The Hour I First Believed by Wally Lamb

I'm reading it, and so far, I am not impressed. And I am also a huge Lamb fan.

I am wanting to read it, but I want it to be good. LOL

I think She's Come Undone is my favorite book of all time.

Becky Writes said:

I think She's Come Undone is my favorite book of all time.

Click to expand...

It's definitely in my top ten.

IKTMIT is my favourite damn book EVER and Lamb can do no wrong in my eyes.

Haven't picked up his new one yet but you can bet your bippy as soon as I see it in shops here, I'll pick up a copy.

Let's put it this way: I'm finding it difficult to get through mainly because I dislike the MC so much. However, Lamb's writing is beautiful as ever. I will finish the book because I want to believe it will get better, but I'm not holding my breath.

JWheeler said:

Let's put it this way: I'm finding it difficult to get through mainly because I dislike the MC so much. However, Lamb's writing is beautiful as ever. I will finish the book because I want to believe it will get better, but I'm not holding my breath.

Click to expand...

Wally Lamb's MCs are always highly unlikeable. Even if you might feel sorry for them, you never like them. Who liked the MC of She's Come Undone? I felt sorry for her and wanted to strangle her but I'm not sure I ever actually liked her. What about I Know this Much is True? That MC was an absolute prick and no matter how much pity I felt for him, I never liked him.

An unlikeable MC is, like, Lamb's thing, man.

I've probably only mentioned this a bajillion times, but just in case Wally Lamb ever visits AW:

I salute you and if I ever write a book half as good as IKTMIT, I'll die a happy woman.

I have it, but I haven't started reading it yet. I'm in the middle of two other books right now plus trying to finish writing my own!

I'm loving it. Speeding right through it. Put down two other books because this one took over for me. Love Wally Lamb.

I read that through tears. It still gets me right here. *points at heart*

http://fora.tv/2008/12/04/Wally_Lamb_The_Hour_I_First_Believed -- in which Lamb discusses and reads from his latest. Enjoy!

I bought this book today and I'm so stupidly excited about reading it I think I might pee myself.

I'll try to make it last because he's such a slow novelist but I'll whizz through it, I predict.

My mom and I started our own book club over this book. We both hate the main character. I love the book, big huge, brash, flaws and all. There's something about Wally that's transcendental to me.

I also love that Wally took like ten years to write this book (after five, he offered to give back the advance). He was dealing with a lot of life issues, caring for aging parents, etc. He was also working on his project with the women at the prison. I salute him for waiting patiently for the best idea. I am a fan of, for example, Jodi Picoult, but I kinda feel like lately she is cranking out books on an assembly line . . . I can predict the twist to every one!
My Mom, by the way, dislikes "The Hour I First Believed" as much as I love it. She couldn't stand the historical back-story sections. She just decided to skip them (which might explain why she just didn't get much out of the book). She loved the character Maureen, though.

We both love IKTMIST and SCU.

Finished reading this one last week. Unlike his previous two novels, each of which I could not put down until finishing them, "The Hour I First Believed" took me longer to read. It's a very dense novel which jumps all over the place.

I really enjoyed the beginning but once the historical backstory started intruding, I nearly lost interest. There's too many different pieces in this one for my liking. All of the pieces are interesting but, put together in a novel, it doesn't quite work IMO.

I might try to read some of his books. The reviews I've read either love or hate the books. So, I guess I won't know until I try.

Always one to buck a trend which has no basis in scientific tru fax, IKTMIT is my favourite book of all time ever, ever, ever and if I could only shake Lamb's hand and thank him for writing it...

Ah, but how many people have you surveyed?

scarletpeaches said:

Ah, but how many people have you surveyed?

Click to expand...

Ok, I just ordered both. When I get them I'll just have to decide which one to read first

If I have more than one book by the same author, I read them in publication order.