bigbrains

Oh, I wanted to love this book. I adored I KNOW THIS MUCH IS TRUE and sadly found THE HOUR I FIRST BELIEVED to be a 740 page slight retread of the same idea. The main character, Caelum, is an angry, emotionally damaged man seemingly incapable of having a healthy relationship with a woman. Or anyone else for that matter. (As was Lamb's main character in I KNOW THIS MUCH IS TRUE.) Lamb follows the exact formula of damaged man finds resolution to his emotional pain through the exhumation of his family's past - "the story within the story" other readers have alluded to in their reviews. Sadly, I failed to develop any emotional connection to the history of Caelum's family and his identity crisis over who his mother might be. (As Dominick struggled in I KNOW THIS MUCH IS TRUE to figure out who his real father might be through reading his grandfather's family history. Hmmm.) I didn't even read it, and as far as I could tell, didn't miss much. I felt that it took away from the main thrust of the story: his third wife's struggle over being in Columbine high school the day of the murders. The story would have been more engaging, more powerful if Lamb had stuck to that central story and found another way for his character to find emotional resolution. Lamb even re-introduces Dr. Patel, the psychiatrist who assisted Dominick in I KNOW THIS MUCH IS TRUE, and alludes to the relationship between Caelum and Dominick as high school buddies. Small world, I guess. I actually rolled my eyes. I judge a great book by whether or not I'd read it again. THE HOUR I FIRST BELIEVED will not make it on that list.

2020-09-18 20:08