Wally Lamb's latest and greatest is a 700+ page clunker that should've been 200 pages less than it is. However, that said, it was a great read! It's the story of a teacher and his wife, who both work at Columbine High School and takes place 4 days before the infamous shootings and the effects afterwards. It's a story of post-traumatic stress but also touches on the concepts of violence, mental illness, fragility of life, and a slew of other topics intertwined neatly and sometimes not so neatly. For instance, I could've done without the whole history lesson told through old letters found in an attic. It seemed to go a different way for me once we reached the middle of the book. Characters that were so dominant in the first half seemed to fade away, to be recast with new people that I didn't care about after being introduced to them on page 555.
Overall, it was a great read, and I am again marvelled at the genius of Lamb's writing and ability to create such an epic story with a mutltitude of different styles within it.
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