I Know This Much Is True: A Novel (P.S.) | 
|  | | | Title: | I Know This Much Is True: A Novel (P.S.) | | Author: | Wally Lamb | | Publisher: | Harper Perennial | | Type: | Book / Paperback | | Publication Date: | 01 April, 2008 | | ISBN / ISBN-13: | 0061469084 / 9780061469084 | | List Price: | $16.95 | | You Save: | $5.42 | | Amazon Price: | $11.53 | |
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| Editorial Review / Publisher's Information:
Product Description
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.
Amazon.com Review
Oprah Book Club® Selection, June 1998: What if you were a 40-year-old housepainter, horrifically abused, emotionally unavailable, and your identical twin was a paranoid schizophrenic who believed in public self-mutilation? You'd either be a guest on the Jerry Springer Show or Dominick Birdsey, the antihero, narrator, and bad-juju magnet of I Know This Much Is True. Somewhere in the recesses of this hefty 912-page tome lurks an honest, moving account of one man's search, denial, and acceptance of self. This is no easy feat considering his grandfather seemed to take parenting tips from the SS and his grandmother was a possible teenage murderess, his stepfather a latent sadist, and his brother, Thomas, a politically motivated psychopath. Not one to break with tradition, Dominick continues the dysfunctional legacy with rape, a failed marriage, a nervous breakdown, SIDS, a car crash, and a racist conspiracy against a coworker--just to name a few. A stretch, both literally and figuratively from his Oprah-christened bestseller, She's Come Undone, Lamb's book ventures outside the confines of the tightly bound beach read and marathons through a detailed, neatly cataloged account of every familial travesty and personal failure one can endure. At its heart lies Freud's "return of the repressed": the more we try to deny who we are, the more we become what we fear. Lamb takes Freud's psychological abstraction to the realm of everyday living, packing his novel with tender, believable dialogue and thoughtful observation. --Rebekah Warren
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Customer Reviews:
• Great Book 01 October, 2008
Great book, I loved it start to finish. I am a nurse and thing this book really gives a great view into psych problems for those not exposed to it, and a view of what people with different disabilities have to deal with.
- Reviewed by customer ID: A1N6MJPQQHG4HG
• One Of My Favorites!! 14 November, 2008
I was intimidated by the length of the book but when my sister told me she read it twice I figured there must be something to it. I love this book and I didn't want it to end. At some point I thought I knew where the story was going....WRONG! The ending completely fooled me.
Read it and enjoy!
- Reviewed by customer ID: A8B3381U5CDHR
• Like Riding In An Old Roller Coaster... 14 October, 2008
The book was pretty interesting,unfortunately it is a bit too long. I myself struggled to finish the book. I described the book "like riding in an old roller coaster" because it takes you to a long preparation for what is going on between the two brothers. It's like falling in line and you're so excited, then once you're in the ride getting past to the first peak it just doesn't go fast enough, and the ride just struggles to get up to the next peak. Then the excitement is lost. Basically while reading, I waited for something more exciting to happen and when I get to that point where excitement comes, it just didn't last. A few more hundreds of pages then it just takes you far enough to make you interested, but it always leaves you hanging. The ending is almost more of a fairy tale type, where he "lives happily ever after" type of thing. Maybe if he woke up from all this as a nightmare and realize that he is actually in the mental institution instead, probably my reaction would have been different.
I would somewhat recommend this book to some who have patience for reading, but not for some who is look to just pass the time.
- Reviewed by customer ID: A2M21CVMEB7GTH
• It's Hard To Get Into.. 27 October, 2008
But it's worth it.
It took me over 2 years to read this book. I struggled with not just with the length of the book - but also with the narration. I admit I didn't admire Dominick - I even disliked his character, and couldn't even bring myself to read more than a few paragraphs at times. But after midway in the novel, the tone picks up and somehow putting the book down is too hard. It wasn't an obligation to the author or to some higher power literary God - but insatiable curiousity of "the ending" and this gradual development of the main character spurred me to read more, to get to the ending which was all worth everything.
I can't say this is my favorite book - but will it be one of the ones I really like? Yeah. Because Wally Lamb put himself in his novel, put himself in his characters, made life tough for them and then when they persevered they survived and were better for it: they lived after being emotionally dead for a period. A regeneration. And that's what's cool about him. And this book.
I was close to tears when I read the last two pages. It was all so poetically beautiful that I didn't want it to end. And it didn't in a way - it only began.
I recommend this book even if you find you can't finish it immediately. I'm not sure if anyone really could. It's worth a try like everything in life, and when you finish this, you'll be happy you did.
- Reviewed by customer ID: A3E4P51SUVH1J7
• Wally Lamb Is Simply Amazing! 17 November, 2008
Do not shy away from this book because of its length (or because of the Oprah sticker!). It's a fantastic story and when you're finished reading, you'll wish it had been even longer. It's true. This book is on my list of all-time favorites as is Lamb's earlier work, She's Come Undone. I'm now eagerly awaiting his new novel which I've just ordered.
Every book lover simply must discover Wally Lamb.
- Reviewed by customer ID: ATDUB3SX8NE2B
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