out more audiobooks narrated by her. 

The Most Fun We Ever Had was an unexpected surprise and had I read the print edition, this richly satisfying book would have found its way to my permanent collection of favorites.  If family dramas similar to The Arrivals (Meg Mitchell Moore), The Children's Crusade (Ann Packer) and Ask Again, Yes (Mary Beth Keane) are your cup of tea, you don't want to miss this one. I hope Lombardo is busy writing another novel!