The Hour I First Believed: A Novel by Wally Lamb
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Book Reviews of The Hour I First Believed: A Novel
Book Review: Another Winner by Wally Lamb
Summary: 5 Stars
When I put down "I Know This Much Is True" back in 1998 I knew I had read one of the best books I had ever read. I couldn't wait for something new to come out by Mr. Lamb. Well, I waited and waited. The wait was worth it.
This is another masterpiece by Wally Lamb. I bought the book the first day it came out. I could have finished it within days, but I decided to take my time and enjoy each and every word, each and every page, and each and every chapter. Well, I finished the book last night while wiping away the tears. As I felt with "I Know This Much Is True", I feel very empty today and miss the book and the characters.
This is an outstanding 700 plus pages of story telling. I'm sure by now you know the premise of the book so I won't go into detail there. I highly recommend this book to both Wally Lamb fans and to new readers who don't know his material.
It is a wonderful story of family, both present and past, and how the past can affect the present and the future. It is amazing to me how Mr. Lamb can write a story that is so intertwined, so complex, so deep, and yet so easy to read. His stories just flow from page to page.
This is a must read! I know I will reread this book just as I have reread his other two books. It was fun that he included characters from his first two books in this one.
You will not be disappointed in this book or with Wally Lamb. He has done it again!
Book Review: Literature at its best
Summary: 5 Stars
The Hour I First Believed is one of the best books I've read in a long time. I literally couldn't put it down and finished the entire novel in four days. The book is about so many things: hope, forgiveness, death, redemption, history, love, and loss. The author executes the story brilliantly. The characters, especially Caelum, are so real they jump right off the page.
Caelum's world is thrown upside down when he gets a phone call saying his aunt has had a stroke. Guilt over not spending more time with her and anxiety about returning to his childhood home consume him until he sees the Columbine tragedy on tv. His wife, Maureen, is a nurse at the school (he is an English teacher but was on leave to be with his aunt). Theirs is an American love story--they are dysfunctional, hilariously relatable, and ultimately they lean on each other and find peace in the most unlikely of places.
This novel is epic in its scope. At 700 plus pages it covers recent culture (Columbine, Hurricane Katrina, the Iraq war) as well as the story of Caelum's difficult past. As the two intertwine the story intensifies. The only thing I wish the novel hadn't included was the unnecessary political commentary; which was thankfully brief but none-the-less annoying.
Don't let the length or intensity bother you. Most readers will walk away from this feeling they have read a great piece of American literature.
Book Review: Great Book
Summary: 5 Stars
If you had ANY sort of personal tragedy in your life, you will be able to identify with the main character. Being a child of abuse (which I don't think many other readers were which is why they can not seem to connect with the characters) I was instantly drawn into the personalities of every character in the book. Wally Lamb's other 2 novels often also focus on tragedy, which comes off odd for those who have lived their own tragedy. The book is a literary masterpiece and as I read I was able to connect with each character in depth and (having NOT followed the shooting from California) was interested in how the events unfolded. Those who were unable to identity with the characters might not have had a significant tragedy enough to understand what childhood and traumatic events can do to people. As someone with PTSD, the book has a great way of letting you into the characters feelings and emotions and makes you shake you head, laugh and cry at the same time. Wally Lamb never lets me down. I recommend this book to everyone and to those of you who can't seem to connect, consider yourself lucky for not having been one to experience the pain, anger, guilt, resentment, and betrayal from close up. To those of you who have.........read it and forever be changed.Book Review: Deeply absorbing
Summary: 5 Stars
Fortunately I didn't read the reviews of this book before I read the book itself. I just hauled it around with me, ripped shoulder and all (damn that's a big book) until I'd read it.
I dunno, probably they're right, all these people who say it needed editing, all the excess storylines and tag ends and rambling neatly trimmed away. It certainly wouldn't fit into a one-plot two-hour Hollywood blockbuster.
Heck, though, life needs editing. Sure, he dragged in a kitchen-sink of dramas like the Iraq war and Katrina while Caelum and Mo were still living Columbine's aftermath. But isn't that what all those people who survive suffer, constantly getting hammered with fresh human nightmares while they're still hyper-sensitive and trying to make sense of a life that's shifted beyond recognition?
As someone who's gone through a few screwy things, all I can say is that there was some deadness there, and the scent of water, that felt very true to life. I simply lived all those characters' lives along with them. I cried a lot. And I think those concluding paragraphs will come into my mind often during that 2 a.m. loneliness of the soul.
Should you read it? No clue. I just know that I'm glad I did.
Book Review: One of the Best Books I Read This Year
Summary: 5 Stars
This was one of the best books I read in 2010 - very intense and moving. It is a novel based on the Columbine school shootings, and clearly the author has done his homework. His depictions of Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, the events leading up to the shootings, and the day of the shootings, make the news stories come alive for the reader. I learned a great deal of information about the true story, some of which contradicts the news accounts of the time and has since been verified. The reason I know that is because reading this book inspired me to do some research on the subject.
Much of the book concerns the long-term effects of the shootings on the survivors, something the news stories don't tell us. One of the main characters suffers from Post-Traumatic Stress Syndrome to an extent that is disabling. After that day, the lives of everyone in the story (just as with those who experienced it in real life) will never again be the same.
The only criticism I have about it is that there are too many plot threads, some of which seem only loosely related to the main theme. But overall, The Hour I First Believed is an excellent book and I recommend it highly.
(740 pages)