Probably the best book I have read this year, certainly the one I enjoyed the most. Utterly wonderful.

I know this much is true ⭐️
His twin brother believed that God had chosen him to be a vessel, a prophet and he decided to try and sacrifice himself. He failed and lived another day but he was determined to do as God wanted for him.
Dominicks life is sideways because of his brothers condition and beliefs. But he also feels obligated to protect his brother help his brother and keep his brother out of jail. Afterall, Thomas thought he was doing Gods work.

The beginning was a bit scattered but once I got deeper into the story it flowed better and this was intense. I wish it was shorter but it was detailed and beautifully written.

3.5 stars

This is a long long book, however well worth the read. I read the book along with the TV series, staying just ahead of what was being shown on TV. Which was a bit hard to do, since the book went into much more detail than the series. The series ended tonight, so I feel a bit easier giving a review of the book now.

Twins Dominic and Thomas had a hard life. Thomas had mental disabilities and Dominic tried his best all his life to take care of Thomas. Their step -father was not tolerant of Thomas and was abusive to their mother. As they grew older Thomas got worse.
Dominic tried to get a manuscript written by his grandfather translated for his mother. Many years later, after the passing of Thomas, Dominic read the transcript. Most of the questions that had haunted Dominic were answered, except who his biological father was. Dominic blamed all his families bad luck on a curse. A curse put on his grandfather years ago by his sister in law.
In the end Dominic, always the care giver, finds peace and his connection to his life, family and himself.

Not unusual, with Wally Lamb as author, this book was above par. Mark Ruffalo as Thomas and Dominic did a great job in the series.

The book opens strong. With a significant and pivotal plot point that grabs your attention. And using this pivotal point the story moves back and forth between the past and the present through the protagonist, Dominick's eyes.

Dominick Birdsey is one half of the twins. The 'normal' one. The one without schizophrenia. But is he the one that has been dealt the better cards? The one with the better life? With a mother who has had a physical disability, a brother who has schizophrenia, a father he doesn't know and a step-father who is temperamental, Dominick has a tough life. We see the highs and lows of love and life through his eyes. We live his turbulent story through 900 pages of emotionally charged text.

My only criticism of this book is perhaps its wordiness in a few parts. But otherwise this story is worth reading, the emotions are worth feeling and the situations are worth pondering about.

Jei istorija gera, manęs knygos storis negąsdina, kaip tik, džiaugiuosi, kad galiu skaityti ją ilgiau. Džiaugiausi ir šia, beveik 900 puslapių, knyga... maždaug iki 600 puslapio.

Rašymo stilius nesukėlė sunkumų greitai skaityti, tačiau emocijos priversdavo kartas nuo karto susigraudinus sustoti, nubraukti ašarą. Oh, galvojau, kokia knyga! KOKIA KNYGA! Joje tiek visko daug apie ką būtų galima diskutuoti. Aprašomi įvairūs įvykiai, paliečiama smurto tema, įvairios ligos, religija. Mane labiausiai domino psichologinė knygos pusė, šiek tiek kitaip žvelgiau į dvynių reikalus, nes mano mama yra iš dvynių, tad pati nežinau ko, bet kažko artimo ieškojau.

Nors knygos pasakojimas vientisas, tačiau praeities linija, tarsi atskira knyga, kurią skaityti buvo labai atgrasu. Tas praeities, dabarties narpliojimas užsitęsė per ilgai. Per daug nelaimių, per daug skausmo skirta vienam žmogui ir tas jau nebejaudino. Norėjosi greičiau užbaigti, užversti ir padėti. Labai jau priminė vieną knygą, abi tarsi varžosi, kurioje skausmo bus daugiau.

