Sunku įtikint save, kad karo kontekste prasminga knygas skaityti, apie jas rašyti ir galvoti, tai tik atbula ranka ir atbula galva kažką paklikinau. Jei žinote, kaip tą įveikti, pasidalinkit (nors dabar jau vien toks noras atrodo nepadorus).

Gera knyga, Lambas turi iš ko parašyti visus savo 900 psl. Apie sunkius šeimos santykius - visai priminė Mūsų smagiausias dienas, tik čia mažiau šeimos sąveikų, taip nešokinėja emocijų kardiograma.

PATIKO:
1. Šeimos struktūra: pasakotojas yra suaugęs vyras, brolis dvynys; jo brolis serga šizofrenija ir nuolat - nuo pat vaikystės - atsiduria globojamo, gelbėjamo pozicijoj. Be to, brolius mama užaugino viena, jie niekada nežinojo, nors norėjo sužinoti, kas yra jų tėvas. Gražu, kad Lambas, nors ir išlaiko gyvenimišką detektyvėlį (greta visko kitko, pasakotojas vis tiek per visą knygą ieško savo tėvo), nespekuliuoja jokiomis juicy paslaptimis, neprikiša kriminalinių ar apskritai neįtikėtinų istorijų į ir taip gan toksišką paveikslėlį. Nu maždaug kaip būtų 900 psl romanas apie brolius dvynius ir jo pabaigoj vienas brolis paaiškėtų besąs dar ir kito tėvas. (kaip tik prisiminiau, kad dar neskaičiau naujausios Yanagiharos knygos)

2. Kaip pasakotojas lanko terapiją (visai adekvačiai parašyta) ir jo terapistė-antropologė kalba apie mitus, pasakojimus, visokias legendas. Kažkaip vos ne pirmą kartą pamačiau, kaip šie pasakojimai iš tiesų gali kažką gilaus apie žmogų atskleisti, kaip Greimas-Jungas ir kiti rašė. Respektas taip aprašyti, kad skaitytoja/s staiga išvystų teorinį dalyką kaip visiškai suvokiamą ir akivaizdų. Net užsinorėjau daugiau tų mitų iš kitų kultūrų paskaityti, man taip dar nėr buvę.

3. Personažų, ypač nemalonesnių, kūrimas. Ir apskritai visokių neigiamų dalykų aprašymas. Pasakotojas labiausiai man patikdavo, kai būdavo piktas, o piktas būdavo kone nuolat - tai ką nors sudaužo, tai nori iškeikti (o ir iškeikia), tai dar kitaip kelia chaosą. Ir dar - labai didaktinė, bet gerai parašyta "geresnio vaiko" istorija: savo mamai pasakotojas visada jautėsi esantis tas blogesnis vaikas, nepatikimesnis, ne toks artimas ar geras. Ir sykiu visa istorija, kaip jis globojo ir buvo atsakingas už silpnesnį, mėmiškesnį, pažeidžiamesnį brolį. Atrodo, skaitai ir tave kartu ima pyktis dėl visokeriopo toksiškumo (gal ir man reiktų pas tą daktarę Patel, kur su pasakoja apie mitus). Bet sykiu ir pats pasakotojas, ir kiti yra bjaurūs, negailestingi, tiesiog neteisingi kitiems, ir tai niekaip neišsprendžiama, tiesiog taip yra, - ir tas kažkaip labai tikra.

4. Šizofrenijos aprašymas. Ir priepuolių, ir gyvenimo su liga, ir artimųjų bandymo susigyventi su sergančiuoju ir jo liga. Neegzotizuojant, bet ir nenuglaistant, nedemonizuojant, kad vat koks čia Džekilas ir Haidas. Tiesiog pagarbiai - to mokytis ir mokytis.

NEPATIKO:
1. Pabaiga, kurioje viskas susiveda, išaiškėja, o LT leidime dar ir pateikiamas keliolikos psl autoriaus pasakojimas apie save ir lyginimas savo gyvenimo su romano personažais. Plius tokia terapinė pasakojimo struktūra: išmoksti atleisti, nepykti, susiduri su praeities demonais, dar blogiau - išsiaiškini ir supranti savo traumas - ir tada įvyksta magija, atsiranda prarasta meilė, grįžta ramybė, vėl dirbi mylėtą darbą, o dar kažkaip padaugėja draugų ir pamažėja naštos. Lol it no work that way.

