The Hour I First Believed

Wally Lamb is a writer who works very hard and clearly spends a lot of time working on his art. The fact that we must wait so long in between his works of art is a testament to this. Stephen King publishes a dozen or more novels in the time that Lamb will publish one, but despite the fact that King is one of America's best story tellers, Wally Lamb is in a category of his own. It is difficult to compare him to any other writer, largely because each of his books are so very different than the others that unless you know it you would never know that Mr. Lamb penned "She's Come Undone", along with "I Know This Much Is True" and at last, this masterpiece, "The Hour I First Believed."

From the start, we know that our central character, in first person, is a man who is troubled. The novel weaves it's way through his difficulty with relationships and how, only recently, he released years of pent up anger and had to face "Anger School" while returning to his childhood home: a farm in Central Connecticut where his Aunt Lolly still lives; she was a woman who had a large and loving hand in raising him. Once again, literature shows us that despite our politicians praise for traditional family values, the bizarre situations of parenting and family life, raised Caelum Quirk (our central character)with three to five parents at any given time, an alcoholic father suffering PTSD from his experiences in the Korean War, his mother and Aunt Lolly who not only worked hard on the family farm with his grandfather but worked outside of the home as well. In the center of the farm is a fifty acre state womens prison that had been designed and started by Caelum's great grandmother,Lydia, the woman who raised Aunt Lolly and her twin brother, Caelum's father. This huge metaphor stands in the middle of the family farm for four generations and carries many secrets, but then so does the Quirk Family-so does any family.

PTSD is the prominent element in this book and we see it's effects in subtle ways throughout as well as on grand scales. Caelum's wife Maureen is a school nurse in the same high school where Caelum teaches English: Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado. The book begins about four days before that fateful Tuesday when, at 11:15 or so, the world stopped to watch two very angry and troubled teenage boys declare war on societal cruelty in the public school setting, killing thirteen and wounding many others, emotionally scarring an entire community and changing the entire world forever.

But trauma and tragedy happen all the time and our central character speaks not just in his forty-seven year old guarded and lonely voice, but in his ten year old confused and angry voice, still ripe with guilt and openly discussing his difficulty of allegiance to his drunken father who consistently lets him down and how he allows another student to take the blame for habitually spitting in the school drinking fountains. Right from the start we hear the hints and Mr. Lambs writing style keeps us flipping pages almost as though we are reading Stephen King-a style of writing so different from the thick and intellectual "I know This Much Is True" and the style of "are you SURE this wasn't written by a woman?" in "She's Come Undone." It is in this way that one can see it was no accident: Wally Lamb is one of the finest writers to have ever lived.

Caelum is not in school on Tuesday as Aunt Lolly has died and he returns home to Connecticut as the final heir and so his wife, Maureen, is a survivor of the massacre at school but only barely as she was able to hide herself inside a small cabinet in the library where she listened to the worst of the violence that occurred that day. Caelum turns around and comes home to Colorado to be with Maureen which causes him to miss Aunt Lolly's pre-arranged funeral and then, after a little time, he and Maureen return to the family farm where he begins to clean out the family home that holds four generations of diary's letters, photographs and books as well as four generations of secrets, mysteries and answers. The plot of the story is as brilliant as John Irving would write; the psychological twists and fragility of the human mind are captured on a level that Shirley Jackson would have written.

No one heals from PTSD, they evolve into acceptance and re-cognition, searching for new ways to feel safe and new ways to trust. Everything in our lives shape who we are and who we become. There is an old Iroquois proverb that sways, "When a man dies with him he takes a library" So that the real meat of the book is in the evolution, understanding and acceptance of how our characters will live.

Up until now, 2008 has produced only Richard Russo's "The Bridge of Sighs" that was worthy of The Pulitzer Prize for literature (and in fact, "Bridge of Sighs" is even better than the novel for which Russo already won a Pulitzer) but Mr. Lamb has created a book that stands on it's own, so far above anything else written in such a long time, that "The Hour I First Believed" will join the likes of "To Kill a Mockingbird", "The Sound and The Fury", "Tom Sawyer," and "Gone With The Wind" as remarkable American novels.

Read it and see if I'm not right.