Labai emocinga knyga, be abejonės, virtuoziškai parašyta. Tačiau po jos gali ir pačiam prireikti psichoterapijos, kaip ir veikėjui. Gal neskaitykit, jei nenorit būti emociškai išsunkti. Bet skaityti verta, nes rašytojas parašė įspūdingą istoriją.

n  “If your twin was dead, were you still a twin?”n
~ Wally Lamb, I Know This Much Is True

I hope everyone has that one friend that every time they recommend a book, you know you will not be disappointment. I am so lucky that I have such a friend. She recommended Wally Lamb’s mammoth novel I Know This Much Is True.

I don’t believe the next paragraph contains spoilers but to be on the safe side **Spoiler Alert**. To summarize; the story follows a set of identical twins, Dominick and Thomas Birdsey, set in the early 1990’s in Three Rivers, Connecticut. Thomas is the gentle, all around nice-guy twin who, unfortunately, suffers from paranoid schizophrenia. When on the correct medication, he can keep his psychotic episodes at bay, for the most part. Dominick, on the other hand, comes off as the angry brother; the brother who always watches after and protects his twin brother from just about everyone. All-the-while, they also endure an abusive, cold hearted step-father. The book opens up with Thomas having a psychotic episode where he mutilates himself in protest to the Gulf War. The reason being is he feels he needs to make a blood sacrifice to God to stop the bloodshed that the war brings. By doing this he lands in the State hospital…the corrupt kind of hospital that doesn’t give one iota about anything but the bottom line. Dominick will do anything in his power to get Thomas back to being an inpatient where he normally stays and where they take wonderful care of Thomas.

If I say anything more, I fear I will be offering more than what my summary should give and I don’t want to spoil anything for you. But what I can say is that this book is a gut-wrenching, complex, roller-coaster ride. Dominick narrates in a blunt, “this is how it is” style, holding nothing back. The way he tells us of how his life is makes me care for all the characters…really care. So much so that I had to remind myself that this work is a work of fiction and not real life.

Even though I loved reading this book, it did fall short in some areas. First, was the ‘grandfather’ sub-plot that I could have done without. For me, it didn’t add any value to the story. Second, there is so much drama and sorrow throughout the whole novel, that the ending was unrealistic, cleaning up all those lose ends in just two chapters. Outside of those two points, I found this book phenomenal. And, if ever asked if I would recommend this book, a solid, “Yes!” would be my answer. However, I would follow that by stating that there are some triggers that some people might find offensive, such as explicit language, bullying, rape, death, body mutilation, self-harm and suicide- to name a few.

n  “I walked over and looked closer at the statue of the goddess. She was wearing a headdress with a skull and a cobra and a crescent moon. Maybe this is what peace of mind was all about: having a poisonous snake on your head and smiling anyway. ”n
~Wally Lamb, I Know This Much Is True

What a masterpiece!Dominick and Thomas' story, their own ways to survive the contradictions and the irony of life.I loved the simplicity,the closeness, laughed and cried for Dominick and I rejoiced in his redemption.The best novel this year, for sure!

I Know This Much is True (My Kindle Review)

Taking place in 1991 Connecticut, the novel begins when 40-something painter Dominick Birdsey learns that his schizophrenic twin brother Thomas has cut off his own hand inside the public library of their hometown Three Rivers in response to the Gulf War. Dominick is now left to deal with the many hurdles he has to go through to try to get his brother out of the hospital they’re holding him in while struggling to also deal with his paranoid behavior.

We also get a look at Dominick’s own tough life with his own struggles that include his broken first marriage, his already doomed current romance with a younger woman and a grander look at the twins’ backstory which center on their relationship with their army stepfather, the story of their Sicilian grandfather and their submissive mother who made Dominick promise to take care of Thomas when she was gone.

From start to finish, this is a powerfully emotional and bittersweet odyssey with lots of harsh baggage and story to tell about life, brotherhood and family. Dominick being the narrative, his journey involving helping his twin brother getting the help he believes he needs while looking at his own troubled life is full on relatable and tough moments that never stop. The twins’ rich backstory is also the most compelling as we learn of the two’s shifting relationship during their childhoods up to their college years and the issues they face. We also learn about their self absorbed grandfather’s Sicilian life and his immigration journey that does get overlong.

