I just finished reading Wally Lamb's long awaited new book, The Hour I First Believed. After waiting about 10 years for a new book, Lamb does not disappoint in his new novel. As his other 2 novels, this one is also packed with difficult issues and traumas. The book is based around the Columbine shootings through the eyes of a teacher. But this teacher wasn't there when the shootings occurred. His wife, the school nurse, was there in the library on that horrendous day. Even though this is a work of fiction, Lamb does use the real names of Columbine students and teachers who were killed that day. And he does use the actual timeline of events that occurred, including the video tapes which were later found in the killer's homes.
Obviously this part was hard to read. It really brought me back to that awful day in 1999 when 2 boys went on a shooting spree at their high school and killed 12 people (students and 1 teacher) and wounded over 23 others before killing themselves. But Wally Lamb's novel is more than that. He uses his narrator to show the emotionally wounded; those who were not have been injured physically but are scarred nonetheless.
But this book is not really about Columbine at all. It is about faith and it is about family. After the Columbine massacre, the main characters, Caelum and Maureen Quirk, return to Caelum's childhood home in Connecticut where he was raised mainly by his Aunt Lolly. Lolly had recently died and that was where Caelum was when his wife and the school were under attack across the country. Now he is left with this dilapidated farmhouse, a neglected farm, and a wife who has Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.
Columbine is not the only tragedy which befalls the Quirks. But through cleaning out the old house, old historic documents are discovered. These documents are letters and diaries from his great-great grandmother from the mid-late Nineteenth century before the Civil War. In rereading these old papers, Caelum gets to view things in a different light and includes some interesting characters along his journey.
A historical fiction book has to be amazing for me to enjoy it. And I absolutely loved this book! Wally Lamb has this insane power to draw you into this world he creates using pieces of history. I felt as though I could really see how life was in 1886. This book covers events from Greek mythology, to the Civil War, to women's right to vote, to the first female correctional institute in America, to Columbine, and right on through to today and the war in Iraq.
Through all of the tragedies and traumas in this book, the main point is very clear. Your family is not always blood. Your family is who you invite into it. And those bonds are stronger than anything. Stronger than the wars and devastation. But we tend to lose sight of that in our daily lives. This book, The Hour I First Believed, reminds you of that; that each day is precious. You never know what can happen in the blink of an eye or the flash of a gun.
Obviously this part was hard to read. It really brought me back to that awful day in 1999 when 2 boys went on a shooting spree at their high school and killed 12 people (students and 1 teacher) and wounded over 23 others before killing themselves. But Wally Lamb's novel is more than that. He uses his narrator to show the emotionally wounded; those who were not have been injured physically but are scarred nonetheless.
But this book is not really about Columbine at all. It is about faith and it is about family. After the Columbine massacre, the main characters, Caelum and Maureen Quirk, return to Caelum's childhood home in Connecticut where he was raised mainly by his Aunt Lolly. Lolly had recently died and that was where Caelum was when his wife and the school were under attack across the country. Now he is left with this dilapidated farmhouse, a neglected farm, and a wife who has Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.
Columbine is not the only tragedy which befalls the Quirks. But through cleaning out the old house, old historic documents are discovered. These documents are letters and diaries from his great-great grandmother from the mid-late Nineteenth century before the Civil War. In rereading these old papers, Caelum gets to view things in a different light and includes some interesting characters along his journey.
A historical fiction book has to be amazing for me to enjoy it. And I absolutely loved this book! Wally Lamb has this insane power to draw you into this world he creates using pieces of history. I felt as though I could really see how life was in 1886. This book covers events from Greek mythology, to the Civil War, to women's right to vote, to the first female correctional institute in America, to Columbine, and right on through to today and the war in Iraq.
Through all of the tragedies and traumas in this book, the main point is very clear. Your family is not always blood. Your family is who you invite into it. And those bonds are stronger than anything. Stronger than the wars and devastation. But we tend to lose sight of that in our daily lives. This book, The Hour I First Believed, reminds you of that; that each day is precious. You never know what can happen in the blink of an eye or the flash of a gun.
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