I Know This Much Is True

Rating:
Summary: Best book I've ever read!
Review: Everything good that I can think of to say about this book has been said already. I read it in less than a week, put it down for a couple of days and read it again. I've listened to the audiotape version on a long road trip and in the past 4 years have probably re-read this book half a dozen times. Do not let the length of this book scare you off. Its length is what makes it so engrossing. I just have to say I fell in love with Dominick AND Thomas, and I wish I could find a therapist like Dr. Patel. A book well worth reading.

Rating:
Summary: I Know This Much is True
Review: I read Wally Lamb's first book "She's Come Undone" and thoroughly enjoyed it - couldn't put it down.

However, "I Know This Much is True" is a disappointment in comparison. I can easily put it down and walk away for a few days and not want to know what happens yet. The story is slow with too many flashbacks, confusing and generally, it doesn't feel like it's worth getting into.

Rating:
Summary: A True Treasure
Review: I had waited a long time to read this book. I knew it was about twins (one with schizophrinia) and it bothered me. I know people with the illness and damn it, it bothers me. Because I know they will never be the people they were intended to be.

But I read it anyway... finally.
and loved it. Wally Lamb is exquisitely delightful, even when dealing with something as disturbing as mental illness. He gives us Dominick and Thomas as gifts. Dominick is the one without the illness, but still has his own illnesses (if you know what I mean)...he is the caregiver of Thomas, the one who loves and hates Thomas, the one who is terrifyed to become Thomas. Thomas is like a child who needs to be taken under Dominick's wing, he is gentle, he is alone.

Wally Lamb brings the reader into the dark corners of mental illness, reveals family secrets, our own inadequacies,and gives us remarkably layered characters. The dialouge is deliciously real and believable.

This book is about much more than a brother with mental illness. It is about all of us despartely attempting to find ourselves, our roots, our purpose in a world of rough edges.

Towards the end...Thomas learns many things about life, love,compassion,redemption and himself.

How every moment in our lives somehow come together in the end...the rough edges (if we change) become polished.

"I believe in the roundness of things."
I know this much is true.

Rating:
Summary: the most moving book I have ever read
Review: Forty-one-year-old Dominick is the identical twin of Thomas, a schizophrenic who harms himself in the public library as a protest against the oncoming Gulf War. The year is 1990, and Thomas has been mentally unstable for 21 years. Dominick has spent his life caring for his weaker brother, in fear that the biochemical imbalance will also strike him. After all, their genetics are identical.

Thomas is moved from Settle, the institution where he runs a coffee shop and lives relatively freely, to Hatch, a more severe institution where his freedom restricted. To get him moved back to Settle, Dominick works with Thomas' social worker and psychologist, dredging up their childhood with a weak mother and abusive stepfather in an attempt to figure out how to help both Thomas and himself. They never knew their real father.

In an interesting twist, Dominick also discovers the translated memoirs of their Italian grandfather, and reads it to figure out why their deceased mother acted the way she did, and for a clue to the identity of his real father.

Dominick is faced with the discomfort that he played a role in driving Thomas crazy and ruining his own life in the process. The love-hate relationship he has with Thomas, his mother and his stepfather reveals much about the shambles of his adult life.

However, no one in the book is a true monster, just horribly lost misguided human beings. I cried all through this book. After reading so much post-Bridget Jones chick-lit, I was glad to read something that was captivating and churned up so much human emotion. Even though it is almost 900 pages long, I was done within days. I am even tempted to read it all over again, even though I just put it down. That's how good it is!

Rating:
Summary: Wow
Review: It is a long book, but a very good book. I had no problem at all getting into it, but I did have problem putting it down though. Lamb did a brilliant job of weaving the story of his grandfather into it.