My sister and I have worried and complained about the fact that Wally Lamb has not written a novel in 10 years. I worried that Oprah had made him so successful that he did not feel compelled to write more fiction. She worried that he had found his true calling at the women's prison and didn't have time to write. All of this angst was the result of our reactions to "I Know This Much is True." It provided me with one of my best reading experiences ever. Both of his previous novels are constructed in such a way that I could not stop reading them. Despite its length, I read "I Know This Much is True" in a couple days. It is a "drop everything, I've got to read" kind of book.

Once the announcement of the release of "The Hour I First Believed" was issued, we vacillated between joy and anxiety. We knew that our expectations were astronomically high. So simultaneously, we fretted that Mr. Lamb could not live up to his past glory and that the book would be so wonderful that we could not fully savor the goodness. Now that I have finished his newest novel, I find that the reality of my experience is somewhere in the middle.

Again, his writing is exceptional. He uses wonderful words in clear, consequential prose. I am awed by the psychological insight that he uses to create real, deeply interesting characters. I am overwhelmed (again) with his ability to create tension within the narrative. He, more than any other author that I have read, makes me deeply curious about the psyche of the characters, their relationships, and their journeys.

This time around, however, the sum of this book's parts is better than the whole. Unfortunately, the multiple stories and story lines do not create notable literary synergy. I think that there is enough very good stuff in this book to make 2 excellent novels, and I think that we could pluck out several stunning short stories. Disappointingly, when they are put together, they do not merge and create fictional brilliance. There are too many disparate themes to resolve effectively. Furthermore, the past and present story lines do not support each other especially well. For example, the PTSD line is very meaningful in relationship to Columbine, but it did not seem to be a significant part of the Civil War story.

I also sense some editorial malaise. Parts of the story could have been tightened up to create better connection among the various plot lines. For, example, Maureen's Columbine experience was riveting. However, once it was over, it almost disappeared. It appears that it was included only to set up the present day connection to the prison in Connecticut. The experiences at and around Columbine High School are extremely powerful when they happen, but their significance wanes as other generations are explored. Furthermore, the memory of Maureen's and Velvet's palpable trauma are all but forgotten by the end of the book. Keeping Columbine alive from beginning to end could have strengthened and intensified the primary themes. I know that there are many reasons to reach the decision that the book is good enough to publish, but I think that this one could have been pushed to another level through some more critical analysis and perhaps some pruning and re-ordering.

I remember that some people did not like the "book within a book" approach used in "I Know This Much Is True." I liked it because it provided a counterbalance to the present day emotional action. The present day created the tension, and the journal entries slowed things down and filled in the blanks. This approach did not work so well In "The Hour I First Believed." The present day action dropped off too soon, and the historical pieces slammed on the brakes of the novel's momentum. The center of gravity leans toward the Quirk, Popper, and Hutchinson ancestors without giving enough energy to the Caelum and Maureen plot.

One more observation... I think that Elizabeth Popper turns into a combination of Clara Barton and Forest Gump. She travels in the same professional, political, and social sphere as Clara did before and during the Civil War, and she meets every living celebrity of her time just as Forest did.

The book is very, very good. If I had been able to control my expectations, I could deem it excellent. Mr. Lamb creates wondrous fiction. Please don't keep us waiting another 10 years!!

"Life is messy, violent, confusing, and hopeful..."

Thus the story unfolds. Caelum Quirk, a high school teacher and his younger wife Maureen, a school nurse, moved to Littleton, Colorado - they both were hired at Columbine High School - and here they hoped to start anew. In their previous home in Three Rivers, Connecticut, their marriage had begun to fracture when Maureen had a love affair with a coworker, and Caelum's response - to take a wrench to the man - landed him in legal troubles and living under a cloud. So as they begin anew, they hope to slowly piece their lives together...Until the day in April, 1999, when havoc rained upon them.

Just before the horrific shootings at Columbine High School, Caelum had briefly returned to Connecticut, visiting with his aunt who had suffered a stroke. When he heard about the carnage at the high school, he returned home to Colorado in a panic, and for a few desperate hours, did not know his wife's fate. Was she still alive? Where was she?

Terrified when the shooting began, Maureen had taken shelter in a cabinet, not knowing when or if she would be targeted. She survived...And the Quirks clung to the miracle of her survival. But then, Maureen seemed to crawl into a deep hole, unable to function. So the Quirks fled back to Connecticut, to the family farm, hoping to put the tragic events behind them, and to bury the aunt who has died.

