Rating: 
Summary: Only half way through and I'm entranced
Review: I read She's Come Undone years ago when it first came out, before the rest of the world knew it existed. Since then I've anxiously awaited Lamb's second novel, and now that it is here I am not disappointed.Every character in this book is dealing with some kind of garbage from their lives, and while some may think it is a bit much I believe that for once a novel captures the essence of every life! We've all lived through some kind of crap that we don't talk about and hope no one ever finds out about. Through Dominick's sessions you discover that it is he not his mentally ill brother who has suffered the most. I think this novel is realistic and above all else that the characters actually breath through the pages. I applaude Oprah Winfrey for choosing novels that take risks, make people think, and force them to see that the world isn't as nice and orderly as some might like. People make choices good and bad, people hurt one another, but they also love each other deeply. I can't wait to finish this one!
Rating:
Summary: Wally Lamb has done it again!
Review: Wally Lamb breaks my heart with his all too real account of mental illness and the painful, repetitive patterns of family dysfunction and tragedy. His charecters, the twin boys of a meek and secretive mother, develop fully and invite us into their world and their minds. This story never fails to turn and change and surprise. Lamb grates close to the nerve for any readers with mental illnes in their family. He reminds us to love those who can't help themselves and who live in dark sadness and paranoia. Yet he sacres us with Dominick's vulnerability as the "well" brother. I was engrossed and connected to this novel for the 4 days it took me to read. It became a priority for me to spend time with this book, a necessity for me to finish. This novel is personal and real and it stings. Thanks to Wally Lamb for this one, and please, send us another soon!
Rating:
Summary: One of the best!
Review: I just finished the book about five minutes ago and I'm still sniffling and wiping the tears from my face! What an emotional masterpiece! Wally Lamb writes in a way that pulls you right in and makes you a part of the story. Happiness, sadness, grief, despair, love, romance, life, death...this book covers it all. And in a way that makes you appreciate everything...no matter how bad you think life might be! :)
Rating: 
Summary: A good story with excellent closure.
Review: This is not the best book I've ever read, but I found myself almost obsessed with it. It was a lot of fun. I found the first part of the book rather depressing, but things picked up about 1/3 of the way through. It really could have been shorter, but most of the time it kept a good pace. Some of the twists and turns were a bit too remarkable, but I enjoyed the escape of reading something that wasn't exactly like real life. To me, the best part of the book was the end because it provided true closure. I was satisfied.
Rating: 
Summary: I wanted to like it. Really.
Review: There are 200 pages of meat and 700 pages of hamburger helper in this tome of angst. The occasional sparkling line, gem of dialouge and the great ending in "She's Come Undone" were the things that kept me reading. I quickly grew tired of the sex, the recriminations about sex, the variety of sex, the endless descriptions of sex and, finally, the sex. The other thing I tired of was the analysis, the recriminations about analysis, the variety of analysis, the endless descriptions of analysis and, finally, the analysis. Those horses, while not beaten dead, were certainly on life support. I look forward to the next Lamb book now that he has this out of his system.
Rating:
Summary: Bring This One to the Beach!
Review: Wally Lamb takes us on another incredible journey into the heart and soul of three generations of dysfunction. Lamb weaves an intricate plot surrounding Dominick Birdsey and his paranoid schizophrenic identical twin Thomas. When Thomas winds up in a maximum security hospital, Dominick begins his quest to save his brother (and ultimately himself) by reflecting on his past and that of his mother and grandfather. Lamb eloquently uses the "story within a story within a story" technique (reminds me of John Irving) to explain & explore the past. I never usually tune into Oprah Winfrey, but I happened to be channel surfing at the very moment that she announced this month's book selection. Wally Lamb was her guest. Intrigued, I wrongly assumed that the 900 page book would take me the better part of the summer to read; actually it didn't even carry me three days; I couldn't put it down.
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Summary: A Book Written by C. Dickens, S. Maugham & S. Freud?
Review: Beautifully written yet unnecessarily overstrung to the extreme that diluted the thickness of nectar. The chronical year of 1969 was inappropriately detailed, especially out of the memory of a first person's narrative, just as impossible as some procecutor asking the witness or the defendent to recite certain specific timing trivia happened long long time ago. Reading what happened in 1969 could only bring a thinking and conscious reader out of the total commitment to realize that only Wally Lamb, the writer, could memorize such small happencetenses in vivid details but absolutely not possible for the character in the his book to blah blah blah so clearly. Lamb should put much more ratio on D's other personal matters instead of merely concentrating on D's brother's Thomas. Then, it might become more interesting to read as one of the common stories that might have realistically happened among the ordinary people like all of us. A quite beautifully re-constructed giant book by a modern Chales Dickens, Summerset Maugham and, most of all, Dr. S. Freud.
Rating:
Summary: Well worth the 900+ page journey.
Review: As a working (and reading)mom with 2 kids, I initially found its size daunting. But once I dug in, I couldn't stop reading...in this case, size does matter, I never wanted this book to end. It seemed to be a combination of some of John Irving's themes (animals, story-within-story) and elements of the movie "Rainman". Lamb's characters are well defined, his grasp of dialogue excellent, and I loved the nasty old grandfather's life story that started mid-book. The only downfall was the quick 'n' tidy ending, where the loose threads were quickly knitted together (relationships with Ralph Drinkwater, remarriage to ex, coming to terms with Ray, etc.) everthing a little too neatly compartmentalized. Can't wait for his next novel,I'm sure it will be well worth however many years we have to wait for it, as this was.
Rating:
Summary: INCREDIBLE
Review: Another hit from Wally Lamb! I couldn't put this book down! The detail of the characters will find you feeling intertwined with their lives. It was also a book within a book-- an interesting combination. It will be the first 900 page book you will read that will seem, instead, like 200 pages. A MUST READ!!!
Rating:
Summary: It will be hard to start a new book in the shadow of this.
Review: Wally Lamb is near genius! To write a book like "She's Come Undone", and then follow it with "I Know This Much Is True" is the expression of only a rare, gifted person. I enjoyed this book so much that I finished it's 900+ pages in less than 2 weeks! He is a writer to be applauded!
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