2. Karo kontekstas ir tai, kaip jis pasitelkiamas. Apie tai skaitydama kažkaip nuolat prisimindavau Aš čia. Lambo knyga prasideda tuo, kad pasakotojo dvynys Tomas, protestuodamas prieš "Audrą dykumoje", nusipjauna ranką (jei tavo ranka skatina tave nusidėti...). Buvo ir gaila, kad realiai prieš karą protestuoja tik tas personažas, kuris dar ir serga šizofrenija (yra neveiksnus), bet sykiu ir liūdna dėl to. Juk ir šiaip tarsi jautriausiai į globalinius įvykius reaguoja tie, kurie nerimauja dėl savo pačių problemų, ir represuodami tai tampa hiperjautrūs pasaulio neteisybėms. Bent taip sako psichologijos mokslas. O gal tik stereotipas taip sako?
Bet kuriuo atveju romane būtent taip ir nutinka, šizofreniko dvynio pacifistinis protestas tampa kreivu veidrodžiu "sveikojo" dvynio ilgamečiam procesui nuo pykčio prie susitaikymo ir vidinės taikos. Ir būtent šiandien kažkaip itin neteisingai atrodo kolektyvinio skausmo ir jautrumo sąsaja su vienu iš ligos veidų.

okay yes i read this to prepare for the upcoming HBO series starring Mark Ruffalo and yes I do see why Ruffalo would be drawn to these mumbley/yelly twins

anyway I knew this opened with the schizophrenic twin chopping his own hand off in a public library, which obviously yikes, but I was not at all prepared for each subsequent chapter to casually reveal some EVEN MORE OFF THE RAILS ACTION and not from the severely mentally ill character, just from like randoms.

(Stefon voice) this book has EVERYTHING, casual gay panic, casual misogyny, monkey fucking, witchcraft, murder, and every single hot button issue of the early 1990s.

I really struggled with Dominick's misogynist narrative voice, especially at the beginning when I wasn't totally sure how intentional it was supposed to be given that he kept pointing out how sexist his friend was. It turns out it was intentional and was addressed within the narrative but honestly I'm just tired of reading books with exhausting narrators. Can't I just read a book narrated by a nice person with chill vibes. please. Anyway it's not Wally Lamb's fault that it's currently 2020 but i do feel like the target audience for this book would be a non-woke man living in the year 1992.

I am interested to see how this becomes an HBO series because it is very grounded in some problematique 1990s issues.

Anyway that said it was compelling and a page turner mostly because I felt like anything could happen at any goddamn time.

--

re-read for the podcast, shook that I gave this 3 stars?? I must have read this on the tail of something worse. IDK. Tho it was a page-turner as I stated before...hmm. Ratings are subjective!

https://www.frowl.org/worstbestseller...

Knyga tiek daug talpinanti savyje. Mano akimis pagrindinė tema- kaltė ir pareiga. Šeimos, giminės, kraujo ryšio netgi religines, biblijinės kaltės ir kaip su ja gyventi. Kur atsakomybė tarsi prakeiksmas spaudžia ir nėra kaip jos išvengti. Apie brolišką ryšį ir savęs supratimą kaip atskiro žmogaus ne tik vieno iš dvynių. Ką daryti kai tavo antroji pusė “sulūžusi”? Kaip gyventi kai pats vienas negali tiesiog egzistuoti, o brolis labai stipriai serga psichine liga? Knyga labai taikliai aprašanti šizofreniją ir kaip ji paveikia visus aplink esančius. Sąmokslo teaorijas ir kaip jos gimsta sergančiojo galvoje. Ar nėra taip, kad tavo antroji kraujo pusė suvalgys tave iš vidaus? Gal tu esi kaltas dėl jo būsenos? O galbūt tu esi tas “brokuotasis” nors iš išorės ir taip neatrodo?
Mažas spoileris, bet jis yra ant knygos nugarėlės ir realiai knygos pirmame puslapyje. Vieną 1990ųjų dieną šizofrenija sergantis Tomas ateina į biblioteką ir pasimeldęs nusipjauna sau ranką tarsi auką taikai. Čia prasideda Dominiko ir Tomos šeimos epopėja sekanti kelių dešimtmečiū ir kartų gyvenimu. Dominikas piktas, toks biški homofobas, biški rasistas, karšto būdo. Tikras tikras žmogus, o ne knyginis personažas. Visas jo gyvenimas įtakotas brolio ligos. Tomas patenka į sistemos prarają ir uždaromas ne į įprastą ligoninę kur visada buvo patalpinamas po epizodų, o į šalies griežčiausią psichiatrinę/kalėjimą. Ar savęs sužalojimas gali virsti nusikaltimu prieš valstybę? Ar įmanoma ištraukti Tomą iš šitos prarajos? Ta tokia beprasmė kova su Amerikos sistema ir biurokratija
Knyga susideda iš daug dalių, bet ji labai vientisa ir nėra fragmentiška. Atsiskleidžia dvynių vaikystė smurtinėje aplinkoje. Ar įmanomam nuo to išsivaduoti ir atleisti kaltininkams? Dominiko sugriuvusi santuoka, gedulas dėl praradimų, niekur nevedantys pakaitiniai santykiai su dabartine mergina. Antroje dalyje veiksmas nusikelia į 20ojo amžiaus pradžia kur sužinome šeimos šaknis ir kaip jų senelis atkeliavo iš Italijos į Ameriką
Man labiausiai palietę skyriai yra kur Dominikas kalbasi su savo psichoterapeute ir bando prisikasti prie savo pykčio ir kaltės šaknų
Labai įdomuus religinis aspektas ir kaip tai svarbu knygoje, ypač Tomui. Taip pat knyga puikus laikmečio atspindys, politinis kontekstas. Persijos įlankos karai, sovietų sąjungos griūtis, Berlyno siena, AIDS epidemija. Viskas persipina su asmenine šeimos drama
Neprailgo nei puslapis, tiesiog suvalgiau. Galėjo ir dar ilgiau būti. Pabaiga tokia reikšminga ir viską gražiai užbaigianti. Rekomenduoju imti nieko nelaukiant, nebijokit apimties.
Pagal ją pastatytas HBO mini serialas su nuostabiuoju Mark Ruffalo kuris vienas vaidina abu brolius, gavęs nemažai apdovanojimų.
Kadangi visada stengiuos įdėti muziką prie knygos, šį kartą iš serialo soundtracko. Beach house “On the sea”https://youtu.be/0qz0IJXQ720

