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    I Know This Much Is True
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    I Know This Much Is True
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    I Know This Much Is True
    Ebook1,174 pages19 hours

    I Know This Much Is True

    By Wally Lamb

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    About this ebook

    With his stunning debut novel, She's Come Undone, Wally Lamb won the adulation of critics and readers with his mesmerizing tale of one woman's painful yet triumphant journey of self-discovery. Now, this brilliantly talented writer returns with I Know This Much Is True, a heartbreaking and poignant multigenerational saga of the reproductive bonds of destruction and the powerful force of forgiveness. A masterpiece that breathtakingly tells a story of alienation and connection, power and abuse, devastation and renewal—this novel is a contemporary retelling of an ancient Hindu myth. A proud king must confront his demons to achieve salvation. Change yourself, the myth instructs, and you will inhabit a renovated world.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHarperCollins
    Release dateOct 1, 2002
    ISBN9780061745799
    Author

    Wally Lamb

    Wally Lamb is the author of five New York Times bestselling novels: She’s Come Undone, I Know This Much Is True, The Hour I First Believed, Wishin’ and Hopin’, and We Are Water. His first two works of fiction, She’s Come Undone and I Know This Much Is True, were both #1 New York Times bestsellers and selections of Oprah’s Book Club. Lamb edited Couldn’t Keep It to Myself, I’ll Fly Away, and You Don’t Know Me, three volumes of essays from students in his writing workshop at York Correctional Institution, a women’s prison in Connecticut, where he has been a volunteer facilitator for two decades. He lives in Connecticut and New York.

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    Reviews for I Know This Much Is True

    4/5

    2,970 ratings105 reviews

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    • 4/5
      Words fail to describe this novel.

      I think the closest thing is "family epic," but perhaps in not the way you expect. The novel follows Dominick who is struggling to put the pieces of his life together while everything falls apart. I went into the book knowing nothing, and maybe it's best you do the same, because describing what happens is only going to bore you. It doesn't sound like anything special, but it is. It's a story of a man, being his brother's keeper. It's a story of a man, trying to find his father. It's a story of a man, falling apart so he can put himself back together.

      It's a story about life, plain and simple as that.

      But it's astoundingly beautiful.

      I tore through pages, reading them as fast as my eyes allowed, yet I read very few a day because I had to rest, had to let the story sit with me, so I could contemplate its meanings. It's a sad story, without a doubt, but I think there's a glimmer of hope in it too.

      It will hurt, but it will be worth reading. Trust me.
    • 5/5
      This is one of those books that is a book with a capital "B". This has two stories going at the same time, wonderful writing, great characters..... it's just got it all. I was actually glad that this book was so long because I enjoyed every page of this one.
    • 5/5
      An all-time fave!
    • 4/5
      I had this book on my shelf for forever and after reading some reviews decided to finally read it. I wasn't disappointed, it was pretty good, just not as great as everyone else seemed to think. The characters were good and so was the story line, it was just soooo long!
    • 3/5
      Great book, awesome characters. I didn't like the parts where it went way back into history.
    • 5/5
      This is one of those books that is a book with a capital "B". This has two stories going at the same time, wonderful writing, great characters..... it's just got it all. I was actually glad that this book was so long because I enjoyed every page of this one.
    • 5/5
      What a story!
    • 4/5
      A sprawling and fascinating three generation family history, which was hard to put down. Deals with themes of self-forgiveness, as well as forgiveness of others.

      My only minor complaints were that it all wrapped up a little too neatly at the end, and also that it bordered on schlocky very occasionally - specifically thinking of the psychiatrist sessions

