Fiction – paperback; Harper Torch/Regan Books; 894 pages; 2003.
Wally Lamb’s This Much is True, originally published in 1998, is an epic family drama that is difficult to put down.
It opens with Dominick Birdsey’s twin brother, Thomas, committing an atrociously disturbing act in the Three Rivers, Connecticut Public Library. It is October 1990 and the act is a form of protest against the impending Gulf War.
From here the reader is transported into a world of pain, longing, confusion and anger. By jumping backwards and forwards in time we learn of the Birdsey twins’ upbringing, about their lives with a miserable, abusive step-father and their weak-willed defenseless mother. Intertwined in this narrative is another about the Birdsey’s maternal grandfather, an Italian immigrant whose arrogance and misogynist ways ricochet through the generations.
Much of the book centres on Dominick’s fight to rescue the schizophrenic Thomas from a barbaric mental health institution. Throw in one doomed relationship with a floozy a decade younger than himself, a failed marriage, a cot death, a mother dying from cancer and a couple of horrendous accidents (in a car and off a ladder) — sounds like a soap opera, doesn’t it? — and is it any wonder that the narrator spends most of this tale in therapy?
I Know This Much Is True is very reminiscent of Pat Conroy’s Prince of Tides. It’s a heart-wrenching tale about one man’s search for forgiveness and of how he comes to terms with a dark, emotional past. It’s received rave reviews, been added to Oprah’s Book Club and topped the New York bestseller list — with good reason. This is not so much a book to read but to live with and absorb. I thought it was brilliant.
I purchased this book when it first came out in hardback. I have yet to read it, however, I am now inspired to do so.
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Michele, it’s worth the effort. But make sure you have some tissues handy…
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Awesome read.
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I just finished reading I Know this Much to be True and I really enjoyed it. There is one part near that the end, though, that I just didn’t get. Dominick visits the Monkey (Prosperine) at the hospital with the two rabbits and begs forgiveness. Why? What is the purpose? He was begging on behalf of Tempesta, perhaps? If so, why? Can anyone shed some like on this? Thanks!
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Loved this book, it was interesting, I could not wait to get to the end. I have a question for people though, what does everyone think about how the book depicts women? Especially the main women, the mom, dessa, dr.patel and the social work, the monkey and violetta?
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