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The Hour I First Believed Wally Lamb 9780060393496 Books

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The Hour I First Believed Wally Lamb 9780060393496 Books

There is only one word that can adequately describe this phenomenal book: Genius.

That said, this work of literary fiction by Wally Lamb may not appeal to everyone. (English majors will love it!) Narrated in the first person by Caelum Quirk, this multilayered book is loosely based on the classical myth of Theseus and the Minotaur. And while the characters are imaginary, the events are straight out of the headlines, beginning with the 1999 Columbine High School massacre.

Thrice-married Caelum and his wife, Maureen, are trying to hold their marriage together after she cheats on him and he nearly kills her lover in a jealous rage. They flee from their home in rural Connecticut to quiet and peaceful Littleton, Colorado. He gets a job as an English teacher and she as a nurse at Columbine High School. While Caelum is away on that fateful day, Maureen is there on the front line of fire, hiding in the school library. Although she physically survives, the emotional trauma she suffers at the hands of the killers changes who she is, and she and Caelum must struggle individually and as a couple to put their lives back together.

Plot is secondary to this structurally complex book that is stitched together with bold themes of chaos vs. control and despair vs hope, as well as the myriad destructive forces of violence, the fury of vengeance and the blessing of redemption. And this is made all the more powerful by the potent symbols of the butterfly (our souls) and the praying mantis (good triumphing over evil) that are laced throughout the book.

This is a beautifully written, intelligent book that should be read with care and awe.


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The Hour I First Believed Wally Lamb 9780060393496 Books Reviews

I read Lamb's "I know This Much is True" a number of years ago. I think this novel is better. Ultimately, this book is about faith. The characters dating back to pre Civil War face adversity and hardship and are driven to forge on. For some faith is part of their being, others like Caleum must be lead to it. Many of the characters face a moment of death and pray to live. While most don't face the turmoil written in the novel, we all face loss and disappointment, and it is usually at those moments we find faith.
I love this authors books. I read "This much I know is true" and "We are water" and then this book. As with all of Wally lambs books, it is a well written story with many unexpected developments through out. This is the story of a terrible event at a school, and how it affects those who survive and the consequences thereafter. Sad and hopeful it certainly keeps you turning the pages.
I only reservation I have is the delving into the past, which is a bit irritating in this book, but it prepares the reader slowly for some of the outcomes.
Great read with multiple unsuspecting twists. Wally Lamb causes multiple character to birth to life within the reader - living indelible heart imprints to ponder long after the book concludes. He draws historical persons/events together connecting multiple emotions, brokeness, and the longing to belong together within his characters as well as within the reader. You cannot escape this interaction. You will be captured and moved to understand the dark sides of humanity - as well as the opportunities to find new beginnings again. Set against the backdrop of the Columbine High School massacre, Lang weaves a tight knit tapestry of human pain - as well as songs of hope. You will not read this book - without being challenged to make the best out of whatever life brings. Our past can either bury us or launch into new beginnings. This choice is ours to make. All our choices have consequences.
The only nice thing I can say about The Hour I First Believed is that it is ambitious about a difficult subject matter - the Columbine Massacre and PTSD. However, the weaving of additional sub-plots of addiction, broken relationships, painful childhoods, forgiveness, and the forging of new romantic interests just kills any meaningful discourse on PTSD or the shooting. Broken into three parts the first and most compelling portion of the book covers the Columbine shooting itself with actual passages taken from the shooters own words. That was a strange sentence to write. The other two parts are suppose to be about the difficulties dealing with and the recovery from survivors guilt/PTSD. But here the book goes off the rails and manders from sub-plot to the next rendering the first part and the main plot as backdrop for Lamb's other musings. I can't escape the feeling that the Japanese authors have read have done just as much as Lamb has here but managed to do it about a fifth of the length.

I also think that there needs to be a dreaded, slightly decretory tone saying for literary fiction about unnecessary but detailed biographical stories of characters like there is for the "info dump" in science fiction. Complex biographical back stories that adds nothing to the plot, doesn't add complexity to the characters, it just bores the readers and shows how shallow the characterization is in the first place. The weird thing is that this biographical detail wasn't needed at all, the characters were already fully fleshed out with sides to their lives that weren't directly tied to moving the plot forward. Not one of the better reads of the year.
There is only one word that can adequately describe this phenomenal book Genius.

That said, this work of literary fiction by Wally Lamb may not appeal to everyone. (English majors will love it!) Narrated in the first person by Caelum Quirk, this multilayered book is loosely based on the classical myth of Theseus and the Minotaur. And while the characters are imaginary, the events are straight out of the headlines, beginning with the 1999 Columbine High School massacre.

Thrice-married Caelum and his wife, Maureen, are trying to hold their marriage together after she cheats on him and he nearly kills her lover in a jealous rage. They flee from their home in rural Connecticut to quiet and peaceful Littleton, Colorado. He gets a job as an English teacher and she as a nurse at Columbine High School. While Caelum is away on that fateful day, Maureen is there on the front line of fire, hiding in the school library. Although she physically survives, the emotional trauma she suffers at the hands of the killers changes who she is, and she and Caelum must struggle individually and as a couple to put their lives back together.

Plot is secondary to this structurally complex book that is stitched together with bold themes of chaos vs. control and despair vs hope, as well as the myriad destructive forces of violence, the fury of vengeance and the blessing of redemption. And this is made all the more powerful by the potent symbols of the butterfly (our souls) and the praying mantis (good triumphing over evil) that are laced throughout the book.

This is a beautifully written, intelligent book that should be read with care and awe.