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The Most Fun We Ever Had by Claire Lombardo Review: A Sprawling, Spiked Family Saga
Claire Lombardo's debut novel is a multigenerational family saga centered on the Sorenson family — parents David and Marilyn, still passionately in love after four decades, and their four adult daughters whose rivalries and secrets threaten to unravel everything — earning a New York Times Bestseller designation, a Women's Prize for Fiction nomination, and selection as a Reese's Book Club Pick.
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Best for
Readers who love expansive American family sagas — think Anne Tyler or Jonathan Franzen — and want a multigenerational novel that balances dark comedy, sisterly rivalry, and a decades-long love story with genuine literary ambition.
Worth it if
You're drawn to psychologically intricate domestic fiction and are happy to commit to a large, slowly accumulating cast across multiple decades — especially if you read with a book club that can dig into its layered characters and recurring symbolic threads.
Skip if
You prefer lean, tightly plotted narratives or morally complex central relationships throughout — the novel's deliberately unhurried pace and its idealized portrait of David and Marilyn's marriage may frustrate rather than reward you.
What readers & critics say
Kirkus Reviews praised it as "a sharp, sly family story of feminine guile and guilt," calling Lombardo's debut "fun and brimming" with a particular kind of female intelligence. Open Kimono Publishing described the prose as "lush without being heavy, balancing humor and heartbreak in a way that makes the novel impossible to put down," and noted it was hailed on selection as a "brilliant" and "addictive" family saga that is "sprawling in scope yet intimate at its core."
“Four Chicago sisters anchor a sharp, sly family story of feminine guile and guilt — a fun and brimming tale.”
— Kirkus Reviews4.1from 30,380 Amazon ratings— reader ratings, not a LuvemBooks score
In This Review
- What Works & What Doesn't
- What the Novel Actually Is
- Significance and Place in the Genre
- What the Novel Does Well
- Genuine Limitations and Who It May Frustrate
- Who This Novel Is Genuinely For
What Works & What Doesn't
What Works
- New York Times Bestseller and Women's Prize for Fiction nominee in its debut — a rare dual achievement for a first novel
- Praised by a published review as 'a rich, engrossing family saga, spiked with sisterly malice' and by Jane Smiley in the Washington Post as 'ambitious and brilliantly written'
- Lombardo manages a large multigenerational cast across decades with what critics described as seeming effortlessness and acute psychological depth
- The novel works on multiple registers simultaneously — dark comedy, family drama, and a structurally surprising secret — giving it broad reader appeal
- Selected as a Reese's Book Club Pick and optioned for television, reflecting both popular enthusiasm and industry recognition
What Doesn't
- The novel's substantial length and deliberately accumulative pace are a commitment that may not suit readers who prefer tightly plotted or lean narratives
- The central marriage between David and Marilyn is portrayed as an idealized partnership, which some readers may find less morally complex than the daughters' storylines
Claire Lombardo's debut novel is a multigenerational saga with the staying power to earn both major award recognition and a devoted popular following — a rare combination for a first work of fiction.
What the Novel Actually Is
Back cover synopsis describing four adult daughters of a Chicago couple and a family secret.
The Most Fun We Ever Had is a multigenerational novel tracing the Sorenson family across decades. When Marilyn Connolly and David Sorenson fall in love in the 1970s, they are, as the novel's own synopsis frames it, blithely ignorant of all that's to come. Their marriage — depicted as still passionately intact after forty years — becomes both the anchor and the irritant for their four adult daughters, who recklessly ignite old rivalries over the course of a tumultuous year. The catalyst is a long-buried secret that surfaces and threatens to upend the lives each daughter has carefully constructed. Lombardo earned her MFA in fiction at the Iowa Writers' Workshop and spent several years doing social work in Chicago before writing the novel — a background that informs its attention to the psychological textures of family dysfunction.
“juggles a huge cast of characters with seeming effortlessness, bringing each to life with humor, vividness and acute psychological”
Significance and Place in the Genre
Lombardo's debut arrived as a genuinely ambitious entry into the tradition of the American family saga. The novel was a New York Times Bestseller and received a Women's Prize for Fiction nomination — two markers of both commercial reach and literary seriousness. It was later selected as a Reese's Book Club Pick, and the novel has been optioned for television by Reese Witherspoon. Critical comparisons placed it in pointed company: reviewers invoked Jonathan Franzen and Anne Tyler as reference points, situating Lombardo's work within a lineage of sprawling, psychologically intricate American domestic fiction. That the novel arrived as a debut made these comparisons all the more striking to critics.
What the Novel Does Well
The breadth of Lombardo's cast and her command of it drew consistent praise. A reception summary from Penguin Random House notes that Lombardo "juggles a huge cast of characters with seeming effortlessness, bringing each to life with humor, vividness and acute psychological" depth. A published review described it as "a rich, engrossing family saga, spiked with sisterly malice," rendered "with such skill and finely tuned interest that it feels like a quiet subversion of the traditional family saga." Jane Smiley, writing in critical coverage, called the novel "ambitious and brilliantly written." The Times UK noted that Lombardo brings "a wry, often spiky humour and tightly written style" to what it called "a moving, immersive, often very funny study of family and sisterhood." The novel's use of recurring imagery — gingko trees appear from the opening scene through David and Marilyn's early courtship and beyond — has been cited as a structuring symbolic thread running through the narrative.
