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The Hour I First Believed: A Novel |  | Author: Wally Lamb
Publisher: Harper
Category: Book
List Price: $29.95
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Seller: heartland24
Rating:  382 reviews
Sales Rank: 44509
Media: Hardcover
Edition: 1ST
Pages: 752
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 2.2
Dimensions (in): 9.2 x 6.1 x 1.9
ISBN: 0060393491
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.54
EAN: 9780060393496
ASIN: 0060393491
Publication Date: November 1, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
Wally Lamb's two previous novels, She's Come Undone and I Know This Much Is True, struck a chord with readers. They responded to the intensely introspective nature of the books, and to their lively narrative styles and biting humor. One critic called Wally Lamb a "modern-day Dostoyevsky," whose characters struggle not only with their respective pasts, but with a "mocking, sadistic God" in whom they don't believe but to whom they turn, nevertheless, in times of trouble (New York Times).
In his new novel, The Hour I First Believed, Lamb travels well beyond his earlier work and embodies in his fiction myth, psychology, family history stretching back many generations, and the questions of faith that lie at the heart of everyday life. The result is an extraordinary tour de force, at once a meditation on the human condition and an unflinching yet compassionate evocation of character.
When forty-seven-year-old high school teacher Caelum Quirk and his younger wife, Maureen, a school nurse, move to Littleton, Colorado, they both get jobs at Columbine High School. In April 1999, Caelum returns home to Three Rivers, Connecticut, to be with his aunt who has just had a stroke. But Maureen 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 put right, and further tragedy ensues.
Amazon.com Review
Product Description
Wally Lamb's two previous novels, She's Come Undone and I Know This Much Is True, struck a chord with readers. They responded to the intensely introspective nature of the books, and to their lively narrative styles and biting humor. One critic called Wally Lamb a "modern-day Dostoyevsky," whose characters struggle not only with their respective pasts, but with a "mocking, sadistic God" in whom they don't believe but to whom they turn, nevertheless, in times of trouble (New York Times). In his new novel, The Hour I First Believed, Lamb travels well beyond his earlier work and embodies in his fiction myth, psychology, family history stretching back many generations, and the questions of faith that lie at the heart of everyday life. The result is an extraordinary tour de force, at once a meditation on the human condition and an unflinching yet compassionate evocation of character. When forty-seven-year-old high school teacher Caelum Quirk and his younger wife, Maureen, a school nurse, move to Littleton, Colorado, they both get jobs at Columbine High School. In April 1999, Caelum returns home to Three Rivers, Connecticut, to be with his aunt who has just had a stroke. But Maureen 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 put right, and further tragedy ensues. While Maureen fights to regain her sanity, Caelum discovers a cache of old diaries, letters, and newspaper clippings in an upstairs bedroom of his family's house. The colorful and intriguing story they recount spans five generations of Quirk family ancestors, from the Civil War era to Caelum's own troubled childhood. Piece by piece, Caelum reconstructs the lives of the women and men whose legacy he bears. Unimaginable secrets emerge; long-buried fear, anger, guilt, and grief rise to the surface. As Caelum grapples with unexpected and confounding revelations from the past, he also struggles to fashion a future out of the ashes of tragedy. His personal quest for meaning and faith becomes a mythic journey that is at the same time quintessentially contemporary—and American. The Hour I First Believed is a profound and heart-rending work of fiction. Wally Lamb proves himself a virtuoso storyteller, assembling a variety of voices and an ensemble of characters rich enough to evoke all of humanity. From the Author: Wally Lamb's Playlist for The Hour I First Believed  I’m often asked what novels by other authors I 'm reading when I’m writing one of my own. The better question is: What and who am I listening to? I’m pleased to share many of the tunes, recognizable and obscure, that helped me write Part I, "Butterfly" of my novel, The Hour I First Believed. I hope you enjoy them. 1. "Gloria," by Van Morrison from The Sopranos - Peppers and Eggs: Music from the HBO Series (Morrison) Caelum saves a slot for Van the Man in his list of “Greatest Songs of the Rock Era.” Morrison had this hit with the band Them in 1964, the year Caelum was 13. 