Book: I Know This Much Is True
Author: Wally Lamb
Author: Wally Lamb
Grade: A+
At nearly 900 pages, the fact that I was holding my breath right up to the last word on the last page is a miraculous accomplishment and testament to the genius that is Wally Lamb. I do not give the title of a “genius” away lightly; in fact this would be the first in all of the 26 reviews I’ve posted since this blogs conception. Wally Lamb has more than earned the honor with I Know This Much is True and here is why:
All of us have those precious constants in our lives. Those people, places or things we value precisely because of their permanence throughout life’s joy and tragedies. Lamb shakes our confidence in what we think we know by bringing us along to watch as Dominick Tempesta’s worlds' gut wrenchingly disseminated beyond recognition in a brutal display of how quickly everything can change.
In addition to the unique and wildly complicated bond of twinhood, Dominic and Thomas Tempesta possess a sense of shared identity resulting from a stunningly abusive childhood. In response, Thomas develops paranoid schizophrenia (the story begins with him cutting off his hand in a public library as a religious sacrifice) while Dominick develops an emotionally stunted identity of the martyred brother. After spending his entire life doing little other than saving Thomas, Dom’s world unravels as he encounters a situation from which he cannot rescue his brother.
"I know This Much is True" masterfully weaves almost five other plot lines into the story without ever producing confusion. We learn where the Tempesta clan began and how it ended up where it is. We get to watch Dominick and Thomas’s abusive stepfather’s attempt to amend that relationship. We’re shown how Dom’s martyrdom destroyed one marriage (with Dessa, whom he is still madly in love with) and is threatening to destroy a second. And we get to follow the most unlikely friendship through its trials. All in all, the reader is given the most comprehensive exploration of a single family that I have ever seen in all my prior reads.
As an aspiring writer, "I believe I Know This Much is True" should be used as instructional text. I can only pray for the ability to mold the English language like putty into a beautifully devastating novel with anywhere near the success of Wally Lamb.
Must Read!
At nearly 900 pages, the fact that I was holding my breath right up to the last word on the last page is a miraculous accomplishment and testament to the genius that is Wally Lamb. I do not give the title of a “genius” away lightly; in fact this would be the first in all of the 26 reviews I’ve posted since this blogs conception. Wally Lamb has more than earned the honor with I Know This Much is True and here is why:
All of us have those precious constants in our lives. Those people, places or things we value precisely because of their permanence throughout life’s joy and tragedies. Lamb shakes our confidence in what we think we know by bringing us along to watch as Dominick Tempesta’s worlds' gut wrenchingly disseminated beyond recognition in a brutal display of how quickly everything can change.
In addition to the unique and wildly complicated bond of twinhood, Dominic and Thomas Tempesta possess a sense of shared identity resulting from a stunningly abusive childhood. In response, Thomas develops paranoid schizophrenia (the story begins with him cutting off his hand in a public library as a religious sacrifice) while Dominick develops an emotionally stunted identity of the martyred brother. After spending his entire life doing little other than saving Thomas, Dom’s world unravels as he encounters a situation from which he cannot rescue his brother.
"I know This Much is True" masterfully weaves almost five other plot lines into the story without ever producing confusion. We learn where the Tempesta clan began and how it ended up where it is. We get to watch Dominick and Thomas’s abusive stepfather’s attempt to amend that relationship. We’re shown how Dom’s martyrdom destroyed one marriage (with Dessa, whom he is still madly in love with) and is threatening to destroy a second. And we get to follow the most unlikely friendship through its trials. All in all, the reader is given the most comprehensive exploration of a single family that I have ever seen in all my prior reads.
As an aspiring writer, "I believe I Know This Much is True" should be used as instructional text. I can only pray for the ability to mold the English language like putty into a beautifully devastating novel with anywhere near the success of Wally Lamb.
Must Read!
wow. ill read
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