I Know This Much Is True: A Novel (P.S.)
by Wally Lamb
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Book Summary Information
Author: Wally LambEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2008-04-08
ISBN: 0061469084
Number of pages: 928
Publisher: Harper Perennial
Book Reviews of I Know This Much Is True: A Novel (P.S.)
Book Review: Truly Phenomenal
Summary: 5 Stars
A fascinating well written novel centering on a pair of identical twins, I Know this Much Is True is a tale of epic proportions. The story is about the tension between a pair of identical twins. Dominick is normal and Thomas is a very sick paranoid schizophrenic. Lamb ,who tells the story in flashbacks, suceeds in creating several multi-dimensional characters and unusual plot twists. I was hesitant about reading an Oprah selection, because many of the novels she selects are so mass market. Not so this one. She has also used her forum to promote authors who share her ethnicity without more. Wally lamb is a white male. The opening of the story presents us with a delusional Thomas who has chopped off his hand in the public library to atone for the military sins of the U.S. in the gulf. By this act he hopes to save the American people and their souls. Like many mentally ill people, Thomas is very religious and receives messages from a supreme being. He is promptly interred in a hospital for the criminally insane much to his brother Dominick's chagrin. The author is a high school English teacher in a small Conneticut town that is not a suburb of NYC. Clearly he used his own hometown as a model for three Rivers where the story takes place. Dominick is a high school history teacher turned house painter. One of Lamb's writing teachers told him "The World is a very old place, so you'll never be able to tell a completely original story...The best you can do is to put your own spin on ancient tales...If you want to write fiction, study myth." pg.6 author's note. I have tried to recall ancient tales which might have been Lamb's inspiration. Yes, there are tales of good and bad egos and alter egos. Fight Club was one. So was Dr Jeckel and Mr. Hyde. There are tales of good and bad identical twins. However, I have never come upon the "spins" this author has created. We can sympathize with Dominick as he waits for the other shoe to fall. He is terrified that he too will become schizophrenic. Schizophrenia like many other diseases has a large genetic component. We hear over and over about the biological imperitive of mental illnesses. We can sympathize with Dominick's embarrassment when during college Michael's illness flowers fully. Dominick's mother refuses to identify his biological father. The only father he has known was the sometimes abusive step father, Ray who has his own failings. Dominick speaks often of his red headed and disfigured mother who was born with a harelip. He knows her as a kind, good, and compassionate woman who favored his brother, Michael, and idolized a father who died before the twins were born. He faults his mother for keeping the identity of his biological father secret and feels betrayed when she dies of cancer without telling him. He fantasizes as many children do about the fine man who fathered him and then either abandoned his mother or never knew she was pregnant. The story of Dominick Sr., the Italian immigrant, is told through a book within a book. Written in Italian and translated at Dominick jr.'s expense, we learn that he was a mean, selfish, abusive and arrogant man. As a husband and father he was worse then the much hated, Ray. Instead of doing more than keeping the psychotic Thomas safe, Dr. Patel invites Dominick to enter therapy to learn why he is so tormented both by the responsibility of his brother and his own life. When dominick complains, because he is not the sick brother, Dr. Patel says"I learned that there are two young men lost in the woods. Not one. Two... one of the young men... has been gone so long(I may never find him)...But as for the other, I may have better luck. The other young man may be calling me." This distinction between serious incurable psychosis and a serious but curable neurosis was very well phrased and is but one example of the author's talented writing. pgs 284,286. The author's theme is that we are all made up of our past and present. We are not just a product of our time and place. "We all come from the past...life is a braided cord of humanity stretching up from time long ago..." pg. 9 of the notes about the author. This novel is very long with almost 900 pages and an author's note. However, I couldn't put it down. Buy the book so you can underline meaningful passages of which there are many and take it with you as a companion on a long journey. I usually read books in snippets while exercising, under the hair dryer, or in waiting rooms. I actually spent hours reading idly in order to complete the book I have already purchased She's Come Undone, but I can't imagine it would be any better than this. I will be pleased if it is nearly as good. Kudos to the author.
Summary of I Know This Much Is True: A Novel (P.S.)
On the afternoon of October 12, 1990, my twin brother, Thomas, entered the Three Rivers, Connecticut, public library, retreated to one of the rear study carrels, and prayed to God the sacrifice he was about to commit would be deemed acceptable. . . .
One of the most acclaimed novels of our time, Wally Lamb's I Know This Much Is True is a story of alienation and connection, devastation and renewal, at once joyous, heartbreaking, poignant, mystical, and powerfully, profoundly human.
Tony award-winning Ken Howard (1776, Child's Play) reads I Know This Much Is True with the conviction of a used car salesman and the charm of a seasoned politico. Reminiscent of a former football coach recalling his glory days, Howard's booming, rich voice is a beefy compliment to Lamb's powerful prose. Never to be mistaken as a ventriloquist, Howard makes little distinction when moving in and out of character--his voice barely cracks an octave for dainty female personalities. However, this understatement (so to speak) lends to smooth transitions and believable, down-to-earth narration. (Running time: six hours, four cassettes) --Rebekah Warren
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