This was a really good book. It is 900 pages and we read it for book club. I think everyone was nervous about finishing. Everyone loved it but this is a book I would also recommend to men. It has a lot to do with male relationships. Looking forward to reading another by this author.

If I had an All-Time-Favorites shelf, this book would definitely be on it! Wally Lamb's I Know This Much Is True has addictive characters and is beautifully written with so much depth and feeling with absolutely no boring parts to detract from the story. The only bad thing about reading this book was wondering how the hell the next one will ever measure up! I loved the ending and truly wish it wasn't over!

If you have not read this wonderful novel, you are really missing out, and do not let the 928 pages put you off as they will just zip on by. POWERFUL! UNPUTDOWNABLE! UNFORGETTABLE!

Zoveel hartjes voor dit boek ❤

Storiausia skaityta knyga (kol kas), turinti beveik 900 puslapius ir palikusi milžinišką įspūdį

And Then We Came to the End.
Truth and Love is Life.
And Now for a Matter of Truth.

I can never remember the actual name of Wally Lamb's "I Know This Much Is True," a bloated slog of a novel about a man dealing with his schizophrenic twin. What does that say about a book when its author, after writing a story that clocks in at around 900 pages -- a story on which he almost certainly spent years working -- proceeds to slap a title on it that means absolutely nothing, which could be slapped onto literally any novel and have the exact same meaning and impact?

A book doesn't have to have a great title to be great, but "I Know This Much Is True" feels almost intentionally bland, as though Lamb is making a point of how unimportant a book's cover/title is. Maybe there's a hidden theme there? Something about don't judge a book by its cover...? There are certainly several characters in "True" who aren't what they seem, including the main character, Dominick Birdsey, who winds up being so conveniently not what anyone thought he was, his life is forever changed for the better and he never has to worry about anything again.

You might be thinking of reading this book, so I won't give away what happens at the end, but I will say the fairytale conclusion made me feel nothing because Dominick was such a relentlessly unlikeable character for every single page of the 900 previous. A former high school teacher turned house painter, he spends his days dodging work to keep his brother out of various mental institutions and spends his nights screwing his hot girlfriend he met at the gym. But he's miserable. His ex-wife and the love of his life, left him after their infant daughter died tragically and he couldn't comfort her. And his brother, Thomas, is a dangerously unstable figure who, at the book's outset, cuts his hand off in the middle of a public library.

So this is all actually pretty good material to start a book with, and for a while "True" is pretty entertaining, as Dominick races around town trying to keep his brother safe and the details of his backstory gradually trickle in. Lamb is no poet, and he hammers the reader over the head with Dominick's interior monologue, and exterior dialogue. No realization, or moment of pathos is delivered without Dominick either spelling it out for us in narration (it's all first person) or ranting about it to one of the many characters. Obviously intelligent and sensitive, Dominick is also almost willfully obstinate, arrogant and obnoxious. At first, it's an intriguing mix of character traits but eventually, it grows frustrating, and by page 700 or so, as Dominick continues to fail to understand how his brother could be so crazy and unreasonable, and continues to yell at the people who just want to help him, it just becomes irritating. It's just really hard to root for this guy or care what happens to him.

