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Wally Lamb

Author of She's Come Undone

12+ Works 30,160 Members 760 Reviews 134 Favorited

About the Author

Walter (Wally) Lamb was born in Norwich, Connecticut on October 17, 1950. He attended the University of Connecticut, receiving a B.A. in 1972 and an M.A. in 1977; he also earned an M.F.A. from Vermont College in 1984. Lamb has written numerous short stories, most notably "Astronauts", which show more received both the Pushcart Prize and the University of Missouri's William Peden Prize in 1990. He is also the author of the bestselling novels She's Come Undone, I Know This Much Is True, The Hour I First Believed and We Are Water. Lamb writes stories, he says, because he sometimes hears another voice in his head and feels the need to tell that character's story. He made The New York Times Best Seller List with his title We are Water. However, he feels an equally strong calling to teach, and has no plans to become a fulltime writer. He has taught English at the Norwich Free Academy since 1972, and for many years directed the Academy's writing center, which he also played a major role in creating. The idea for it developed as he became more involved in fiction writing himself and realized that the common methods of teaching composition, which involved grading a paper and commenting on it after the student was finished, were not particularly helpful. He set up a program that allowed students to get feedback from both teachers and peers early in the writing process, so that they could incorporate the suggestions into their final work. He currently teaches creative writing at the University of Connecticut. He is also the volunteer facilitator of a writing workshop at the York Correctional Institution. (Bowker Author Biography) show less

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Works by Wally Lamb

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Twin Brothers, one in mental hospital in Name that Book (September 2012)

Reviews

This was my first Wally Lamb - I'm glad that I finally took the plunge.

This particular book was all over the place from The shootings at Columbine to a farm in New England to a time shift to a Civil War nursing home. It doesn't seem like it should make any sense but in the end it all comes together.

Some of the story dragged for me - especially the longer passages about Lizzie Popper - but overall it was a book I wanted to keep reading despite its flaws.

I suppose it's a testament to Lamb that despite a bunch of unlikeable characters and some boring sections I really couldn't stop thinking about this book when I wasn't reading it. I needed to find out what happened to all of them.… (more)
 
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hmonkeyreads | 170 other reviews | Jan 25, 2024 |
I can see what the author was striving for with this story: a wry look at the complex life of a family, as seen through the eyes of a naive boy on the cusp of adolescence, with a hearty dose of 1960’s nostalgia via endless pop culture references. Unfortunately, it was predictable and dull, and didn’t have anything new or fresh to offer. Also, while I think some authors can do an outstanding job of reading their own work on audio (hello, Mr. Gaiman!), someone should have prevented Wally Lamb from doing so. His narrative stylings made this only mildly interesting book into a deadly dull audio.

DNF at 46%.
… (more)
 
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Doodlebug34 | 89 other reviews | Jan 1, 2024 |
The beginning was fine, but the second half or so got rough...I even had to skip a few pages because I couldn't handle reading the scene.
It's really depressing, how everything gets worse and worse for this protagonist.
It's not easy reading, not lighthearted by any means.
 
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LDVoorberg | 207 other reviews | Dec 24, 2023 |
Picked this up, randomly, in a trade. Genuinely one of the worst things I've ever read. Bad to the point of offensiveness, in addition to being actually offensive.
 
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maddietherobot | 207 other reviews | Oct 21, 2023 |

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Works
12
Also by
3
Members
30,160
Popularity
#667
Rating
3.9
Reviews
760
ISBNs
221
Languages
14
Favorited
134

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