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: review taken from One Book At A Time [...]
Summary: 4 Stars
This is a hard review to write because it is difficult to encompass the full impact of this story. When I first read the blurb and added it to my to read list, I was just thinking of a fictional story about the aftermath of Columbine. When I finally picked it up, those 740 pages almost made me put it back on the library shelf. I'm glad I didn't.
The story of the massacre at Columbine is so woven into the story that it's presence can be felt from page one until the book is done. I liked how the author made fictional characters such an intricate part of what happened that day. It also helped me put faces and stories to what transpired that day to those who actually live through it. The problems Maureen faces are very real. Her everyday battles just to regain control of her life were heartbreaking. Especially when you think she's making significant progress only to take huge step backwards. I did dislike how the mother of the boy who died seemed to trivialized what had happened to Maureen. The statements she made seemed very harsh and uncaring. But, I'm sure many of us have forgotten about the true horrors that happened that day, while I'm sure there are many who still deal with it everyday.
I have to admit that I wasn't as captured by Caelum's story. I was more interested when he was trying to help Maureen heal or anything that happened connecting to Columbine. I was particularly drawn to his classroom and what transpired there. I did like his history and how he came about discovery the truth of who he really was. But, maybe it's because for quite awhile I wasn't sure I liked Caelum and it caused me to distance myself from his story.
Overall, a wonderful book. There are so many details woven into one another that you can't help but feel really connected to these characters and their lives. I was saddened at the ending because I had truly come to love these characters and their struggles to survive.
Book Review: Hugely disappointing
Summary: 2 Stars
I say "hugely" disappointing to reflect the length and sprawl of this book. I loved SHE'S COME UNDONE and still rank it as one of my favorite books; I had a medium response to I KNOW THIS MUCH IS TRUE. After surviving this disconnected, unconvincing tome of mediocrity, I think I'm done with Mr. Lamb. I agree with others' comments that they could not connect with any of the characters and that the narrator was not very likable.
I became fatigued with the ever-expanding cast of characters who did not add meaning or depth to the story. Clearly we are meant to connect the dots between his great grandmother's crusade to better the lives of women in prison with the prison of post-traumatic stress disorder, the prison of Mo's cabinet in which she hid during the Columbine attack, the prison of their marriage, the prison of alcohol and drug abuse...and (Spoiler Alert!) the prison Mo winds up in after vehicular manslaughter. I got it. It's about as subtle as being hit by a piano falling from a sky-rise apartment building.
And his plot twists are about as believable as a piano falling from the sky. There were so many interwoven histories and strange coincidences I felt like I was watching DAYS OF OUR LIVES. It even had the unknown paternity (in this case, maternity) that is a soap standard. There were about 300 pages of subplot told through letters (!) written back in the day when people said "thy" and "thee," which really didn't seem that relevant to the main plot and also were not at all interesting. Where was his editor?
A punishing, interminable slog.
Book Review: Very dissappointed
Summary: 2 Stars
I only bought this book because I loved Lamb's previous novels. This book was a huge dissappointment. It started well with Caelum & Maureen's intertwining relationship and the effects of tragedy (Columbine) had on their lives. It wasnt until Lamb decided to try to write a different story entirely with Caelum's family history that I started getting angry that at some level I was curious what would happen to Caelum but also mad that I had to wade through hundreds of pages of boring drivel. Drivel that included characters that werent well developed and didnt really provide much to the story, Lamb's politics (I dont care), and the fact that Caelum did not end his quest with any sort of revelation or epiphany about life or any real conclusion but came out to be a fairly pathetic and sad character that didnt make much change or progress throughout the course of the book. Maureen had more potential has a character who could change and be triumphant over her tragic life but instead (spoiler) Lamb leaves Maureen's character to the wayside and pursues Quirk family history instead then simply disposes of her entirely in the next to last chapter with a swish of his pen leaving you angrier that nothing comes of her character. Lamb's remarks at the end of the book that it took him 9 years to write this book make since as he just seemed to not know what to write and put a lot of drivel down on paper and some idiot publisher actually published it. Lamb started with a great book and then lost his voice. I'll be very wary of any future endeavors by Mr. Lamb.Book Review: Love it, hate it. Can't decide.
Summary: 2 Stars
First of all, I had very dear friends who were at Columbine. I live in the area, too, so I lived through that day and the aftermath. I was hesitant to read this book, because I regretted reading Jodi Picoult's Nineteen Minutes. I thought she exploited the Columbine tragedy. I don't think Mr. Lamb did that. I think he did a good job of weaving fact and fiction while remaining true and respectful to what happened here. When the majority of the book turned to fiction, I thought that was well done, too - BUT - I could not read all of the journal entries and the paper done about the journal and other papers found going back to the Civil War. I know that all brought another part of Caelum's character and life to light, but it was too, too much. Pages and pages!! I finally skipped all of that to get back to the part of the story that mattered to me - Maureen and Caelum and their recovery from one of the worst days of their life. And I will nitpick here and say that those characters deserved a better ending. There was such a glimmer of hope for them, putting their marriage back together, realizing the love was still there, and then another tragedy struck. I am guessing Mr. Lamb is an author who can't stand tying the story up neatly at the end. Too bad. I don't think he did his characters justice. Don't think I will bother with his other works.Book Review: Great beginning, uninteresting end
Summary: 2 Stars
I have read Wally Lamb before and loved his work. This book, however, was so incredible hard to finish. When I first started reading I absolutely loved it. The Columbine story, especially real-life excerpts from the shooter's journals, I found fascinating. But the whole "digging through Caelum's past" part was SO BORING AND POINTLESS. This had absolutely nothing to do with the previous storyline, and in my opinion, nothing to do with the book at all. If he had just stuck to the Columbine events, and how it affected many people around him, as well as him and his wife, I would have enjoyed this book so much more.
Also, no one cares about Mr. Lamb's political agenda throughout this book. His constant "Bush bashing" was obvious and obnoxious. This is a work of fiction, therefore no one needs to hear your opinions on the war.