But Dominick's annoying qualities are only the beginning of Lamb's mistakes. After a great setup, it's as though he loses faith in his story and characters. He starts throwing in ridiculous, unnecessary plot twists, including one in which Dominick's girlfriend leaves him to run away with her bisexual best friend, but not before revealing that she let him watch the two of them have sex on numerous occasions. Dominick's reaction to this is similar to the reader's -- it's so preposterous it hardly registers because it just seems ridiculous.

Lamb also employs two intensely annoying narrative devices, including flashbacks to Dominick's past courtesy of sessions with an overbearing therapist, and a book within a book written by Dominick's great grandfather, a monstrously unpleasant human being who is even harder to read about than Dominick. Lamb spends the latter half of the book intersplicing scenes from a memoir written by this great grandfather, which of course Dominick keeps returning to because, in yet another zany plot twist, he thinks it holds the answer to who his real father is (I feel like I'm describing a soap opera right now.) In creating the great-grandfather's voice, Lamb utilizes flowery, rambling prose as a character trait, dragging every moment out for what feels like ever. Each chapter taken from the great-grandfather's book-within-the-book felt endless, pointless and miserable, and I dreaded every single one of them. Lamb could have cut all of them, could have cut this somehow nasty-yet-boring character entirely and the book would not have suffered one bit.

Lamb doesn't understand which moments should be dwelled on and which should be truncated. We are treated to pages and pages about the great-grandfather building his house, but (spoiler alert) the death scene of Thomas (the dramatic crux of the entire novel) goes by so fast it barely even registers. Even Dominick himself seems barely affected by it, despite the fact the main struggle of his life is suddenly gone.

Despite it's entirely unmemorable title, "This Much Truth That I Have" managed to be memorable in the end. I will never forget how bad it was, whatever it's called.

❝ Gyvenimas- tai upė,- pakartojo ji. Tiktai labai tiesiogine prasme mes gimstame tada, kai išeiname iš motinis įsčių. O platesne ir tikresne prasme mes gimstame iš praeities- esam susiję su jos tėkme ir per savo genus, ir per patirtį.

I'm so glad I'm done with this book. Wally Lamb was introduced to me by a coworker who is apparently hell bent on getting everyone in the office to read this--I know at least two other people stopped reading the book at different intervals. I can say now that after reading She's Come Undone and this one that I don't much care for Wally Lamb.

The guy just doesn't know when to stop. That's the bottom line here. This book in particular is 897 pages. You want to know how many of those you actually need? Maybe 400. The rest is so needless and dull and repetitive. He beat me over the head with the summer when Dominick and Thomas painted or whatever. It started off really awesome with Thomas cutting off his own hand. Then the rest of the book is Dominick yelling at people and threatening people and being angry and stomping around.

Plus, it's a soap opera. I don't know how else to classify it. There's cover ups, and AIDS, schizophrenia, incest, a harelip, SIDS, divorce, child and spouse and sexual abuse, apparent suicide, and a long lost family member. Not to mention his girlfriend running off with her bisexual lover and bequeathing her child to Dominick when she dies.

^^^^ That right there is a soap opera. One and done.

OMG I am so glad this is over. I would have abandoned it halfway through but for the fact that it was a fast read and I thought I should give it a chance to redeem itself but UGH. It is what would happen if you took Pat Conroy's hysterical plot lines and combined it with John Irving's inability to write one page when ten will fit. Add a dollop of the movie Forrest Gump aka noble savage meets diease of the week (not the book -- the movie), and there you have it.

This book just went rocketing to my all-time Favourites shelf. I cannot imagine spending over 20 hours reading a book and not loving it.

On my eReader, this book was just 3 pages short of 900 pages, and not one paragraph, not one sentence, not one word in the book could be cut without doing the book (and one’s reading experience) irreparable harm.

The main narrator of this book is Dominick whose twin brother Thomas suffers from mental illness. This we know from the beginning. Throughout the book, both brothers crash and burn a few times as they make their way on their journeys through life. Yet they persist in searching out answers for themselves (and each other) to make those journeys more meaningful and fulfilling. Twinship can be a very complex dynamic at the best of times. These two take complexity to a level I’ve never witnessed before.

A secondary narrator is the twins’ maternal grandfather who dictated and/or wrote out his “life history” before he died. It is fascinating to see the parallels play out between the grandfather’s time and the twins’ time and the authenticity of his voice is remarkable.

This book takes a thorough and honest look at many facets of life: twin-ship, mental health, family dynamics (including secrets – and why they remain secrets), death and grieving, race relations through many decades, and so much more.

Within these pages the story is powerful and moves at a fast pace; the characters have strong and unique voices; the writing is sublime, raw, exceptionally moving – just excellent. This book rates more than 5 Stars but it’s all I have to give . . . along with a treasured spot on my Favourites shelf.