I Know This Much Is True by Wally Lamb
I Know This Much Is True by Wally Lamb
I had such mixed feelings after I finished this book that it took me some time to finally be able to write this review. With a 900 page book, it’s really sad when the last 10 pages can so quickly change your opinion of it as a whole…
Wally Lamb does an excellent job of packing a lot into this book without making it feel overwhelming or confusing. You have twin-ship, mental health, grief, family dynamics and issues, as well as some other random situations. Somehow it all works together even though you get a lot thrown at you. And this poor family gets a lot thrown their way.
This novel follows Dominick’s point of view as he deals with the aftermath of an action committed by his mentally ill twin, Thomas. We then find out about Dominick and Thomas’s past and the events that shaped their relationship with each other and their personalities in general. About halfway through the book, we also get the added narration of Dominick’s grandfather’s memoir and receive even more eye-opening histories of this family.
Lamb really focuses on the shock factor and adds multiple scenes where you are beyond shocked. I never quite knew what was going to happen next, not just with the main characters but rather what random events or smaller characters would do something that shaped their lives and opinions. I simultaneously loved and disliked this because although it was very interesting, it also seemed far-fetched at times with how much was happening to this one family. But again, Lamb does an excellent job writing all these scenes and characters and although it was 900 pages, it didn’t feel like it.
However, I was extremely disappointed with the ending, specifically the last 10 pages. This novel was so great in the fact that so much was not fixed right away and rather the characters (all of them) were constantly struggling with their individual situations. This made it feel very real. Then, in the last 10 pages somehow each character gets an ending, not all of them happy, but all of them very final and fixed. This was so at odds with the rest of the book and felt so forced and out of place. It’s hard to say how I would have felt with the book without this last 10 pages because now I can’t forget them. I’d be interested to see what another reader thinks if they stopped before the epilogue, but that’s a difficult request to ask of someone.
Synopsis: 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. . . .