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Summary: wonderful
Review: This book was wonderful. It was exciting and very interesting. It kept my curiosity going. My house is much cleaner now that I finished the book. I didn't want to put it down!
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Summary: Captivating and mesmerizing; Lamb touches your heart
Review: Wally Lamb has this wonderful ability to capture your imagination with a wonderful story. Once you start reading it, you simply cannot put it down.I thought that this book would take me a couple of weeks. I believe that I finished this book in a week, and I'm not a speed reader by nature. Dominick is a tortured soul who has reached a point in his life where he is trying to discover who he is. He has spent most of his life protecting his identical twin schizophrenic brother. Lamb succesfully describes every detail of Dominick's life with much grace. Dominick is like an everyman who has been dealt a heavy hand in life. It really becomes interesting when Dominick reads his grandfather's journal. If you want to escape into the wonderful world of Wally Lamb's imagination, then you definitely want to read this book.
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Summary: A moving exploration of family and relationships
Review: It's hard to pinpoint which is more impressive - Lamb's use of language or his ability to so richly involve us in the story of two brothers growing up. While Lamb obviously did his homework (the scenes with the therapist are outstanding, and the historical details peppered throughout resonate as authentic), it's a credit to him that it appears effortless - the reader is left with an engaging, engrossing work that won't let go until long after you've finished. It's hard to imagine how this book is uplifting. After all, the number of tragedies that occur throughout suggest that it's a wholly depressing novel. Yet Lamb never lets you focus entirely on the tragedy, and shows how individuals can absorb pain and end up better off in the end. It was hard to let the book end. I wanted to stay with these characters and find out more about where they went, what they did, and how they lived.
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Summary: Lamb did it again!
Review: This book sat on the floor next to my bed for months before I had the courage to pick up. It was so long, I was intimidated. I absolutely adore "She's Come Undone," though, so I finally cracked Wally Lamb's second effort. I LOVED it. I found myself doing my studying more quickly, so I had extra time to escape to the twins' world. Lamb is the master of human emotion and I look forward to many more of his creations.
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Summary: THIS IS MY ALL TIME FAVORITE BOOK!
Review: For the past 46 years I have lived a life very similar to the main character in your book. My mother was diagnoised manic-depressive with schizophrenic tendencies at age 19. However, she married my father and went on to have 3 children. My father was from Italy and because of his close family upbringing remained with my mother until his death at 74. When I read your book, I felt as though you knew my life story. The pain that this illness can cause a family is unbelievable to anyone not associated with it. If your looking for a sequel, give me a call. Thanks again!
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Summary: Simply Beautiful
Review: This is a truly beautiful book. Lamb's language is clean and simple, and completely natural. His characterizations are authentic and believable. Each character felt "knowable", and yet fascinating. The plot is entirely original and compelling from page one. Lamb was able to convincingly portray Dominick's difficulty in resolving his feelings of love and responsibility for his schizophrenic twin brother, Thomas , with his desire to be free of the burden his brother's illness has become. This love/burden impacts the other relationships in Dominick's life in so many ways, and many of the intricately developed supporting characters have their own highly believable hardships. In fact, some characters; for example, Lisa, the social worker, Dessa, Dominick's ex-wife, and even Ray, his stepfather, are so engaging that they are deserving of their own novels. Others have written that they felt the ending was too happy or too completely resolved. I argue that after having spent 987 pages with Dominick Birdsey, reading about his seemingly endless streak of rotten luck, I was thrilled that things ended so well for him-he deserved it! I felt as though I could let him go without having to worry or wonder what catastrophic event he might be hit with next.
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Summary: Best Book?
Review: I did not shy away from this book because of the length. However, I did feel that the book could have easily been 600 pages and said the same thing. There isn't one likable character, with the exception of the East Indian doctor. I feel that this book is one of the most overrated books ever. It has little or no literary value. The writing is straightfoward with no flair for wording or the craft of writing. And the story is quite unbelievable. It is merely a soap opera of grandiose proportions, and if Oprah hadn't picked it up it would have been a mere blip on the literary scene. I am amazed to see that some reviewers thought this was the best book they had read in some time. It is easily the worst book I have read in the last 12 months, and I would have given it 1 star, but I give it 2 stars for it's absurd longwindedness (which is NOT a compliment). Even the names of the institutes where Thomas was housed were incredulous: "Hatch" (like down the hatch) and "Settle" (like he had to settle for it) were ridicluous. When Dominick was wanting to end his life, I was rooting for him to do it, and then was hoping to see the following 400 pages blank. And the sugar coated ending was just too much. I guessed the ending completely. The only suprise for me was how utterly predictable it was. At the 600 page mark I slammed the book shut in frustration and read "The Things They Carried" by Tim O'Brien which was wonderful. I would have easily not finished "True" if it had not been for the fact that my book discussion group was reading it. And just for the record, of those who were able to even get through it also did not like it. This is a book that truly does not deserve the praise heaped upon it.
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Summary: ignore the oprah stigma;
Review: instead, immerse yourself in wally lamb's sea of words. i started this book as a joke, largely; i had read "she's come undone" and quite liked it, if only because, no joke, i dated a girl, once upon a time, who was much like that novel's protagonist, although i quite enjoyed lamb's style. i figured i'd dip into his new one occasionally, like every other huge novel that comes into the store ready for a reader. two days later, i was returning it to the stack, every word read, amazed at the experience i had had. i hope that lamb's next novel is a bit shorter (and that this time, he learns how to devise a plausible denouement), but i know for a fact that i'll read it the day it comes out. he's that good. he's nowhere near pynchon's neighborhood- he's not even in pynchon's borough- but if we need to anoint a new dickens, he's a pretty fine candidate.
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Summary: Lamb's novel sets new standard for contemporary literarture
Review: I have read so much pap out there lately that I was beginning to get very dissapointed with todays' literature but this novel changed my view. I Know This Much Is True is quite a suberb novel. It is incredibly deep with a story line that is very believable. His characters are so well created that I have to remind myself that this is fiction! I feel like I can just reach out and touch them! Dominick Birdsey is an unforgetable character and so human with his flaws. And yet he is a hero that transforms himself throughout the novel by looking back on his family life and the life of his grandfather. Dominick fights to save his mentally ill twin brother staying at a high security prison, but he ends up finding that he really has to save himself instead from the high stress that he has created. The end had some very unique suprises I would also like to add! Anyone can most certainly relate to this novel. It is quite a lengthy novel, but it is certainly worth it for the deepth it contains.
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Summary: The Best Book I've Ever Read
Review: Despite the books length it really flows. The flashbacks tie in with the story line to make the book really flow. It had a great story line, and no information was introduced that wasn't evident later.
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