The Hour I First Believed: A Novel

Wally Lamb

Oct 2009 · Sold by Harper Collins

About this ebook

New York Times Bestseller

The profound and compelling story of a personal quest for meaning and faith from Wally Lamb, #1 New York Times bestselling author of She’s Come Undone and I Know This Much Is True

“The beauty of The Hour I First Believed, a soaring novel as amazingly graceful as the classic hymn that provides the title, is that Lamb never loses sight of the spark of human resilience. . . . Lamb’s wonderful novel offers us the promise and power of hope.”
—Miami Herald

When 47-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 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 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 back east. But the effects of chaos are not so easily put right, and further tragedy ensues.

In The Hour I First Believed, Wally 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.

 

Ratings and reviews

What makes Wally Lamb great is that he writes about real life - a life to which the reader can truly relate. The truth of the matter is that life often sucks! It is often mundane, depressing, frustrating, difficult and uninspiring. Filled with work, chores, arguments, leaky roofs, busted cars and money shortages. If you do not wish to be reminded of this reality - this truth - then Wally Lamb is not the writer for you my friend. If you seek escape - look elsewhere. The characters in Wally Lamb's books are incomplete - we witness their growth and maturation as they endure "real" life. This is a quality that I look for in any fiction that I read - I want to see struggle that I can relate with. I want to see myself reflected in the experiences of the characters. I want to be validated, encouraged and inspired. Really, this is a book about a journey. About discovering what really matters in life - a lesson that is sometimes not learned until everything is stripped from you. As Americans, we have the luxury of surrounding ourselves with diversions. We are insulated from much of the real struggle of life - often because we are able to throw money at our problems. But, what if you lost everything - one piece at a time. At what point would you break? When would you quit? In The Hour I First Believed, the main character, Caelum Quirk, experiences a series of devastating losses and life changes that send him "backward," landing him in the home of his youth. From the shootings at Columbine, to job loss, his wife's mental illness and death, his continual financial challenges and grueling work schedule - Caelum Quirk rises every day to meet life head on. Reading this book requires patience. Nothing explodes. There are no graphic sex scenes. We simple walk with Caelum Quirk as he faces each day, tries to deal with what is in front of him, tries to cope with his many difficulties and finds purpose and meaning in the process. This book is filled with wisdom - with the knowledge that life is not always fair, not always fun - but is always beautiful. Our task in life is to look through our immediate challenges - the temporal - and begin to see their purpose. Everything happens for a reason. So, instead of asking "why," we should ask "what for?" Our experiences mold and forge us - they are the building block for who we are to become. Failure to face our challenges with dignity, courage and persistence will result in a failure to grow or mature. I am grateful for the many hours I spent in reading this book. It was a beautiful journey from which a learned a great deal about myself and about the journey we are all on in the world.

It lacks the continuity of 'We Are Water' as well as the insightful character development of 'She's Come Undone'. I also prefer 'I Know This Much Is True' over this sentimental but overdrawn work. Not to mention that there are a lot of grammatical and format errors. It seems like the process of writing it was rushed and erratic. I expected more from Wally Lamb but remain a devoted reader.

It took me a little while to get into this one honestly. I love wally lamb but after about 80 pages I put it away and went on to other books. During a dry spell I started up again and about 2 pages in I was hooked (if I had just waited a little longer the first time). From then on it was great except the family history stuff.....I just couldn't get into that. I would rate this lowest of the books of his (almost all of them) that I've read but he's such a good writer it's still a really good book.

About the author

Wally Lamb is the author of five New York Times bestselling novels: She’s Come Undone, I Know This Much Is True, The Hour I First Believed, Wishin’ and Hopin’, and We Are Water. His first two works of fiction, She’s Come Undone and I Know This Much Is True, were both #1 New York Times bestsellers and selections of Oprah’s Book Club. Lamb edited Couldn’t Keep It to Myself, I’ll Fly Away, and You Don’t Know Me, three volumes of essays from students in his writing workshop at York Correctional Institution, a women’s prison in Connecticut, where he has been a volunteer facilitator for two decades. He lives in Connecticut and New York.