Search - The Hour I First Believed

From the moving dedication to his mother to the final page, Wally Lamb brings you into the world of Caelum Quirk. This book at times caused tears, smiles, and sighs of understanding. Lamb may struggle with his writing but on the page it flows effortlessly. Caelum is a man at sea. He must find a way to support and believe in his wife who is suffering from acute PTSD, find a connection to the family he separated himself from, and find himself.

I have always loved Lamb's writing and never thought he could surpass "I Know This Much is True". I am so happy to say that he did.

When I bought this book I left it sitting on my bookshelf for months before I read it. I was excited that Wally Lamb finally had a new book but scared that it wouldn't live up to my expectations. Unfortunately, my fears were realized in the second half of the book. While the first half of the book is engaging and exciting, in the second half he starts using long chapters to share the protagonist's ancestors' letters and life stories. I was so bored that I wanted to skip right past them but I kep...more When I bought this book I left it sitting on my bookshelf for months before I read it. I was excited that Wally Lamb finally had a new book but scared that it wouldn't live up to my expectations. Unfortunately, my fears were realized in the second half of the book. While the first half of the book is engaging and exciting, in the second half he starts using long chapters to share the protagonist's ancestors' letters and life stories. I was so bored that I wanted to skip right past them but I kept pushing through. Then later, the series of events started to feel like a Jerry Springer episode and that's when he lost me. This book had such great potential but he threw the end out the window. I'll give future works by Lamb a chance, but not with the same excitement that I embraced this one with.

Not up top this author's usual brilliance. Slow in the beginning and not exactly about Columbine...except in a sideways manner. You really have to get into the first 200 pages before anything relating to that comes up. Seems a lot more about his marriage difficulties. I couldn't wait for this book to get to me, and was sorely disappointed. Accidentally left it on a plane, and only had 100 pages left. Not worth re-ordering or even finishing the book. No great loss.

Honestly, I went into reading this book thinking that it was going to be just about Columbine and the aftermath. That's the truth of about the first half. After that, although it still involves the same main characters, it goes off on quite a tangent. In the end, things really do come together and you realize how all of the stories are interconnected, but it took a good chunk of reading to get there. The book dragged for me quite a bit in the middle because it turns into sort of historical fiction at times but I thought the ending was really beautiful. All in all, I think it could have been a bit shorter but is worth reading if you can handle long books. :)

I love Wally Lamb, and was very excited to get this book - FINALLY!! You really get into the characters, and just when you think you are figuring things out . . . another twist comes into play. That being said - this book is a little long and drawn out. I couldn't help but think (just a little bit) that there were just things added to the story to make it longer . . . I don't know, maybe it was just me. However, great book, especially if you're a Lamb fan - worth the read. P.S. - the subject matter of this book is about the Columbine High School incident. Very well researched, accurate, "real" and tastefully done.

I really enjoyed this book and am a big Wally Lamb fan. Though it's fiction it reads as non-fiction a lot of the times, especially when dealing with the Columbine story line. I thought some of the story lines were a little drawn out and a condensed version of this book would have been just as great but there is no doubt that you really get to know the characters.