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Summary: I Know This Much is True
Review: A wonderful book, a wonderful author. I have also read She's Come Undone. I would love to read more of Wally Lamb.
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Summary: how compelling!
Review: This book was difficult for me to read because there seemed to be so much despair. BUT, each time I took it up, I didn't want to put it down!!! Dominick's family seemed to have been truly cursed beginning with the senior Dominick. Afterall, wasn't he born during a natural disaster? And :)...it seems that the Virgin Mary was weeping for him because his life (and those who followed him)was going to be such a turbulent one! The ending represented for me a victory...Dominick overcame the curse and his life made a turnaround unlike that of his twin brother, his grandmother(and uncles!) and mother who all succumbed to the evil that the senior Dominick embodied.... Even the stepfather becomes a broken and sick man. Dessa however manages to escape because she is able to see that she was being suffocated (by the evil consuming Dominick?) The book was very compelling I thought. It fired up the black emotions within me...anger, despair, sadness. I am glad that Dominick had Dessa's memory to hang on to throughout his ordeal...she seemed to be the only light in his very turbulent life.... As to the story being believable...I think it is....I've been exposed to people such as Thomas who cannot make it through the difficulties life brings and Dominick who will succeed regardless.
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Summary: Have some empathy for this Book!
Review: Although everyone is entitled to their freedom of speech, some people are bashing Wally Lamb's imagery and symbolism in "I know this Much is True." People! please show some empathy for this great novel! It's about a family with many different struggles. It's about life! How can people bash Wally Lamb for writing a book about something he may or may not be familiar with! He did a damn good job! Give him some credit. And for the people who skipped pages and said "blah, blah, blah!" Shame on those people.
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Summary: A wonderful piece of literature.
Review: At first, I was quite intimidated by the thickness and heft of this novel, and it took me about a hundred pages to really get into it, but once I did, I was amazed by the author's writing style and the appeal of the characters. Mr. Lamb has to be one of the most original, masterful writers of the century. The stories he weaves, and the imagery he creates are enjoyable, heart-wrenching, and totally unexpected. Please do not be put off by the length of this novel, it is a joy to read!
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Summary: One of the Best the 20th Century
Review: This book is one for a time capsule. Lamb takes many of the events of the 20th century (immigration, wars, child abuse, aids, mental health) and weaves a captivating story. It is the story of Dominick Birdsey and his search for himself. Anyone who reads this can relate to some or all of Dominick's life. This will be read by all college freshmen in the years to come. I did not want it to end. It is a modern day Crime & Punishment. Give it a try.
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Summary: Remarkable story
Review: It's not often that I choose to read a book over 500 pages...but, I decided to take Oprah's and my wife's recommendation. It wasn't long before I became impelled to read every evening until I finished. As a father of twins and a mental health worker of twenty years, I was quickly pulled into the story and just as quickly made the assumption that Wally Lamb had had first hand experience with both mental illness and with twins. It wasn't until days after I had finished the story that I learned it had been written through dedicated and painstaking research. A true marvel, and a remarkable story about love, separation, and reunion.
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Summary: I have felt anger, despair, depression....
Review: This book is excellently written. I have only read 280+ pages of this book and I have already felt anger, depression, despair and incredible sadness. I am so happy to see Dessa when she makes an entrance because she brings a ray of hope in the twins' lives. The story is so compelling, I don't want to put it down but I also don't want to pick it up but I must. I am most anxious to see how the novel unravels in the next 600+ pages.
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Summary: I could not put it down!
Review: I have to admit that when I started to read this hefty novel I liked it, but was so busy that it was easy to put down until I had time to finish it. When I did start reading it again, I could not put it down as I got into it more and more. It had some disturbing material, but the end made it all worth while! It is an amazing tale of one man's journey into self-understanding and the forgiveness of others. I loved it and would recommend it to anyone!
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Summary: Lamb sure can write a great book- I know this much is true!
