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: A Novel Worth Waiting For. . .
Summary: 5 Stars
As many others here, after I Know This Much Is True - an all-time favorite of mine - I waited very anxiously for Wally Lamb's next publication. It seemed to take forever, but The Hour I First Believed finally came out.
I must say that it took me three tries to get through this book, starting from last November, and just finishing last week, but I blame that more on personal circumstances than anything else. Once you fully allow yourself to get into it, this book simply carries you.
Once I got to the moment we all knew was coming at Columbine, I started becoming more and more entranced. By the middle of the book, I was reading every night and very curious to find out what happened next and just how the family mysteries unraveled.
I can't deny that I love Lamb's style. I think he's trendsetting and bold, and explores things I would never otherwise even think about. And yet he does so in such a way that you can understand and you can feel along with the characters, even if your "story" couldn't be any more different than theirs. Three books now, and that still continues to amaze me.
That being said, I must admit two things. One, there were parts of this novel that bored me, especially the at-times overwhelming amount of family history in letters. They were to a degree necessary and some were very interesting, but others were painful and I honestly rushed to get through them.
And two, even with how amazed I am with this novel, I don't think it touches I Know This Much Is True. And perhaps that is personal preference. When I closed that book I thought - I can't imagine reading a more complete and compelling book, maybe ever. But when I closed The Hour I First Believed - I thought while it was such a wonderful job of mixing so many elements together and making me think, that I just didn't see it being as complete a novel as his other works.
Now, that too, can be a matter of circumstances. As he wrote in his thoughts post writing, he expressed how difficult at times the process was, and how our whole American world transformed during the time period during which he was writing this novel. Those things changed our lives; I can imagine they would certainly change the shape of whatever novel he was writing. I sense on a personal level from reading it, and I sense he believes he was influenced by such.
Overall, I still would call this an amazing book. Lamb's talent is so amazing, I cannot imagine giving less than five stars. It's just such a thought provoking book, I'd encourage people to read it, regardless. But, as I think I've made clear, his second book is still one of my very favorites.
And, of course, I will look forward to his next work. I hope it doesn't take another ten years, but admittedly, part of me thought, well, when all was said and done, yes, this book was indeed worth the wait.
Book Review: Not as good as I had hoped.
Summary: 3 Stars
While not a fan of Mr. Lamb's first novel, She's Come Undone, I thoroughly enjoyed his second novel, I Know This Much Is True. In his current work, The Hour I First Believed, the author tackled so many significant themes, I didn't ever become fully invested in any of the characters or the stories so I am rating the book average.
The novel centers on high school teacher Caelum Quirk, an easterner who had moved to Littleton, Colorado, to escape the stigma of his violent actions; he beat the lover of his third wife with a pipe. While back east to care for his aunt who has had a stroke, Caelum's wife, school nurse Maureen, becomes trapped in the library at Columbine during Eric and Dylan's killing spree. Subsequently, because of Maureen's PTSD, the Quirks move to Caelum's childhood home while he and his wife try to come to terms with what has happened. Prompted by the return to his roots, Caelum begins to investigate his past and his ancestors.
The central theme around which the story is constructed is that of the minotaur in the labyrinth. A series of stories are meant to lead the reader through the maze to the theme at the center of the story, which is the eternal confrontation between goodness/order and evil/chaos. Basically the stories can be divided into two sections; those that deal with Columbine and its effects; and those that deal with Caelum's identity issues.
For me, while I quickly became intrigued and interested in the Columbine story and its aftermath, I couldn't sustain that kind of interest in the identity story about Caelum's family. There were too many "identity" stories having to do with his mother, father, aunt, great uncles, grandparents, great grandparents. The secondary stories pulled me away from and detracted what I thought was the central issue, how does one deal with the aftermath of chaotic evil.
Another problem for me with this book is that I never really liked or empathized with the narrator. There is a scene at the beginning of the novel where Caelum is sitting in a recliner, watching sports and having a beer when his wife indicates through a lit candle and two glasses of wine that she wants intimacy. I'm not being coy when I use the word "intimacy." The wife in this scene wants more than sex; she wants to feel connected to her husband. They have had a disagreement. He is still angry with her, so he ignores her invitation. This scene replays throughout the book as symblomatic of Caelum's inability to make connections to people. Caelum cannot connect to his wife and as a narrator he didn't connect with me. I never felt invested in this character or in this story. After slugging through the 700 + pages of the book (I have a Kindle version), I think that it is because the author took too much on.
Book Review: More than the sum of it's flawed parts
Summary: 4 Stars
There is so much about this book that bothered me, I'm surprised that I liked it so much. It was, as one reviewer stated, too much of too many bad things. Wally Lamb tried to cram into his latest book everything that went wrong in his ten year hiatus as a novelist. And unfortunately, it was a watershed decade in American history, obliging an author who insists that we are the sum of our past history to comment on 9/11, Katrina, and the plight of Iraq War veterans, all in addition to the main event of Columbine which would have been quite enough.
Just in case you weren't twitching in the corner yet, he dredges the past for more misery. Add the Civil War, Coco(a)nut Grove, Korea, the tragic death of Mark Twain's daughter, the Underground Railroad . . . OK, prepare the padded cell.
