Book info

• Title I Know This Much is True
• Author Wally Lamb
• Year 1998
• Genre Contemporary

Dominick Birdsey, a forty-year-old housepainter living in Three Rivers, Connecticut, finds his subdued life greatly disturbed when his identical twin brother Thomas, a paranoid schizophrenic, commits a shocking act of self-mutilation. Dominick is forced to care for his brother as well as confront dark secrets and pain he has buried deep within himself—a journey of the soul that takes him beyond his blue-collar New England town to Sicily’s Mount Etna, the birthplace of his grandfather and namesake. Coming to terms with his life and lineage, Dominick struggles to find forgiveness and finally rebuild himself beyond the haunted shadow of his troubled twin.

Thoughts

Dominick struggles through life with a schizophrenic twin and an ex-wife still nagging in his mind. This is the epic tale of everything he goes through, from his brothers act of self-mutilation, to his giant fall from the house he was painting.

You feel a great deal of sympathy for Dominick, although he does get a little angry at times, you can’t blame him. And his brother Thomas, although scary, still pulls at your heartstrings. All the other people come and go, but all leave an impression on Dominick and on you.

I found this just impossible to put down, one of the best books I’ve read in a long time. If you have the opportunity to read it, don’t turn it down.

Rating: 5 / 5