But nothing is simple and the disastrous changes wrought on that tragic day have left deep wounds. Suffering from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, Maureen's life continues to unravel, one day at a time. She becomes a shadow of her former self, an emaciated shell. In therapy, she makes little if any progress. And she begins to abuse the medications she takes. Caelum, too, suffers as their lives take on this new shape - controlled by the emotional chaos that has engulfed them since that day.

At some point, however, Maureen seems to improve and begins working as a nurse again. But with easy access to medications, it is not long before she is addicted.

Then one night, driving home from work and under the influence, Maureen hits and kills a young boy with her car.

The consequences are grave. Imprisoned, Maureen begins another horrendous journey, while Caelum tries to continue teaching, but barely exists...almost as if he, too, is serving a sentence. Meanwhile, a civil lawsuit is pending.

In the midst of the chaos of their lives, Caelum begins sorting through his aunt's belongings and finds diaries and documents that reveal family history, and eventually, some unimaginable secrets. As Caelum tries to reconstruct his family history in light of his findings, more dire events are uncovered.

Through everything he experiences, and with all that Maureen is facing, the future looks bleak indeed.

But then, as if from above, Caelum comes to realize that "We lived, lulled, on the fault line of chaos. Change could come explosively, and out of nowhere..."...and "...some explosion - as local as rifle fire, as worldwide as war - can set things reeling in a whole different direction,

can cause a fork in the road. And one path may lead to disintegration, the other to a reordered world."

Regeneration and hope can emerge from chaos. A reordered world can come from disintegration.

Toward the end of this long and very compelling novel, even as more tragedy befalls our characters, Caelum reaches a point of believing....And a feeling of hope is restored.

The Hour I First Believed: A Novel ,from the talented Wally Lamb is a thought-provoking, philosophical exploration of what happens to people - ordinary individuals - when disaster strikes.

By Laurel-Rain Snow

Author of:

Web of Tyranny, etc.

I have been a long time fan of Wally Lamb and have been eagerly awaiting his new novel like most of his fans. I have to say that Wally Lamb's new novel "The Hour I First Believed" is an ambitious novel that loses its path midway. I could not even finish this novel and finally had enough about page 500.

Pros:

1) I enjoyed the 1st half of the book. The amount of research that he did about Columbine was exhaustive and it paid off in his descriptions of the events of this tragedy and its aftermath in the lives of those there that day who died and lived, their families, the community, and the country as a whole. Maureen and Caelum both worked at the school. Caelum was an English teacher and Maureen was one of the school nurses. Maureen was a tragic character who survived that day but has trouble with post traumatic stress disorder and living in the aftermath. She never really copes with this. It is like there was a day before Columbine and after Columbine. Caelum tries to help her but it is like she is trapped in her own little hell that he can't break through to rescue her from it. He feels guilty that he wasn't there when it happened because he was in CT to visit a sick aunt who later dies while he was there. Maureen wasn't supposed to be anywhere near where the tragedy but she was helping a troubled student and was in the library at the time of the shooting.

2) He seems to follow a timeline by pointing out important things that happened along the way starting with Columbine and weaving through 9/11, the Iraq war, the Bush presidency,etc. These events all have significance in the lives of the characters and the world they lived in at a particular time. I could relate because I also lived through these same times.

Cons:

1)As much as I loved the 1st half of the book, the second half dragged on and on and on... It pretty much went downhill after Caelum and Maureen moved back to CT from CO. It went from being focused on Maureen to focusing on Caelum and his past. I would have liked to explore Maureen's mind more as see dealt with the aftermath of her life post-Columbine.

2)This book could have a been a lot shorter maybe like 400-500 pages not over the 700 that it actually is. I found the letters/journal entries from Caelum's ancestors had some relevance but they were 15 or more pages each and there were 2 that I read. The background of Caelum and his childhood is relevant, but could have been condensced as well. These events as well as others could have been shorter and still have gotten their point across.

3) There were times that I would start a chapter and be asking myself how does this relate to the story at hand. It eventually would be explained but this information could have been condenced into a shorter version as well and placed where the reader could best see the relevance. I don't know why you would introduce something or some new character in the beginning of a new chapter when he could have set this up as the situation evolved.

I have to say this has been one of the few books that I haven't been able to get all the way through. I still give it three stars for being ambitious and the desciption of the events of Columbine. I wish I could say more about this book that is favorable but I can't. If you want to read Wally Lamb at his best, I would recommend reading his first two novels, She's Come Undone and This Much I know is true.

