Book Review: Wishin’ and Hopin’ by Wally Lamb

Title: Wishin’ and Hopin’
Author: Wally Lamb
Publisher: Harper Perennial; Reprint edition
Publication Date: November 2, 2010
Paperback: 288 pages
ISBN: 978-0061941016
Genre: Fiction

From the Publisher:

In Wally Lamb’s pitch perfect new novel, it is 1964. LBJ and Lady Bird are in the White House, Meet the Beatles is on everyone’s turntable, and ten-year-old Felix Funicello (distant cousin of the iconic Annette!) is doing his best to navigate fifth grade—easier said than done when scary movies still give you nightmares and you bear a striking resemblance to a certain adorable cartoon boy. But there are several things young Felix can depend on: the birds and bees are puzzling, television is magical, and this is one Christmas he’s never going to forget.

My Review:

Wishin’ and Hopin’ by Wally Lamb is an absolutely hysterical look at life as a 5th grade student in 1964.  Adult Felix narrates the story and begins it as a confession taking the reader back in time with him to his 1964-65 school year at St. Aloysius Gonzaga Parochial School, the year Sister Daymphna went “crazy” and culminating with the Pauline, the great Sno Balls question, the pageant and an unusual, entertaining and rather brilliant epilogue.  Lamb takes his readers back to a much less complex time in life, and for those of us old enough, a rather nostalgic look back at the innocence of youth.  Lamb has cleverly put together a delightful ensemble of classmates, family members, and customers at the family diner as well as teachers to create a story one will not forget.  Wishin’ and Hopin’ is a delightful Christmas read and one I will read again and again.  Wishin’ and Hopin’ reminded me a lot of the movie A Christmas Story, not in the actual storyline, but rather in the narration.   Lamb is well known for his deep and complex novels, and Wishin’ and Hopin’ allows this creative author to show an entirely new side in creating this light hearted, hilarious, and nostalgic Christmas story.  I cannot think of anyone I would not recommend Wishin’ and Hopin’ to for a fun, fast, and hilarious Christmas book.

About the Author:

Wally Lamb’s first two novels, She’s Come Undone (Simon & Schuster/Pocket, 1992) and I Know This Much Is True (HarperCollins/ReganBooks, 1998), were # 1 New York Times bestsellers, New York Times Notable Books of the Year, and featured titles of Oprah’s Book Club. I Know This Much Is True was a Book of the Month Club main selection and the June 1999 featured selection of the Bertelsman Book Club, the national book club of Germany. Between them, She’s Come Undone and I Know This Much Is True have been translated into eighteen languages.

Lamb is also the editor of the nonfiction anthologies Couldn’t Keep It to Myself: Testimonies from Our Imprisoned Sisters (HarperCollins/ReganBooks, 2003) and I’ll Fly Away (HarperCollins, 2007), collections of autobiographical essays which evolved from a writing workshop Lamb facilitates at Connecticut’s York Correctional Institute, a maximum-security prison for women. He has served as a Connecticut Department of Corrections volunteer from 1999 to the present.

Wally Lamb is a Connecticut native who holds Bachelors and Masters Degrees in teaching from the University of Connecticut and a Master of Fine Arts in Writing from Vermont College. Lamb was in the ninth year of his twenty-five-year career as a high school English teacher at his alma mater, the Norwich Free Academy, when he began to write fiction in 1981. He has also taught writing at the University of Connecticut, where he directed the English Department’s creative writing program.

Wally and Christine Lamb are the parents of three sons, Jared, Justin, and Teddy.

For more reviews of the book, please follow the book tour.

I received a complimentary copy of Wishin’ and Hopin’ by Wally Lamb from TLC Book Tours to be a part of this tour and offer my honest review of the book. Receiving a complimentary copy in no way reflected my review of aforementioned book.

Be Sociable, Share!

•