So I just finished The Hour I First Believed by Wally Lamb. The book clocks in at 730 pages and is heavy: both in actual weight and subject matter. The author covers such topics and themes as:

American Civil War
Iraq War
Korean War
Women's sufferage
Anti-slavery movements
Prohibition
Columbine shootings of 1999
September 11, 2001
Hurricane Katrina
alcoholism, drug usage, AA meetings
incarceration - particularly of women
rape, incest, other abuse
familial relationships: ancestry, step/adoptive families, genetic traits and characteristics
marriage, divorce, adultery
anger management, violence, rage

There are probably more, but I'm too exhausted to add more to this list. Lamb also incorporates characters and events from his previous two novels, She's Come Undone and I Know This Much Is True as well as the volumes of writing he edited written by female prisoners at the York Correctional Institution. The characters are complex and generally believable, although the flow of the story is often a bit hard to follow. The plot jumps from "current time" to letters written during the Civil War and then snippets from the life of a minor character in the 50's. Some parts I found myself wanting to skip, and I experienced anger at the ending of the novel as well. I suppose I just like a happy ending - and that would have been possible in this novel if Lamb had so chosen.

Either way - this tome has worn me out and I think my next summer read will be The Wednesday Wars by Gary Schmidt. More posts to come!