I really enjoyed this book, although it seemed at times like the author was using the same ingredients bake a slightly different dessert. All the elements of "I Know This Much Is True," are here. A protagonist who has anger management issues and a troubled marriage? Check. Abusive parents and shameful family secrets? Check. An indictment of the prison system on its inhabitants' mental health. A backstory that takes hundreds of pages and involves a smorgasbord of obscure, seemingly irrelevant details, plus a history lesson? Check. And two of the protagonists from previous books (Dominck Birdsey and Dolores Price) make a cameo here. Dominick and his brother's therapist also has a role.

Plot: Caelum Quirk and his wife Maureen are a teacher and a nurse respectively at Columbine High School (yes, that Columbine High School). During the infamous school shooting, Caelum is fortunate enough to be away, but Maureen is forced to hide while it unfolds. Most of the book takes place during the aftermath, exploring how post-traumatic stress affects both the survivor and her family. However, eventually, Maureen and her problems disappear (kind of like Thomas' in "I Know This Much is True), and the rest of the book is devoted to Caelum's family history. Real life figures, such as authors and suffragettes interact with the fictional cast.

My only real quibble with the book is that after the focus shifted from Maureen, I kept wondering about her and was only half-interested in the rest of Caelum's family history. After all, she was the one who'd survived Columbine and the one of the most proactive characters who remained alive throughout the entire book. Also, Caelum declares that he's gotten obsessed with the Columbine killers but after a chapter, that seemed to have vanished, odd considering how traumatized his wife was. The book didn't really grapple with the question of what makes a teen commit a mass crime, except to say that bullying is bad. In short, I kept expecting the book to take a direction it didn't.

I all of Wally Lamb’s books. This one is a really great story and I can’t stop listening. All his books are so well written and I always give them five stars. The reason I gave this one for is because there’s too much animal cruelty in it

I avoid books with animal cruelty. I wish I had known about it before I started to read it. I would have skipped those parts but I didn’t know.. Again terrific book but if you’re like me skip over the animal cruelty parts

I enjoyed this book. It is a slow read, and it takes persistence, but as it turns out, it is perhaps better to read it slowly to capture the nuances of the characters. & their behaviors and the why they do & what they do. This book is at times poignant, looking at both sides of guilt & innocence. this book carefully looks at the prison system, particularly women in prison and thoughtfully examines harm versus benefit. I think at its heart, this is a book that speaks to feminism versus misogyny.

Like I said, it’s a slow read, took me well over a week to read it instead of the usual few days. But it’s worth it. It’s enjoyable, so hang in & let it speak to you.

I discovered Wally Lamb a few years ago with "She's Come Undone", which I loved, particularly because of his beautiful writing style. The same can be said of "The Hour I First Believed". The first half of the book, which deals with Columbine and the aftermath, is extremely compelling. The second half goes off in an unexpected direction, but I found myself being pulled into that part of the story as well. The author does a masterful job of weaving fictional characters and their lives into real events and locations. I especially liked the fact that he did not change the names of the actual people involved; I "felt" the story much more because of that.

A good illustration of the author's brilliant writing: the entire book is written in the first person, from an adult male's point of view. At the time Caelum's aunt has a stroke and he has to make the trip back to Connecticut, Caelum is overwhelmed by childhood memories (many of them bad) and an entire long chapter appears, written from the first person point of view of Caelum as an 8 or 9-year-old boy, and the writing style changes to age-appropriate. I was struck by the beauty and subtlety of that transition.

This is a long, complicated novel (but extremely readable), with flawed and sometimes not particularly likable characters. It moved me to tears at times, but there's also wit and humor along with the tragedy. Wally Lamb is a fantastic author and I highly recommend this book.

Die Hauptgeschichte ist sehr spannend, berührend und lebensecht, aber die langen Abhandlungen über Ereignisse aus dem 19. Jahrhundert habe ich teilweise überlesen. Allerdings hat mich das Einbinden des Attentats an der Colombine Highschool und dessen Folgen sehr berührt. Das Leiden der Hinterbliebenen, das Trauma der Überlebenden und das Fragen nach den Motiven der Täter, das hat er - meiner Meinung nach - hervorragend dargestellt.

E aftermath of the shooting, through the life of the school nurse, leads to a tragedy and lives are changed forever. I found the book very sad but also uplifting.

Definitely one of Wally Lambs best

I have read another two books by this author that I really enjoyed- I can't say the same for this one.

Brilliant book.

Wonderful read