The Hour I First Believed Blog
number one


The minute I had read the review for The Hour I First Believed by Wally Lamb, I wanted it. Ever since watching Bowling For Columbine I've kind of had a secret interest in the Columbine High School shootings. In Bowling For Columbine you see raw footage, video from security cameras documenting the terror that these two boys brought in with them that day. These images are stuck in my mind. You see the two boys coming into the cafeteria with two guns in each hand. You see the unarmed students dashing for cover, leaving their backpacks and lunches behind. It's basically a slide by slide video but it gets the point across. The terror is real, this can happen. I'm not a big cryer, but I cried when I saw that. I couldn't even imagine any kind of catastrophic event at school, let alone a shooting. I can't seem to comprehend the idea of someone my own age or someone in one of my classes possessing the drive to kill. It's impossible. It's unthinkable.

The book chronicles the life of Mr. Quirk and Mrs. Quirk who both worked at Columbine High School. Mr. Quirk was a social studies teacher and Mrs. Quirk was a school nurse. Right before the shooting Mr. Quirk's aunt passes away and he has to go back to Connecticut or wherever he grew up. The next thing he knows he's switching the TV on and there's footage of kids screaming and running out of Columbine High School. His wife is still there, he doesn't know if she's dead or alive.

The book follows his life dealing with his mentally damaged wife after the shooting. She suffers from PTSD and becomes completely emotionally stale. You get a taste for their scandalous life before moving to Colorado early on in the book which makes their awkward, strained relationship even more awkward and strained. It's a bit heartbreaking, it's hard to decide who to feel sorry for. Mr. Quirk who's dealing with an emotionally unstable and unfaithful wife, or Mrs. Quirk who has to suffer from the memories of the Columbine shooting everyday? The answer is never obvious and I still have some digging to do.