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.
Customer Rating: 
Summary: Not as great as the others
Comment: I like many of the other reviewers am a Wally Lamb fan. My favorite was "I Know This Much is True." Also like many other reviewers have been awaiting patiently for new material. I wanted to like this book. I enjoyed the connection with his pervious book "I Know this Much is True" but I can't say I enjoyed it. I will probably read it a second time just to see if I would change my mind. This book just seemed so forced. Almost like Mr. Lamb had to write a book to meet a dead line and this was the result. I won't go into detail about what the story is about. There are other reviewers who have done that nicely. I will say this, . . . this book just had train wreck after train wreck. Death, drugs, adultery, natural disasters, foul language, and some really mentally disturbed people. I mean I understand that bad things happen and that some people have worse luck than others but this book just took that concept and threw it over the edge. Think of those Hollywood films that feel that the grosser and more violent the film the better. Thought provoking dialogue gets lost and shock value is in. I just felt like someone was constantly beating a dead horse. In true Wally Lamb fashion this book ends leaving the reader thinking but it did not leave me wanting to talk about it days later as his previous books did. towards the end of the book things seemed almost predictable. I guess you can't win them all.
Customer Rating: Summary: Not Good
Comment: Attention! Attention! Everybody out of the pool. Wally Lamb has jumped the shark!
And boy did he ever.
His characters encounter Columbine, 9/11, Hurricane Katrina an the regular gambit of an author who has obviously at this time run out of ideas.
And the book is long. Long and contrived and sadly dull.
The main character himself would be interesting were it not for the fact that he is Dominic Birdsey from his last book all over again. he even has a loudmothed, classless friend like Dominic. So it's no surprise that he and Dominic live in the same town, know the same people, use the same shrink and ran relays together in high school, duh! They are the same person! It's just a rehash and a poor one at that. It's disappointing. And the fact that Dominic actually makes an appearance in the book...well..it's just silly.
Not good.
I'm just glad I got this one at the library. And even though it is a new release, I won't have any problem returning it in seven days.
Customer Rating: Summary: One Novel Cannot Tackle Every Modern American Crisis
Comment: As a huge fan of both "I Know This Much Is True" and "She's Come Undone," I really appreciate Wally Lamb's intellectual and psychological, yet extremely down to earth approach in writing a novel. However, he dives in way over his head with his most recent, and highly anticipated work, "The Hour I First Believed." I found the Columbine portion of this book most engaging, however that may have been because I was only a couple hundred pages deep and still hopeful.
Lamb fails in realistically conveying the emotional aftermath of multiple modern American disasters in the past 20 years (Columbine, Hurricane Katrina AND the war in Iraq). By the time he brings up the PTSD experienced by a soldier in the Iraqi war, his attempts appear as only cliche. Furthermore, Lamb is unsuccessful in his endeavors to forge a shallow comparison between the lack of justice present in both America's past and present.
Lastly, the Lizzy Popper subplot of this book is very dry and drawn out. I quickly got sick of making inferences about the results of paternity tests. By the end, the novel felt eerily similar to a CNN-sponsored soap opera.
Customer Rating: Summary: I wish Wally Lamb could write faster!
Comment: A well thought out & written story. He makes you think and feel along with each character. I have enjoyed all of Wally Lamb's books and look forward to the next.
Customer Rating: Summary: Not what I had expected from Wally Lamb
Comment: Like many on here, I am a big fan of Wally Lamb's books. I loved "She's Come Undone" and loved "I Know This Much is True." So when he finally came out with this book, I was very excited to read it. However, I was very let down. I really wanted to like this book, but had a difficult time following the story. There were too many tangents and content that should have been edited out. The "german beer history" and the "great grandmother" thesis should have been shortened. I skipped through most cause it was soo boring and I just didn't quite get why it was important for us readers to know about it. Anyway, I am still a Wally Lamb fan and do hope that his next book is better.
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