2. "The Meaning of Loneliess," by Van Morrison from Wh at's Wrong with This Picture? (Morrison) In a bluesy mood, now-middle-aged Morrison explores the “existential dread” of life’s second half. Middle-aged Caelum’s pondering life’s meaning, too. 3. "A--hole," by James Luther Dickinson from Free Beer Tomorrow (Unobsky) “Ask any of us cynical bastards to lift up our shirt, and we’ll show you where we got shot in the heart,” says Caelum, as he angrily grieves two failed marriages and a third failing one. 4. "Black Books," by Nils Lofgren from The Sopranos - Peppers and Eggs: Music from the HBO Series (Lofgren) Lofgren’s mournful vocal, matched to his stunning guitar work, mirrors Caelum struggles to accept the jolting reality of Maureen’s infidelity. 5. "Useless Desires," by Patty Griffin from Impossible Dream (Griffin) Dr. Patel advises Caelum that if he cannot forgive his wife, he should move on. Instead, the Quirks move away from Three Rivers and toward tragedy in Littleton. Griffin’s bittersweet road song captures both the desire for and the futility of escape. 6. "At the Bottom of Everything," by Bright Eyes from I'm Wide Awake, It's Morning (C. Oberst) Conor Oberst (aka Bright Eyes) imagines an airplane ride every bit as strange as the one Caelum takes beside chaos theorist Mickey Schmidt. 7. "House Where Nobody Lives," by Tom Waits from Mule Variations (Waits) In response to his aunt’s stroke, and later, her death, Caelum returns to a now-empty farmhouse. 8. "When God Made Me," by Neil Young from Prairie Wind (Young) Caelum, back in Three Rivers and now in his late forties, contemplates an earlier, more innocent youth--and its loss. 9. "Mbube (The Lion Sleeps Tonight)," by Ladysmith Black Mambazo with Taj Mahal from Long Walk to Freedom (traditional) Mr. Mpipi performs a dance of hunger that turns into a dance of love, and a praying mantis egg case explodes with life on young Caelum’s windowsill. 10. "Believe," by Cher from The Very Best of Cher (B. Higgins/S. McClennan/P. Barry/S. Torch/M. Gray/T. Powell) “Believe” was inescapable in 1999, the year I toured Europe with my previous novel and began this one. The pop star’s durability causes Caelum to speculate that only two life forms would survive a nuclear holocaust: cockroaches and Cher. 11. "My Buddy," by Chet Baker from The Best of Chet Baker Sings (Donaldson/ Kahn) My dad used to sing this song to me when I was a little boy, riding beside him in our green Hudson during Saturday errands. Baker’s songs always makes me sad, but this one’s bittersweet. I played it over and over when I was writing the episode where Caelum’s father drives him to town to buy him his belated Christmas gift. 12. "Mary," by Patty Griffin from Flaming Red (Griffin) When the shooting begins in the Columbine library, Maureen crawls inside a cabinet, writes Caelum a goodbye note, and prays the Hail Mary. 13. "A Case of You," by Prince from < i>A Tribute to Joni Mitchell (Mitchell) This Joni Mitchell classic evokes, for me, the impact of Mo’s Columbine experience on the Quirks’ marriage. 14. "Losing My Religion," by R.E.M. from In Time: The Best of R.E.M 1988-2003 (M. Stipe/P. Buck) How could a merciful deity allow Columbine to happen? Caelum’s ambivalence about god turns to bitter rejection. 15. "Couldn’t Hear Nobody Pray," by Maggie and Suzzy Roche, Ysaye Barnwell, and DuPree from Zero Church (traditional) Disengaged and disspirited, Caelum gropes for a spiritual connection but hears only silence. This song was recorded by vocalists from the Roches and Sweet Honey in the Rock in the aftermath of 9/11/2001. The shadow of that cataclysmic day hung over my writing of this novel for six years. 16. "I Drink," by Mary Gauthier from Mercy Now (Gauthier/Harmon) As Maureen’s reliance on prescription drugs increases, Caelum, too, numbs himself--with his father’s, and later Ulysses’s, preferred poison. 17. "Hallelujah," by Jeff Buckley from So Real: Songs from Jeff Buckley (L. Cohen) Leonard Cohen’s haunting meditation about the spirit and the flesh has been covered by many artists. The late Jeff Buckley’s version is perhaps the loveliest and most poignant. 18. "The Ghost of Tom Joad," by Bruce Springsteen from The Ghost of Tom Joad (Springsteen) In the closing days of a traumatic school year, in a borrowed classroom, Caelum and his students discuss Steinbeck’s masterpiece, The Grapes of Wrath. Shortly after, Caelum and Mo will take to the road as the Joads did, yet they’ll travel from west to east. Praise for The Hour I First Believed
“Lamb...has delivered a tour de force, his best yet. A”
--Entertainment Weekly
“Lamb, a maestro of orchestrating emotion . . . knows how to make his fans’ hearts sing.”