It’s a near-flawless novel as I wished we could have read some of the novel through Thomas’ perspective and their stepfather Ray. “True” is still one of the most gripping novels I’ve ever picked up as through the sorrow and unexpected, there are touching moments and hope for Dominick as well as the answers to some important questions. So much from this novel that is true. A (100%/Outstanding)

I give this 1 star because I wouldn't ever recommend this book to my children or my friends. It was such a base book. Sex was it's subject....not mental illness. It had monkey sex, horse sex, rape, incest, porn sex, homosexual sex, bi-sexual sex, voyeuristic sex, duty/obligatory sex, prison sex, hate sex, oral sex and I am sure there is much more. HOLY CRAP!!!! Enough already!!!!
I read some other reviews...and they said just hang in there and get thru the middle and the resolution at the end is worth it. My opinion on that is that the resolution was good....but books aren't something to wade thru like a swamp....just get the hell out. I loved "She's Come Undone," but this was nauseating. Books to me are not something you should just get thru.

Don’t you feel antsy when a writer drags the story on and on just to make the book longer? That’s not the case for this novel: it is long but there are no fillers here, Wally Lamb had so much to say and, through Dominick, I felt that I knew every character in the story.
What a beautiful book. Highly recommended! 4.5 stars

Favourite quotes:

The point is this: that the stream of memory may lead you to the river of understanding. And understanding in turn may be a tributary to the river of forgiveness.

I am not a smart man, particularly, but one day, at long last, I stumbled from the dark woods of my own, and my family’s, and my county’s past, holding in my hands these truths: that loves grows from the rich loam of forgiveness; that mongrels make good dogs; that the evidence of God exists in the roundness of things.
This much, at least, I’ve figured out. I know this much is true”

Forty-year old narrator Dominick Birdsey, former high-school history teacher and now house-painter, tells the story that led to his identical twin Thomas’s paranoia, and the resulting chaos that caused for both of them. As the “uncrazy” twin, Dominick feels a lifelong responsibility for his paranoid schizophrenic sibling, evoking the dilemma of a twin whose love for his afflicted brother simmers in a volatile mixture of resentment, guilt and bitterness.

Juxtaposed with Dominick’s present day life of his change of profession, his frustrating relationship with his partner, Joy, his everlasting love for his ex-wife, Dessa and the tragic reason behind their breakup, the twins’ difficult childhood is illustrated through flashbacks. The boys never knew their father, and Thomas was abused by their bullying stepfather, Ray, who also terrorized the twins’ mother. There is also the further-back story, of the twins’ grandfather, which too, has dramatic consequences on their lives.

All this history unravels against Dominick’s present-day, pressing desire to remove Thomas from a mental institution he is convinced is not the right place for his brother. But at this very institution, Dominick winds up having his own psychiatric counselling, finally forcing him to acknowledge his self-destructive behavior and come to terms with his past and present existence.

In mixing the past and the present, the author excellently portrays Dominick’s helplessness against the abuse of power, evoking a flawed, but basically decent, man. In a candid exploration of mental illness, dysfunctional families, domestic and child abuse, I found this a masterful, multi-layered story. The lyrical style, realistic dialogue, excellent imagery and well-drawn characters bring the story to life, and I would highly recommend it for all lovers of literary fiction.

This is officially the longest book (900 pages) I've ever read; it also happened to be the book on my TBR for longest (a decade). I'm so happy that I read it! Put on your 1998 thinking cap for this one-- it doesn't necessarily age well or land like it would if it came out now. But I absolutely see why this was a spellbinding read for so many when it was released. Dominick is a deeply flawed but overall very compelling character. A third or so of the book is the diary of his grandfather coming from Italy to the US in the early 20th century and it was some of the most bonkers shit I've ever read. I love a villain's POV and they don't get much worse than him. I buddy-read this with friends and we came up with a laundry list of flaws, but I still loved it.