Review: This is one of my favorite books ever and I can't specifically tell you why. It's written from a man's point of view and I am partial to women writing about women. (Once again- like "She's Come Undone"- Lamb is able to write with a very feminine and emotionally appealing quality). It was unusually long yet never got cumbersome or too wordy. Au contraire, it got more fascinating as the story went on- particularly the "book within a book" story of his grandmother. And it was rather detailed in it's psychoanalytical study of the characters- which can sometimes be too esoteric for the ordinary reader. But somehow, in spite of all these normally "red flags" for me, this book had it "going on" in a big way. I literally couldn't put it down (after many late nights and bloodshot eyes) because the story continues to twist and turn, surprise and shock, and keep you riveted to the very end. I have recommended this book to everyone I know. But I will tell Amazon's prospective readers nothing except- BUY THIS BOOK AND SHARE IT WITH YOUR FRIENDS.
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Summary: Brilliant
Review: I Know This Much Is True is by no means an easy or even pleasant book to read but it is certainly an incredible one, far surpassing Lamb's debut novel, She's Come Undone. Inventive and imaginative, I Know This Much Is True is one of those rare books that has the ability to make every other book pale beside its brilliance. This is the story of Dominick Birdsey's journey, and it is a journey fraught with insanity, pain, hatred and, most of all, love. As the journey begins, his identical twin brother Thomas has somehow managed to cut off his hand at the local library in order to purge the world of its sins in the weeks just prior to the war in Kuwait. Thomas is a paranoid schizophrenic and Dominick, fortunately or unfortunately, has been his brother's keeper since their mother's death from cancer. The story's core is formed by the relationship between the two brothers. When Dominick meets with Thomas' psychiatrist, in order to help her better understand Thomas, he soon realizes that he must help himself as well. Filled with anger and sorrow at the personal losses and mistreatment in his life, Dominick realizes that he is not the man he ought to be or longs to be. Wally Lamb weaves in and out of time like a master storyteller and creates coincidences that allow his characters and their descendants to become an integral part of Dominick's family history for three generations. When Dominick learns that his mother is dying, for instance, he takes her father's Italian biography to have it translated as an end-of-life gift to her. The female scholar he hires, however, absconds with it after Dominick turns down her sexual overtures. Years later, after Dominick has injured himself in a fall from a ladder, this same woman reappears in his life with the translated work. This happens, of course, just in time for Dominick's intensive psychoanalysis, which includes reading the biography of the very angry and narcissistic man who is Dominick's grandfather (and who also happens to have been called, Dominick). The biography, itself, holds many surprises, such as the fact that a Native American named Drinkwater shares his liquor with one of the elder Dominick's brothers, causing the man to lose his job. In fact, an entire dynasty of Drinkwaters play a continuing role throughout this narrative, eventually affecting not only the elder Dominick, but his daughter and grandson in very intricate ways that only eventually become apparent. There are many characters that appear throughout this book, and each of them is a complex and multi-faceted individual. No cardboard cut-outs here. Everyone has a real history, and, like real people, they are a mix of good and bad and somewhere-in-between. The only character who seems to be lacking in depth is Dessa, Dominick's ex-wife, for whom he still pines. The story loops back and forth from current time to the years when Dominick and Thomas were growing up, then takes a giant leap back to Grandfather Dominick's day, then back to current times again. Never confusing, never disconcerting and all as smooth as silk. The reader comes to feel exactly what Dominick is feeling as he makes his way through life. Dominick's connection with Thomas forms the heart of the book. He feels relief over being the sane twin but pain as well, and resentment at his responsibilities for Thomas. There is a sadness at being left out of his mother's special relationship with Thomas and the fear of encroaching insanity in his own life as well. These are powerful emotions, but Lamb handles them expertly and never slips into melodrama. This is a book where characters journey to the brink of insanity and then, somehow, find their way back to health and wholeness. Lamb, however, unlike many other, lesser authors, adds so many new dimensions and surprises to this story that we can only marvel at his talent.
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