The Most Fun We Ever Had

Wendy is the oldest of the Sorenson daughters. Growing up, she often acts out, and it is implied that much of her behavior is due, in part, to being conceived when her parents were so young and being the eldest sister. Her mother did not have enough time or mental resources to devote to Wendy, and Wendy is bitter that she was never been treated with much affection. Her mother, however, wonders if Wendy is a “sociopath” because she acts so stubbornly and outrageously. Most of Wendy’s destructive behavior when she is really young is around Marilyn but not around her father. This wild behavior continues throughout her adolescence as she rebels frequently and is known as the wildest of the four daughters. Throughout her teenage years, she drinks, overdoses, and has an eating disorder.

If Wendy’s childhood is defined by rebellion, her adulthood is defined by a mix of rebellion and trauma. She meets and weds Miles and they conceive, but the baby, Ivy, is stillborn. Later, Miles gets renal cancer, and Wendy devotedly cares for him until he dies. At both of these moments, she feels abandoned by Violet, her best friend, which creates tension between them. She had a healthy and loving relationship with Miles, and she spends years working through her loss.

Wendy is not often seen as the responsible sister, and she spends much time drinking. She, more than her sisters, however, is the caregiver of the family. She is the one who Violet confides in when she becomes pregnant, who takes Violet in during her pregnancy, and who manages Jonah’s adoption. When Jonah needs a place to stay as a teenager, Wendy is the first one to offer, and when Jonah runs away after David’s heart attack, she is the one who tracks him down and then flies to Montana to bring him home. She is also the first one that Grace confides in about having sex for the first time. On top of all of that, Wendy acts as a caregiver to her husband in a way that Liza is not able to do for Ryan, and she acts as a caregiver to Jonah when Violet is not willing or able to. Nobody notices Wendy’s interventions, however, because of their notion of her as a train wreck. Wendy’s character demonstrates how family members can fail to see each other in their totality.

While Wendy is characterized as the wild and selfish sister, Violet is characterized as being more stable and responsible. In the end, this does not prove to be the case. Much of Violet’s life throughout the course of the novel is depicted in relation to the son she gave up for adoption, Jonah, and the two sons she later conceives and raises as her own. She is part of a wealthy circle that cares about status and appearance, and she knows Jonah’s arrival can threaten her social standing. While her decision to give up Jonah for adoption is not presented as a selfish choice, her efforts to keep him outside her family when he returns could be interpreted as stemming from the desire to keep her life in order.

One of Violet’s struggles throughout the book is to incorporate Jonah into her life. She readily states that she must put her family first, but she does not include Jonah in this family. Other family members point out that Jonah is her son as well, but she doesn’t trust him and wants to protect her two young boys from him. Despite her misgivings, though, she does feel a connection to him. Her instant recognition of Jonah despite never having seen him before, even as a baby, demonstrates the bond between them.

While Violet is not known for being cruel or selfish, she acts in this way numerous times. Jonah’s father is Wendy’s ex-boyfriend. The two had broken up by the time Violet slept with him and conceived a son, but she never shares this detail with anybody, including her sister. In addition, she fails to be with Wendy during her greatest times of need, when Ivy dies and when Miles dies. Despite being Wendy’s closest friend, she fails her numerous times. The fact that they eventually make amends advances the theme of The Irrevocable Bonds of Family.

Liza is the middle daughter of the Sorenson family. The Sorenson household is chaotic when she is born, with too many people in too little space. As she grows up, she remains in the background, overshadowed by her older and younger sisters.

Liza is considered successful by her family: She achieves tenure at an early age and is the only one of the four sisters to pursue a career throughout the timeline of the novel. However, of the sisters, she struggles the most in her romantic relationship. Her boyfriend, Ryan, experiences a deep depression. She cares for him to the best of her ability, but she also becomes resentful of him, and when she gets pregnant, she worries about passing his genes on. She deals with her emotional turmoil by starting a sexual relationship with a colleague, and Ryan leaves her when he finds out. During her pregnancy, she often feels anxious about being a single mother and idealizes her own upbringing in a two-parent household. When she has her baby, she attempts to involve Ryan in the baby’s life to the degree that he is able.