I know this much is true.”, “But what are our stories if not the mirrors we hold up to our fears?”, Audie Award for Fiction, Unabridged (2000). . There were times I found it relentlessly bleak and too many issues are raised than can ever be properly explored in one book. The book was an astonishing achievement. In addition to constantly repeating himself, as though you may have forgotten the relevant lessons, or stories, or who the characters are from 100 pages back, the writing is painfully slow... until the last 15 pages when life moves at lightening speed and everything gets wrapped up with a big shiny bow by a sentence or two saying how everything worked out for all of the characters for the best over the last several years. I just finished it and thought it was definitely worth it. It sounds true and real all the time. The treatment of mental illness in this country is spread out for the reader to live and experience. And then repeated in case the reader didn't catch on. The interaction among characters was intriguing, but. Two were featured as selections of Oprah's Book Club. Prime members enjoy FREE Delivery and exclusive access to music, movies, TV shows, original audio series, and Kindle books. This novel is not an entertaining read. Excellent. This book starts off with a horrific incident. . The ending is satisfying but not 'fairy tale'... rather plausible. On top of that I did not like the mixed up brother, abusive step-father, horrific grandfather, weak mother, betraying wife, sick brother, or any other of the unsavory characters. Your recently viewed items and featured recommendations, Select the department you want to search in. Spoiler alert: I have worked as a mental health professional and a psychiatric hospital administrator for many years and everything about psychiatric hospitals, group homes, etc., he writes about is so first hand, it is truly amazing. To whit: Mental illness, c. I found this novel to be a well (if simply) written page turner that is ultimately undermined by its contrivances and by the author's seeming inability to let his readers draw their own conclusions or puzzle things out without having every last theme and story thread laid out explicitly. I am full of admiration for how Wally Lamb deals with the illness in such a real and unromantic way. This book is recommended for drama lovers. It's just a word. Wonderful storyteller. Wally Lamb. Top subscription boxes – right to your door, © 1996-2020, Amazon.com, Inc. or its affiliates. Yet in spite of all the really depressing themes, it is really quite moving and inspirational. I suspect the author felt it wise to throw in a plot twist, and not a very convincing one at that. After I finished it I just sat in my chair and cryed for a long time. If you have not read this wonderful novel, you are really missing out, and do not let the 9. I think the phrase. Please try again. This has been one of the most realistic, heartbreaking, and well-written books that I've ever read in my life. Over 80 years pondering the intricacies of our identical twinning - including five years of a Freudian analysis and twelve of analytical training, I found the closest answer to the schema of our lives in Wally Lamb's novel. After Thomas is put into a maximum security ward at the state mental hospital, Dominick tries to have his brother moved to a different environment. If I cannot root for at least one character (no matter how flawed) I cannot root for t. This book is loved by many but I am not among them. Firstly, don’t expect high drama - after one shocking occurrence at the beginning, this book becomes a family saga conveying the story of a grandfather, his daughter and her two sons. Just a little? The story ended all tied up in a neat little bow. I am lucky enough to have time for such a huge book but it was easy (if sometimes uncomfortable) to read. Dominic, the 'sane' brother, has had the burden of his disturbed brother all his life. ". Interesting plot, but way too long and ridiculous. UNPUTDOWNABLE! Although this book is a chunkster at 897 pages, it was so engaging that I didn't want to put it down. Reviewed in the United Kingdom on June 18, 2020, Despite its size I got through this tome in about, Reviewed in the United Kingdom on November 18, 2018. 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. Wally Lamb slows me down every time... See all 19 questions about I Know This Much Is True…. I never felt bored, and despite its often ugly story, it was never tedious or without redeeming elements from beginning to end. Ufta. This is one of those books I read that has never left me. I read the last 550 pages of this book in one day, disregarding the myriad other things I was supposed to get done. Serious issues were discussed, including but not limited to: mental illness, racism, toxic masculinity, sexism, abuse, and war. Told over a timespan stretching from the 1920s to the 1990s and detailing the family’s relationship, it’s heartbreaking in places and heart-lifting in others, finally drawing to a natural and very satisfying conclusion. The main character has a mother with physical defects which have inhibited her whole life, a brother with seve. It is rare for a novel to look at how schizophrenia can effect not only the life of a patient but those who care for them. I can understand an author feeling sympathy for