The Most Fun We Ever Had

Longlisted for the Women's Prize for Fiction 2020

By: Claire Lombardo

Narrated by: Laurel Lefkow

Length: 19 hrs and 45 mins

Publisher's Summary

Longlisted for the Women's Prize for Fiction 2020

The New York Times best seller.

Meet the Sorenson Family.

Marilyn has somehow fallen into motherhood and spent four decades married to

David, who's pretty certain he loves her more than anyone has ever loved another person.

Wendy, their eldest, a cause for concern, soothes herself with drink after being widowed young,

while Violet, lawyer-turned-stay-at-home-mother, is disturbed by the reappearance of a son placed for adoption 15 years earlier.

Liza, a professor, is pregnant with a baby she's not sure she wants by a man she's not sure she loves

and Grace, their dawdling youngest daughter, lives a lie that no one in her family suspects.

©2019 Claire Lombardo (P)2020 Orion Publishing Group

Critic Reviews

"A gripping and poignant ode to a messy, loving family in all its glory." (Madeline Miller)

"A moving, immersive, often very funny study of family and sisterhood."(Sunday Times)

!Like Meg Wolitzer. A forensic dissection of family past and present, I loved it. If you like reading about relationships, this one is for you." (Pandora Sykes)

Couldn’t get into it at all.

I found the main character irritating beyond belief and couldn’t find any sympathy for her in any capacity. I found the tone of the book self-consciously (smug) middle class and finally gave up after trying several times to get into it but never getting very far.
The narrator was fine. It was the writing I loathed.

Couldn't Feel It

Some insight but somehow never translating into compelling characterisation leaving the sad and happy events equally emotionally insignificant...Don't know whether the shallowness is the culture or the author's grasp of it.

Nicely done!

I think this book will have something for everyone. The insights into the family characters were brilliant though I felt it was just a bit too long. Great fun though!

Wonderful!

I loved this book so much. Great writing, great narrating. Coming from a family of four girls I could relate to a lot of this! It’s about life, love, loss, secrets and loads of stuff in between. I can’t recommend it enough. I make special mention of the narrator who is amazing. Not just her ability to do different genders, ages etc but in the main storytelling part too. She kept what is a long listen very fresh and entertaining.

I wanted a bit more to happen

Well written and great characters but not much happens, and it’s a long book for not much to happen.

Loved this

I loved this book so much ! Everything about it was enjoyable and comforting. A well observed family saga about parental, sibling and romantic relationships.

Slow start but a satisfying drama about family relationships

Well observed and gripping despite a slow start. Would recommend to others especially those interested in sister relationships.

Lost interest

As others have said, I couldn’t get into it at all and it become background noise. Didn’t care about any of the characters except Jonah. Boring and lacked anything much happening. Not for me.

Hmmmm

Hmmmm. Not sure what I think. I’m usually a sucker for a long family saga, but I prefer for there to be more characters that I really like, and miss, when I finish the book. Many of the characters here are pretty annoying. Having said that, I found myself wanting to know what came next. I also enjoyed the jumping backwards and forwards in time, which I know others found difficult, but I found added to the stories.
Laura Lefkow is one of my favourite narrators, so I’d listen just for her.
In general, I’d recommend, but not my favourite book.

Its quite long but I loved it.

Well read story of a family's life together. The author articulated feelings and perceptions so well.