The Most Fun We Ever Had

Losses. I was primed to think favorably about Claire Lombardo’s debut novel titled, The Most Fun We Ever Had. Lombardo sets the novel in her hometown, Oak Park, Illinois, where I live now, and I’ve lived in this village longer than anyplace else. The gingko leaves on the cover are from a tree in Oak Park that plays an important role at multiple points in the novel. Because Lombardo presents a large ensemble of characters, this is a long novel as she never rushes to develop interesting characters and reveal their secrets, their loves and their losses. Lombardo moves us forward and backward in time as the narrative demands, and I found myself enjoying every new dimension more that the last. Every family has its ups and downs, and in this extended family we get to feel the loves and losses with depth and insight. Lombardo gives readers a messy family for our messy times. Patient readers are rewarded with embracing the fullness of life and the ways in which the answer to most questions involves love. Rating: Five-star (I love it) Click here to purchase The Most Fun We Ever Had from amazon.com.