      But it was gripping and moving, for sure. May read another
    • 5/5
      Another favorite author!
    • 1/5
      I didn't finish this book as it became more and more vulgar. I guess that's what I get for reading an Oprah pick.
    • 3/5
      Definitely not as good as his first book and very difficult at times, but overall a good solid novel. It was awfully depressing at time and the main character was thoroughly unlikable for a good chunk of the book; but the theme of redemption brought both Dominick and me around. It was not an easy book, but it rang true in that it showed the nuance of life - nothing is simply black and white; everything in life has shades of grey.
    • 5/5
      I was ready for a thick, involved book and this was the perfect story. It is one that haunts me still. There were times that I really disliked the book - REALLY disliked it!! But, I couldn't stop!Dominick is a twin. That descriptor has defined him through his entire life. Being a twin brings to mind pleasant images of shared secrets and moments. That is not the life of Dominick and his twin Thomas. The book opens with Thomas cutting off his hand in a public library to protest the Gulf War. Yes, cutting off his hand.This is a culmination of Thomas' life with mental illness. His defining moment in the stacks of the library. Thomas is convinced that this event will force the world leaders to pause and rethink their march to world destruction. But, this event also defined the moment start of the end for both Dominick and Andrew. The book then is about the journey from that moment for Dominick - the road to understanding of his own limits and the road to healing as he fights to keep Thomas safe and deal with both is mother's death and her refusal to admit how his real father was. Buried in this is the story of Dominck and Thomas' grandfather - a story that had been translated from Italian and uncovers the tendrils of mental illness from past generations. I gotta say - I cried and sighed and wrote down the final lines of this book! I LOVED it!!!
    • 5/5
      What can you say about a novel that starts out with a suicide, includes a monkey with an almost incestuous relationship, and a young man who comes of age, along with the other characters who mature through the story? This one is a keeper to reread in my old age.
    • 4/5
      Traumatic read... the story of twins, one of them a schizophrenic. It's the story of how one deals with a 'broken' loved one, healing from dysfunctional family ties, and the realization that we're all broken somehow... even if the cracks don't visibly show.
    • 5/5
      I absolutely loved this book. The characters were so real that they continue to live on in my mind weeks after I finished the book. There were times during this book that I laughed and times that I cried. Even though Thomas is the twin in the mental hospital, Dominick, who always felt it was his job to take care of his brother, is having a major meltdown due to all the trauma in his life. This is the story of twin brothers who both deal with the demons in their lives. It is a long but absolutely fantastic book and should is a must-read!
    • 2/5
      Did not particularly enjoy this book, but it was an Oprah selection if you like those.
    • 5/5
      Son of a timid woman, stepson of a hard man, identical twin of a paranoid schizophrenic...Dominick Birdsey is both a sympathetic yet unlikeable protagonist, if that's even possible. He's so angry at weakness but doesn't stand up for it. Instead, he tramples upon it, takes advantage of it, allows himself to gain from it. However, as the story moves along and as he suffers through exceedingly difficult trials, there are people placed in his path that challenge him to become better. And he does. It's poignant. It's slow. It's certainly the growth process that we see in real life rather than the quick fix we find in many novels. It's painful to read but told so beautifully that I can't do anything but recommend it. I've become a true Wally Lamb fan.
    • 3/5
      2.5 starsLamb writes the psychoanalytic process so well. However, this book bogged down with unnecessary detail (the grandfather's diary, for example).Twin brothers, one of whom is schizophrenic, struggle to find individual identities. Tom commits a horrific act of self-mutilation and Dominick struggles to "save" Tom - spiraling out of control himself. Only when Dominick can come to grips with his anger (at Tom, at his stepfather, at his late mother, at his grandfather, at his "missing" father) can he ultimately forgive those closest to him - and himself. The ending is a little too neat.
    • 4/5
      Excellent story about mental illness and the effects on a whole family. A bit long and one I could put down and pick back up, but very well written.
    • 2/5
      I felt about this the same way I felt about Lamb's She's Come Undone.
    • 5/5
      This is an excellent, well written novel. I highly recommend this book! The character development is exceptional.
    • 5/5
      Lamb gets into his characters' heads better than anyone. He manages to make you care about all of his characters in spite of their flaws. A well-crafted story about mental illness, love and healing.
    • 4/5
      A wonderful ROOT discovery of this long-form fiction story of two twins lives during a time of upheaval. Very moving and engaging.
    • 4/5
      897 pages with the most angry, arrogant, selfish middle age man on the planet. Definitely made me take a look at myself and make sure I'm not acting like the entire world is against me.

      Yes, Dominick...we know you grew up in a dysfunctional home full of physical and verbal abuse and we know what a burden it was for you to have to take care of your mentally ill brother and your mother. Doesn't mean you get to be a JERK to everyone who crosses your path. Everyone on this planet is dealing with their own personal shit so we need to get over ourselves, ok? Sheesh!

      This book is a chunkster so go for the ebook or audiobook if you can. Trying to balance an 897 page hardcover when your cat takes over your lap is not easy, but I got this book back in the early days of Oprah's first bookclub. I don't know if ebooks had even been invented yet.

      This book lives on my Favorites shelf. This past Wednesday, my day off, I read from page 96 to 320. Could not put it down. Every single sentence is good. Well, except the transcript of the grandfather's life story. I'll admit I skimmed through most of that. I read this book all day yesterday and finished it just now.

