Review: The Hour I First Believed by Wally Lamb
by Jenners • 04/29/2009 • 3.5 Stars, Contemporary, Fiction, H Titles, L Authors • 18 Comments
Title: The Hour I First Believed
Author: Wally Lamb
ISBN: 978-0060393496
Published By: Harper, November 11, 2008
Book Specs: 752 pages (I read the Kindle edition!)
Book Category: Fiction
Story Overview
This is the story of Caelum Quirk — a middle-aged teacher who is trying to come to terms with his present, his past and his troubled marriage. Married to Maureen (his third wife), Caelum’s story begins with his troubles handling Maureen’s infidelity. In an attempt to save their marriage, they leave their home in Connecticut and move to Littleton Colorado, where they work at Columbine High School. (Yes…that Columbine High School. Maureen is the school nurse and Caelum is an English teacher.) The move seems to help the marriage somewhat, but Caelum and Maureen still have moments of distance between them. Then Caelum’s beloved aunt — and his only link to his family — suffers a stroke and Caelum returns to Connecticut to say goodbye. While in Connecticut, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold go on their well-publicized rampage in the high school.
Panicked and unable to reach Maureen, Caelum returns in a panic to Littleton. He finally locates her, but she is a shell of her former self. Trapped in the library during the shootings, Maureen is unable to cope with the fact that she has survived. Maureen begins to unravel. Attempting to help Maureen deal with her post-traumatic stress disorder, Caelum moves them back to his aunt’s house in Connecticut. There, Maureen continues to deteriorate while Caelum struggles to keep them financially afloat. During this time, Caelum discovers a secret family history that casts a new light on everything he thought was true about his family.
My Thoughts
You may be thinking “Wow, just go tell us the whole story, why don’t you?” Believe me when I tell you that I just gave you the bare bones plot. There is A LOT going on in this book, which I think is ultimately its fatal flaw.
Don’t get me wrong. Wally Lamb is a fantastic writer, and I didn’t once consider not finishing this book. However, there is so much going on that I felt that the novel suffered. There are long sections of the book devoted to Caelum’s ancestor, Lillian Popper, and her experiences during the Civil War era. (These sections are either provided as diary entries or as excerpts from a “thesis” written by one of the characters.) There is a lengthy “transcript” from when Caelum interviews an older gentleman about the history of a cigarette company. There are subplots about Iraq war veterans, Hurricane Katrina victims, a prison, a family unable to accept their favored son’s homosexuality, and Caelum’s best friend’s search for love and the perfect car. In short, there is material enough in this book for about three novels, but Lamb packs it all into one. Ultimately, I think this was a mistake. If Lamb wanted to write about Lillian Popper’s life in such depth, perhaps he should have made this a separate novel.
I also have an issue with some of the amazing coincidences that Lamb contrives for his characters. Isn’t it just a little too convenient that the Hurricane Katrina victims he offers shelter to include a women’s studies graduate student that pulls together the convoluted story of Caelum’s family? And during one point, so much stuff happens at the same time that I just threw up my hands in disbelief.
But...there is no getting around the fact that Wally Lamb is a gifted writer. In the case of this book, I felt like he just had too much to say and crammed it all together into one book. I felt it would have been enough to focus on Caelum and Maureen’s marriage and their post-Columbine experiences. I think if the author had pulled out three of the different story threads (the Columbine story, the Lillian Popper story, the Iraq war veteran story), he could have had three distinct and more focused novels. As it is, you get it all in one big, sprawling book, and none of the stories get the attention and focus they deserve.
My Final Recommendation
Ultimately, I cannot give this book a no-holds-barred recommendation. I wish I could have liked this book more because the writing itself is darn good, and I love how Lamb incorporates all the little details that squarely places his story in the time in which it was happening. But I really do think the book is flawed because of its sprawl and disjointed plot. Here’s wishing Mr. Lamb’s next book is a little more focused.
I would LOVE to hear what any of you who have read this book think about it!