There's more to dislike. For the first 99 percent of the book, the main character is unsympathetic and whiny (a less likeable version of Dominic Birdsey from IKTHMIT). The portraits of PTSD read like the diagnostic checklists of the DSM-IV. Caelum's family tree reads like the lineages of the Israelites (I had to make myself a chart to keep track - maybe they should add one to the book). Caelum quotes and analyzes Harris and Klebold extensively, and then abruptly drops them to make room for new aterial.
And yet . . . and yet . . .
The book is much more than the sum of its flawed parts. Lamb has always been a meticulous archivist of his character's pasts, insisting that for his flawed and often unloveable characters, there is redemption in accepting the whole of oneself and one's origins. Lamb's message is one of hope, that we (like this latest work) are more than the sum of the events that shaped us, that we can learn, grow, understand and ultimately transcend the meanness and suffering of an ordinary life. And this is what I remembered after I closed the book more than my sighs everytime I got to another endless letter from Lydia about her latest visit to Mark Twain's house.
I also admire Lamb's willingness and patience to wait for the right idea before rushing into another book. There are so many authors who fall into the trap of their own success, step onto the treadmill and start cranking out a book a year. Yes, writing is a business, and all must make their own choices about the integrity of their work. Lamb made his, waited ten years, and even, by one report, offered to give back the advance money he'd been offered. Granted, when the ideas came, maybe too many came. But the ideas, nonetheless, were big, worthy ones he was clearly excited about.
The result is a book that, while somewhat more difficult to digest than its predecessors, is well worth the heartburn. Clear your mind of what you think a Wally Lamb novel should be and dig in.
Book Review: Despair and Grief at It's Finest
Summary: 4 Stars
I could not wait for The Hour I First Believed to be released on November 11th. My Amazon copy arrived on Wednesday 11-12-08, and I immediately began to read, and read, and read. This book was 752 pages, and for me (8) days of reading.
I have been a huge Wally Lamb fan after reading: She's Come Undone, and I Know This Much Is True: A Novel (P.S.). This new book comes after a 10 year dry spell. One of Lamb's talents has always been the ability to write so beautifully about damaged people. This new novel is no exception.
Caelum Quirk is a forty-seven-year-old high school teacher, married for the third time. His younger wife, Maureen, is a school nurse at the same school-- Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado. In April 1999, Caelum returns home to Three Rivers, Connecticut, to be with his aunt who has just had a stroke, but Maureen stays behind. She finds herself in the school library at Columbine, cowering in a cabinet and expecting to be killed, as two vengeful students go on a carefully premeditated, murderous rampage. Miraculously she survives, but at a cost -- she is unable to recover from the trauma. Caelum and Maureen flee Colorado and return to an illusion of safety at the Quirk family farm in Three Rivers. But the effects of chaos are not so easily forgotten, and further tragedy ensues.
The Columbine portion of this story reminded me of Nineteen Minutes, however, Lamb, chose to use the actual names of the shooters and the victims in this story. This novel, is not just a story about Columbine, although the aftermaths of the shooting follow Maureen and Caelum throughout the story. This novel is about so much more. In fact, within this book are stories which span five generations. Caelum uncovers secrets of his past, and that of his ancestors after finding old diaries, letters, and newspaper clippings in an upstairs bedroom of his family's house. Piece by piece, he reconstructs the lives of those who came before him, and along the way as secrets emerge, he is better able to understand his own troubled past.
It is evident that this book was painstakinly researched, and brilliantly written. I really liked this book, but I felt that the book dragged in parts. It is almost like there was way too much going on in this book, and in my opinion, the book might have benefited from a little more editing.
Book Review: A rich novel filled with layers of detail and intrigue
Summary: 5 Stars
Wally Lamb is most definitely, one of my favorite authors. I was thrilled when I heard about his upcoming novel, The Hour I First Believed and was anxious to read the book. I had read his previous novels and enjoyed them both and I had a feeling that this one would not disapoint. I was right, The Hour I First Believed, is a rich novel filled with layers of detail and intrigue that it felt like I was peeling away the layers of an onion waiting to reach the core or the truth at the center. I never knew exactly where the story would take me and the storytelling was superb. The novel held my interest throughout and that says a lot as this book is over 700 pages! There were some sad and difficult moments to read and I found myself deeply touched by many of the events. I found the main character, Caelum Quirk to be following the same metaphor of peeling away the layers of an onion. He was able to peel away the layers related to his life to find the heart of his issues and to discover some of the the truth that he sought. I felt connected to the characters who were extremely well developed throughout the story. After I finished the book, I would often think of the characters and what may have happened next. To me, that is a sign of a great novel!
The author chose to use a unique style of combining a fictional story with non-fictional events. Throughout the novel he wove in details related to Columbine, 9/11 , Hurricane Katrina, the history and conditions of women's prisons and others. I found this style very effective as I had been affected by these events through media and from knowing others effected by these tragedies and their own personal experiences. As readers, most of us have been affected in some way by the events in our world and can relate to that experience. I am very fond of epistolary novels and love reading books related to letters and journals. This is a favorite style of writing that I like to read. Wally Lamb chose to add journals , diaries and letters related to second generational family members to share the story. To me, this was an enhancement to the novel which personalized the story and helped to better understand the characters family history.
The search for faith is a strong theme in the book. The book explores the possibility that randomness controls our existence as well as exploring the theories of chaos vs. order. I loved the symbolism connected to the Praying Mantis that was woven throughout the novel. The Mantis appeared to me to symbolize hope and of stillness, the reminder to listen to the small voice within and you will eventually find the answers you are looking for .