Genuine Limitations and Who It May Frustrate
At its core, the novel's greatest commercial strength is also its most natural point of friction for certain readers: its scale. The story spans multiple decades and follows a large ensemble, and at the length the paperback edition runs, the commitment asked of a reader is substantial. Some readers drawn to tightly plotted fiction or lean narratives may find the novel's deliberate, accumulative pace — its willingness to sit inside a family's ordinary moments as much as its crises — a challenge rather than a pleasure. The novel's emotional center, the enduring romance between David and Marilyn, is rendered as an idealized partnership; readers who prefer moral ambiguity distributed equally across all characters, rather than concentrated in the daughters, may find that dynamic less complicated than they'd like.
Who This Novel Is Genuinely For
Readers who respond to the expansive domestic novels of Anne Tyler or Jonathan Franzen — fiction that treats the family as a sufficient universe, full of competing loyalties, inherited damage, and dark comedy — will find The Most Fun We Ever Had a natural fit. Its combination of sisterly friction, a decades-long love story, and a secret that reshapes what readers thought they understood about the Sorensons gives the novel both emotional momentum and structural surprise. Authors Margot Livesey and Affinity Konar have praised it as "gorgeous and profound" and "remarkably alive and wise," respectively — endorsements that reflect the novel's success at working simultaneously as page-turner and literary character study. For book clubs, the novel's layered cast and its explicit symbolic architecture — those recurring gingko trees, Violet's late-revealed secret — offer abundant material for discussion.
Frequently Asked Questions
is The Most Fun We Ever Had (Reese's Book Club Pick): A Novel by Claire Lombardo worth reading
If you enjoy expansive domestic fiction in the tradition of Anne Tyler or Jonathan Franzen, it's a strong fit — critics compared it to both and described it as 'a rich, engrossing family saga, spiked with sisterly malice.' Jane Smiley called it 'ambitious and brilliantly written,' and its dual status as a New York Times Bestseller and Women's Prize for Fiction nominee signals it works as both a page-turner and a literary character study. The main caveat is scale: it's a long, deliberately paced novel, so readers who prefer lean, tightly plotted narratives may find the commitment a stretch.
What is this book actually about
At its core it follows the Sorenson family — parents David and Marilyn, whose passionate forty-year marriage serves as both an anchor and an irritant for their four adult daughters — across multiple decades. The plot kicks into gear when a long-buried secret surfaces during a tumultuous year, reigniting old rivalries among the sisters and threatening the lives each daughter has carefully constructed. The novel treats the family itself as a complete universe, full of competing loyalties, inherited damage, and what the Times UK called 'a wry, often spiky humour.'
Is this book too long
This is the book's most honest limitation: the review flags its 'substantial' length and 'deliberate, accumulative pace' as a genuine challenge for some readers. Lombardo spends as much time sitting inside the Sorenson family's ordinary moments as its crises, which is a strength for fans of immersive domestic fiction but can feel slow if you're expecting a tightly plotted story. If you're already a reader who loves multigenerational sagas, the length is part of the appeal rather than a problem.
Is this book similar to Jonathan Franzen or Anne Tyler books
Yes — that's exactly the comparison critics reached for. Reviewers explicitly invoked both Jonathan Franzen and Anne Tyler as reference points, situating Lombardo's work within the lineage of 'sprawling, psychologically intricate American domestic fiction.' The fact that those comparisons were made about a debut novel was itself noted as striking by critics, so if you're a fan of either author, this is a natural next read.
Is this book good for book clubs
It's genuinely well-suited for book clubs — the review specifically calls it out for offering 'abundant material for discussion.' The layered cast of characters, the recurring symbolic architecture of the gingko trees that thread through David and Marilyn's story, and Violet's late-revealed secret all give groups concrete things to dig into. The sisterly rivalries and the idealized portrayal of David and Marilyn's marriage also raise questions about how the novel distributes moral complexity, which tends to generate lively debate.
Does David and Marilyn's relationship in this book feel realistic
The review is candid that this is a point of potential friction: David and Marilyn's enduring romance is rendered as an 'idealized partnership,' and readers who prefer moral ambiguity distributed equally across all characters may find that dynamic less complicated than they'd like. The complexity is largely concentrated in the four daughters rather than the parents, so whether that feels realistic or frustratingly one-note will depend on your taste. For many readers, though, the marriage functions as a compelling emotional anchor against which the daughters' messier lives play out.
What's the big secret in this book
The review deliberately keeps the full details vague to preserve the reading experience, but it identifies the secret as belonging to Violet and describes it as 'late-revealed' — meaning it surfaces well into the novel rather than at the start. What the review does say is that it reshapes what readers thought they understood about the Sorensons and provides both emotional momentum and structural surprise. It functions as the catalyst that sends the four daughters' rivalries spiraling during the novel's central tumultuous year.
Sources & Further Reading
The key facts and claims in this review are grounded in the retrieved, verified sources listed below.
- Cited in this review
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reesesbookclub.com
- 3
- Further reading
- 4
Claire Lombardo, Wikipedia
- 5
- 6
- 7
- 8
clairelombardo.com
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