the characters whom he had given a rough life and wanting them to feel peace, if only at the end, but this string of coincidences working in their favor is ridiculous. I first read this book shortly after it came out 22 years ago. It’s a commitment to take on such a long book, especially for a relatively slow reader like myself. Agreed! However, this is a very long novel and at times it becomes unwieldy. Instead, our system considers things like how recent a review is and if the reviewer bought the item on Amazon. The melodrama of the novel is off the charts as well. Dominick is forced to care for his brother as well as confront dark secrets and pain he has buried deep within himself—a journey of the soul that takes him beyond his blue-collar New England town to Sicily’s Mount Etna, the birthplace of his grandfather and namesake. The book opens in 1990 with Thomas, a paranoid schizophrenic, cutting off his hand as a protest against the Gulf War as he chants the Biblical verse "...and if thy right hand offend thee, cut it off and cast it from thee...". Thomas and Dominick Birdsey are identical twins with very different personalities. Wonderful writing by Wally Lamb! The point of view, the colloquial style, the brutal light in which Lamb paints Dominick's life -- as the identical twin who is not the schizophrenic, as the survivor of abuse, as a parent that lost a child to SIDS -- is awesome. And I can't explain why exactly, as the ending was surprisingly hopeful. Lamb is the recipient of the Connecticut Center for the Book's Lifetime Achievement Award, the Connecticut Bar Association's Distinguished Public Service Award, the Connecticut Governor's Art Award, the Barnes & Noble Writers for Writers Awar. The interaction among characters was intriguing, but it got to the point where many were downright unlikable/unbelievable, thanks to their outrageous/disgusting actions. Really needed a good editor! I've read coloring books that are less insulting to a reader's intelligence. Lamb's tale of one man dealing with his twin brother's schizophrenia is honest and true to life. I really enjoyed it, I think it's hard to write a book with such a complex story line which all ends up coming together neatly in the end. And then repeated in case the reader didn't catch on. Something went wrong. 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. Yet - perhaps paradoxically - the ending seemed a little too neat. HBO’s I Know This Much is True is a gripping adaptation of Wally Lamb’s bestselling novel. 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. There was an error retrieving your Wish Lists. Yes, it is long and admittedly I found that a little daunting, so took it with me on vacation so I only had to pack the one book. The premise: identical twins only one of whom is schizophrenic, attracted me to this book. Please try your request again later. I was spellbound in my journey, amazed by the discovery of the similarity of the denouement of the Birdseye twins story to mine as my sister's twin, and feel enormous gratitude to the author for this unexpected bonus in insight from immersing myself in his remarkable novel. No, don't agree! I Know This Much Is True is HBO's latest prestige miniseries. by ReganBooks. I’m a little shocked at how little I remember—I basically just remembered the main idea, which is that identical twin brothers grow up and one, Thomas, is diagnosed with schizophrenia. I just finished it and thought it was definitely worth it. Welcome back. I don't think I'll ever forget it, though I have to confess that I hope I can forget some of it soon so I can read it again. The book opens in 1990 with Thomas, a paranoid schizophrenic, cutting off his hand as a protest against the Gulf War as he chants the Biblical verse "...and if thy right hand offend thee, cut it off and cast it from thee...". Couldn’t at least one thing have gone pear-shaped? #1 New York Times Bestseller and Oprah Book Club selection, "Thoughtful . There was a problem loading your book clubs. another book that was like a sucker-punch to the gut. And I can't explain why exactly, as the ending was surprisingly hopeful. Which brings me to my next point: I felt nothing for Thomas's passing. Dominick Birdsey, a forty-year-old housepainter living in Three Rivers, Connecticut, finds his subdued life greatly disturbed when his identical twin brother Thomas, a paranoid schizophrenic, commits a shocking act of self-mutilation. Their stories evolve and reward the reader with continual significant revelations and insights throughout. . The novel is really three novels in one. Reviewed in the United Kingdom on April 7, 2019. I Know This Much Is True is an American drama television miniseries co-written and directed by Derek Cianfrance based on the 1998 novel of the same name by Wally Lamb. But, all of this is written from a literary perspective and not like a text book. Counting his money. None of them was handled lightly and most were expanded upon and masterfully portrayed. The HBO limited series is not based on a true story, but it is an adaptation of the 1998 Wally Lamb novel of the same title. He believes that will draw attention to the Iraq war and stop it. These characters will stick with me for some time. UNFORGETTABLE! An epicAmerican tale told with passion and nuance, Reviewed in the United States on December 15, 2016.