Rating:
Summary: What a Perfect Story...
Review: I started this book not having a clue about the author. That's very unusual for me. I read alot...but I read alot of work by the same authors. I'm a sucker for a Stephen King novel, short story, newspaper article, anything. I love Dean Koontz aand Anne Rice and James Patterson and Maya Angelou. I love true crime novels and anything that tells a true story. I hate romance novels and "how-to" books and I never ever (well, hardly ever) read anything written by someone I don't know or haven't read before. But I read this book. ... I picked it up, looked it over, read the intro, and was hooked from page one. This book takes you from beginning to end and never leaves you hanging. There is no boredom, no "stop and go". Wally Lamb is an excellent author, hands down. I will now read "She's Come Undone" simply because I enjoyed this book so much. I think he actually wrote that one first. A newcomer on the book scene, Wally Lamb is sensational. Read this book. It's a definite winner.

Rating:
Summary: Coulda Used Some Choppin'
Review: I listened to the unabridged recording of this gargantuan novel -- read by George Guidall, 23 cassettes, 32 hours! It took me like two months to get through the whole thing, and it was barely worth it. Had I'd been reading instead of listening to it, I have a feeling I would have skipped a page here and there.

I fully believe a good editor could have knocked off a good 200-300 pages off of this novel. There are many moments where the main character, Dominick, just goes on and on about the same thing he'd just said a chapter ago.

The section I found most interesting was the story within a story, the tale of Dominick's grandfather. It was wacky, funny, and fantastic, and the voice of the Italian immigrant was done very nicely (probably more Guidall than Lamb). The ending was my least favorite -- everything wrapping up a little too nicely. Oh, and I also liked Joy -- her story is also out there and quite good.

Rating:
Summary: It's going to be made into a movie
Review: The last time I'd cried over a father and son story was after reading 'Death of a Salesman'. This time I cried again. The story is full of emotion. It is also very dramatic. Too dramatic in some parts: brother is suspected of getting HIV, girlfriend dies from HIV and then the other brother has to be tested for HIV. But although the story ends with a Hollywood ending, I liked the story because it's a story about forgiveness and forgiving the sins others have committed against you. It's also about being humble and admitting your own sins.

Rating:
Summary: Three Cheers for Wally!
Review: Having read Lamb's first book years ago, I'd have to say I've come to appreciate his style. He knows how to create a plot, invent original characters and circumstances, and totally hook a reader! I feel as if I've lived in the town of Three Rivers my whole life.

This is a quite real story that follows Dominick Birdsey's life, catastrophe by agonizing catastrophe. I've grown to love Dominick; he's one of my favorite characters of all time.

I suggest you read the book, no matter who you are. There's something for everyone here - adventure, romance, murder, suspense...

Lamb's story-within-a-story technique intrigued me. I was able to compare and contrast Dominick's story with his grandfather's.

Complaints? None. This is a great tale, and it's told in a way that makes it even better. Please give this book a try; you'll be glad you did.

Rating:
Summary: Entwined Lives
Review: Thomas and Dominick are identical twins, raised by their timid mother, Connie, and their temperamental step-father, Ray. Their entwined lives are marred by violence and emotional torments throughout childhood. Then, after their first semester at college, Thomas unravels, descending into schizophrenia. This leaves Dominick as the sane twin, standing alone and trying to hold on....

A defensive and arrogant Dominick narrates this story. It's a story of anger, and that energy propels it forward. Dominick is angry at each person in his life, as well as his country, his fate, and God. Any time he sets out to do something productive -- to help his brother or a friend -- his own anger blindsides him. His rage seems to come to life on its own, flaming up suddenly and leaving ashes in its path.

Flashbacks and flash-forwards make up this story of the inseparable, yet divided twins. Then, more than halfway through, there is suddenly another narrative. Through a rather unbelievable plot twist, Dominick receives a translation of his grandfather's memoirs.

He reads through his grandfather's story, hoping to solve the essential mystery of his life: who is his REAL father? The grandfather's words begin in a stilted and almost comic manner. But gradually, we get pulled into a tale of witchcraft, betrayal and violence. His grandfather's arrogance and anger mirror Dominick's. And Dominick begins to understand his own mother's fears, her timidity, as she grew up under her father's unyielding authority.

The grandfather's story steals the thunder in the second half of this book. By the time Dominick does put together the pieces and solve some of his life's mysteries, the reader may have lost interest. There is a denouement which wraps up much of the story but is unconvincing. Still, the amazing energy and intensity of this book will hold you captive for quite some time.