--Elle
“A page-turner... Lamb remains a storyteller at the top of his game.”
--USA Today
“A soaring novel as amazingly graceful as the classic hymn that provides the title”
--Miami Herald
“Wally Lamb is a remarkable talent.”
--Columbus Dispatch
“Every character is rendered with vivid, utterly convincing depth....a heck of a page-turner.”
--Dallas Morning News
“[Lamb’s] pacing is superb: Sections of the story expand to accommodate a mix of characters, yet scenes don’t linger overlong.”
--Cleveland Plain Dealer
“Lamb has crafted another affecting, engrossing tome about complicated, interesting characters.”
--Minneapolis Star Tribune
“…too compelling to put down…a richly textured story...”
--St. Louis Post-Dispatch
“Lamb does an extraordinary job narrating some of the most terrifying tragedies of the past 10 years....an epic journey. Grade: A.”
--Rocky Mountain News
“When you put Lamb’s newest novel down, it will be reluctantly. It’s that good.”
--Knoxville News-Sentinel
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| Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 1-5 of 382
 Lost and wasted February 28, 2010
Marauder The Slash Nymph (sometimes MN, sometimes MA)
When I was in high school, there was a tradition that every year for the variety show, our neighboring school's AP Calculus class sang this song that included the line, "We are poor little lambs who have lost our way, bah, bah, bah." Poor Wally Lamb has lost his way, and the book is blah, blah, blah.
I bought "She's Come Undone" on a whim several years ago, knowing almost nothing about it, and went on to read it at least twelve times. When "I Know This Much Is True" was published, I borrowed a copy from my mother's friend that she finally told me I could keep because I kept reading it over and over. When this book was published, I went to see Wally Lamb read from it and got my copy signed. That was lots of fun. Reading the book was a huge disappointment.
"The Hour I First Believed" reads almost like someone's parody of Lamb's first two novels - we've got destructive marriages, dead babies, sexual abuse, therapy, the secrets of an ancestor's past, and how recent American history has affected the main character. In SCU and IKTMIT, Lamb did a fantastic job of using these elements because at their core, the novels were Dolores's story and Dominick's story, respectively. This book's story is the story of how Wally Lamb was under a lot of pressure to produce his next book. It's disjointed, disconnected, and Caelum is a flat-out obnoxious and dislikable character. While Dolores and Dominick weren't always people you'd exactly choose as friends, it wasn't hard to see their pain and their essential humanity. Caelum has no essential humanity because Lamb hasn't written him well enough for him to seem real.
I gave this book two stars instead of one because there are a few sections that might have made terrific short stories. It's clear Wally Lamb is still a talented writer with a lot of stories in him, but I think that in the long run, this book will be to Wally Lamb what "Troilus and Cressida" is to Shakespeare. "Troilus and Cressida", while read in college Shakespeare classes devoted to examining every aspect of Shakespeare's work, is no one's favorite Shakespeare play and is rarely performed because it has no sympathetic characters and falls flat emotionally.
disappointed February 24, 2010
Deborah88 (Philadelphia, PA)
I loved Wally Lamb's other books, but was very disappointed by this recent work. It seemed like he was trying to put too many discordant elements into the book, setting out to cover too many topics (Columbine, Katrina, the Iraq War, women in prison, the history of the Quirk family, etc). It became really unwieldy in my opinion. I feel like some of the problem came from the editorial process. If a new author submitted this book for review, I suspect they would have been told that they needed to narrow their scope and focus. However, Wally Lamb is not an unknown and probably got the "benefit of the doubt" that he should not have gotten. I liked the first couple of chapters, but stopped "believing" after he let the book go in too many divergent directions. I kept reading, hoping that he would link them all together, but that was a forced connection--one where he had to tell you how they were all connected, rather than the reader coming to that realization on their own. Of course, those are just my 2 (more like 200) cents :)
 A page turner February 19, 2010
Amber Angelico
I thought this was a fantastic read. I didn't want to put it down and when I wasn't reading it I could not stop thinking about it. I know I will read it again and I can't say that for many books I read. Thanks Wally Lamb, I SO enjoyed it and HIGHLY recommend it. :)
Hugely disappointing February 14, 2010
I.M. Reading (Minnesota)
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.
Great beginning, uninteresting end February 10, 2010
Claire C (TN)
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.
Showing reviews 1-5 of 382
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