To find other reviews about this book, go on over to the handy dandy Book Blog Search Engine, created by Fyrefly’s Book Blog. This is a wonderful tool I just came across and plan to incorporate it into this blog more often. It searches more than 850 book blogs!
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Just posted my review of this book here. I smiled when I came over here and read your review (after I'd written mine) … we came to the EXACT same conclusion…this should have been more than one novel! I agree totally that he tried to cover too much in the book and it distracted me and I found myself struggling to stick with it. I've linked your review to mine.
I just wanted to say thank you for plugging the book blog. I’m so glad people are finding it useful! (Also, it’s up to almost a thousand book blogs now, which boggles my mind.)
I read this one a couple of months ago, and thought the first section that dealt with Columbine and its immediate aftermath was by far the strongest part of the novel. I think the farther he got from that original section, the less interested I became.
Great review. I’m not a big fan of books that have to much extra stuff written in. Sounds like a book I’ll just pass on. Like I said though your review was great!
I liked this book a lot and reviewed it a few months ago. I usually don’t care for long books that are sagas…except when they are written well. I feel that this one fits this category and believe he did a good job of pulling all the details together. It’s so interesting to read different reviews, that is the beauty of reading that everyone takes away something different.
I have to say Ms. Jenners that I completely agree with your review of this book. I think I was to enamored of Wally Lamb just as Tonya was to truly review it. May I post a link to your review on my blog?
Clarification Re: TesoriTrovati’s Comment: I want to clarify that the Columbine material is actually quite well done, and he goes out of his way to acknowledge the “real” victims of the shooting. It certainly didn’t come across as a “money grab” to me. In fact, he obviously did his homework on the Columbine shootings and, in many ways, tries to “make sense” of what happened, which of course you can’t. In fact, the Columbine material was the stronger part of the book for me … it was when he got away from that storyline that I felt the book started to falter and get a little disjointed.
I am sorry, but in my humble opinion, 752 is just too long for a book. Is there no point at which an author just says “I have too much here for one book”?
Yay! I am glad that someone else feels the same way I did about this book. In the beginning, it was hard to put down. By the time I was 3/4 of the way through it, I wanted to fling it across the room. I am sorry to say that I didn’t finish it. I loved “She’s Come Undone”…Wally Lamb is a truly gifted writer. It is too bad that this one did not hold the same appeal.
This is in my TBR pile. I’ve loved Wally Lamb’s other books but have heard both bad and good about this one, so I haven’t been in a hurry to pick it up.
The audio is ridiculously expensive. I was going to go that route too but just couldn’t justify the cost.
Great review!
I haven’t read it…now I am not sure that I will take the time.
I do agree that Lamb is gifted but I also agree that there is just a tad too much going on in some of his books that bog me down. I don’t like contrived and this sounds like it a bit, and the whole fictionalizing a tragedy of that magnitude seems a bit insensitive to profit from.
Thanks for sharing your insights!
Enjoy the day!
Erin
Thanks for telling it like it is. Hmmm… maybe the audio will be better for me.
Thanks for the warning. This was actually on my reading list for this year, but I might skip it now. I often get lost in over-complicated plots and give up. Don’t get me wrong, I love details and I love how authors can incorporate multiple subplots and seemingly unrelated characters, only to bring them all together in the end… but this one sounds a little too involved for me.
Perhaps I’ll try another of Mr. Lamb’s books instead.
yikes. I have read a couple Wally Lamb books and have enjoyed them, even though they sometimes took too long to get to a point. I’m sure I would be frustrated with more than one story line too. I love to read but I’m picky about how I read. I do not want to have to THINK when I’m reading. I read as a relaxation technique before I go to sleep. I read other times of the day too but that is my main reading time of the day. So, I’m not sure this book would be high on my list of books to read, but I probably won’t be able to resist checking it out someday.
Thanks so much for the honest review. I probably will read this one myself so now I can’t wait to see what I think of it!
Great review. I reviewed this a few months ago and was maybe too enamored with my love of his writing to give an unbiased review!
http://storytimewithtonya.blogspot.com/2008/12/hour-i-first-believed.html