I Know This Much Is True

Rating:
Summary: Pretty boring
Review: I loved She's Come Undone, and had heard good things about I Know This Much is True so I picked it up at the library. Despite the size, I got through it pretty quickly and wasn't really satisfied at the end. This book was in severe need of an editor. Once he got into putting in every part of his grandfather's book I lost interest in the novel and it just dragged on until the end, with nothing really happening until the very end of the book. I wouldn't really reccomend this book. If you want to read a great book by Wally Lamb, go read She's Come Undone instead.

Rating:
Summary: Love it , Love it, Love it!
Review: When I first picked up the book, I thought that there would be no way that I would be able to finish it, but thought of it as a mission. I am glad to say that the mission is completed and was one that I would happily do again. This is one of only a handful of books that made me laugh out loud on the train and cry on the bus. Everytime I began to get a bit bored, another exciting new section of the story would unravel. I loved charaters and hated them all at the same time. Each character was so unique and really came to life. I was sad to put the book down and borrowed it too many friends.

During university there is little time to read books for fun, but this is a book that was such a joy to read! Thank-you Wally for writing a book that actually made me think about those who are mentally ill and their families in a different way!

Rating:
Summary: A Man's Point of View
Review: I just finished reading this book over the weekend and although I am a busy person and I had to renew the book from the library to finish it it was definitely worth it. Extremely complex, soo many details, and there were definietely characters that you could relate to, love, and even get a giggle out of sometimes. I hated Ray for so long but then in the end we begin to understand his story and we begin to understand him. Perhaps I am too forgiving, but I think that almost anyone's evilness can be explained away (except for Domenico, the grandfather, who I thought was the least realistic character, though I think that's denial on my part. they really do exist). We forgave Birdsey in so many instances because we knew him. I don't want to give too much away in this review, but there is so much that I want to say! Even if you don't have the time, I'd recommend that you read that book. Maybe especially if you are female, like me, and very often read books from a woman's point of view because book's from man's point of views seem very opressive. Birdsey is an American male, but it was nice to see a fresh perspective on society that I may not have come up with on my own. Read it!

Rating:
Summary: I don't know what the fuss is about!
Review: I've seen a lot of great reviews for I Know This Much Is True but I don't agree with most people. I loved Wally's first book, She's Come Undone but I can't say the same for this. It seemed to go on forever saying nothing in particular. It may have had the same style as She's Come Undone but I didn't like it. I thought there was no point to it & that all those like 800 pages were full of babble. I gave it 2 stars because it wasn't horrible, just boring. If you want something that will motivate you to read....God, don't choose I Know This Much Is True.

Rating:
Summary: So loved it is never loaned
Review: I read this book when it was announced on the Oprah show. I love it. The characters are rich and diverse, the story is engaging. I could not put it down until I came to the last page, and then I wished it could go on. Since reading this book, I have given birth to identical twins myself, and a family member has been diagnosed with schizophrenia. The details of this book have been well researched and completely thought out before they were put to paper. It may seem difficult to grasp the length of this title, but I do believe that the majority of people that read it will not feel as though they have wasted their time. I love my copy so much, it is NEVER loaned to anyone, that and my copy of Jane Eyre. If you love to indulge yourself in what you are reading, to escape from your life and into someone elses, read this book. I have...about 6 times now. :)

Rating:
Summary: It's not too late to let go of anger...
Review: All through this opus I couldn't help but feel the parallel of my own life's travails to those facing Dominick (despite his burdens being far greater than my own). The love/shame feeling he had about his brother, love/hate for his mother and hate/love for his stepfather made him conflicted, flawed and real. Despite his grandfather's eventual return to religion, you didn't see Dominick capitulate that way. Yes, he did spill his guts to the substitute priest who served as his brother's funeral, but he didn't come to any "divine plan" conclusion as a hackneyed excuse for the way his life unfolded. Father LaVie simply served the role for him that Dr. Patel did...someone to listen while he unburdened his troubled mind. I applauded Lamb's decision to let Dominick understand himself without falling prey to the crutch of religion. This book can and should be enjoyed by any self-analytical person.

Rating:
Summary: One of the best books I've ever read....
Review: I was very wary of reading this book because of its length (900 pages), but once I started, I couldn't put it down! It was such a wonderful, yet tragic story. Right from the beginning, it never lost my attention. The story centers around Dominick and his schizophrenic identical twin brother Thomas. There are also fringe stories about their mother, their step-father, and grandfather. It is an amazing story.

I can't wait for Wally Lamb's third book.

Rating:
Summary: Controversial
Review: What I found out about this book is that you either love it or hate it. The proof is in the reviews, with extreme comments of one kind or another. I believe that it probably made many people uncomfortable with some of the book's contents.
Wally Lamb certainly doesn't write cute or grand literature. His story is captivating because he dares to write about things that are taboo, and in a brutal way. Yes, his use of slang is generous, and his descriptions graphic, but it was necessary for the novel. And why would that make it bad? And if Dominick is a jerk, it only prooves that jerks can become nice when they open their heart. That's not Hollywood, it happens, and this story of anger, abuse, doubts is ultimately a story of redemption.
The book is not perfect, it's true. The story seems at times too diluted and a little extravagant, but I personally don't think cutting it down would have solved the problem. If you realize that it's simply the character thinking aloud most of the time, then you can relate.
As far as the ending, after pages of painful feelings, the reader may feel cheated with a necessarily brief resolution: there would have been no point in writing more. It was clear that the character had transcended his past, and if the reader needs more, than it means they didn't get it.
A challenging book, no doubt, but that can bring much insight into a personal life.

Rating:
Summary: This book is awful
Review: If you enjoyed "She Comes Undone", you will not like this book. Reading this book was an arduous experience. Do not waste your money or time on this book.

Rating:
Summary: Like an unedited first draft
Review: What this book is is a great first draft for a better book, by a newly-rich author who doesn't understand the need for an EDITOR. To all of you who've read the thing, consider how long he takes getting to the denoument and then how little exposition he gives to it. It's exactly as if he wrote along for 800+ pages and then thought to himself, "If I don't wrap this up soon, this is going to be 1,800 pages long"--so he then hurriedly crams the entire Spielberg-esque resolution into a comparatively few pages. The effect is a badly unbalanced book, with the first half of the story taking about ten times as many pages as what should have been the second "half."

It's highly indulgent, and has the feel of a smug and self-congratulatory writer writing on a publisher's deadline. What SHOULD have happened was that an editor should have made Lamb cut down the endlessness of the main part of the book into about half its length, and then make him take about the same amount of space for the resolution of the story. It's like he was writing without a story outline!

It's entertaining in a soap-opera-ish kind of way, but great literature this is not.

I feel a bit cheated that I wasted so much time on this book. It's not nearly as good as it SHOULD have been if the writer had been more humble and willing to work harder and longer on making it better.