      The HBO series with Mark Ruffalo is really good, too.
    • 5/5
      I picked up this book from a second-hand shop, for no other reason than the cover. The photo looked like the ultrasound of a monoamniotic twin pregnancy, which my wife and I were having at the time.

      Man, am I happy I did... Even though it spent a few years unnoticed on my to-read shelf after that.

      Meanwhile, I am the happiest father of not one, but two sets of identical twins, but don't worry, reading this book is a guaranteed life-changing experience for everyone. Life-enhancing even. Exploring the sheer amount of realistically portrayed anger, sorrow and doubt but also love, strength and persistence is tantamount to living an extra life of your own.

      The story focuses on the most terrible year imaginable for Dominick, twin-brother of the paranoid schizophrenic Thomas. In between, we also get to know their asshole maternal grandfather quite a bit through his memoirs. While reading, I continually felt like I wanted to get to know Dominick more, hold him, console him. The first person point of view is masterfully applied since Lamb still successfully manages to create psychologically complete characters around the narrator, each with their own development and growth. The perfect blend with late 20th century East Coast USA serves for a great finishing touch of this otherwise timeless book.

      Yes, there is a lot of drama in this book. Perhaps even a tad bit too much. Also, Lamb doesn't shy away from some caricaturesque personalities to start from.

      Yet, this is a more than amazing book that made me cry. I know this much is true.
    • 5/5
      A MasterpieceFew authors write with the skill, the compassion, the insight into human nature—the almost preternatural understanding of what it means to struggle with one’s identity, one’s humanity—that Wally Lamb displays when he tells a story. But to imply that Lamb “simply” tells stories is to do him a disservice. He, in fact, creates worlds that mirror our own life experiences and tells stories that penetrate to the very depths of our knowledge.In “I Know This Much is True,” Lamb tells the story of Dominick and Thomas Birdsey, identical twin brothers with anything but identical life experiences. One of the driving themes of the novel is Dominick’s quest for his identity. As he narrates the tale, he implies that any number of elements—his ability to distinguish himself from his schizophrenic brother, discovering their father’s identity, understanding how he managed to destroy his marriage to Dessa, his ex-wife—will provide him with the comfort he so desperately seeks.Epic and sprawling (in the best of all possible ways), this novel almost defies summary. And, after all, summarizing it would reduce it to mere story. This is a novel that MUST be experienced. Lamb’s skill as a storyteller is on a par with John Irving, Toni Morrison, and William Faulkner. He is an author to be savored and treasured, for he understands the importance of storytelling and how it enriches our lives in ways that nothing else can.Read this novel. You will benefit from it immensely.
    • 5/5
      Loved this book (read in 2000). My favorite passage:“I am not a smart man, particularly, but one day, at long last, I stumbled from the dark woods of my own, and my family’s, and my country’s past, holding in my hands these truths: that love grows from the rich loam of forgiveness; that mongrels make good dogs; that the evidence of God exists in the roundness of things.This much, at least, I’ve figured out. I know this much is true.”
    • 5/5
      I Know This Much is True offers stories within stories, and although the book offers as much heartbreak and character analysis as humor and plot, it is such an incredibly clever and careful exploration of a person's story that it's kind of wonderful, and very often difficult to put down. Although it dragged for me when it got to the manuscript excerpts in the middle/second half of the book, even those were such an interesting snapshot of character that I was never inclined to skim or skip them--I just couldn't be anxious to get back to the voice that held this book together. Because it is the voice that is so powerful, and which makes this book.The novel was actually recommended to me when I asked for recommendations from friends/colleagues on social media, asking that they tell me of the best contemporary book they'd read which was in first person. With most of my friends being readers, writers, and teachers, I expected some phenomenal recommendations, and this one didn't disappoint. Lamb's writing offers everything one could ask from a novel, and more. It is not a short read or an easy read, but it is worth every moment.Absolutely recommended.
    • 5/5
      This much I know is true by Wally Lamb is a story of family love and forgiveness. Growing up, Dominick was the stronger and more "normal" twin brother to Thomas. Dominick simultaneously loves and hates Thomas, defending him and considering him a millstone around his neck, especially as Thomas develops schizophrenia. Written with sensitivity to Dominick's conflict and the effect it has on his life the novel follows the events that lead to unlocking family secrets and allow Dominick to finally find and accept himself.
    • 2/5
      SO I only read 40 pages, but gah. I didn't like anything about it. Boo.