(no subject)
Title: I Know This Much Is True
Author: Wally Lamb
# of Pages: 928
Summary (from amazon.com): Dominick and Thomas Birdsey are identical twin brothers born on New Year's Eve 1949-50. By the late 1960s, Thomas is a paranoid schizophrenic both loved and hated by Dominick. Lamb's novel presents the twins' story set against the twists and turns of late-20th-century America. Thomas's illness coupled with the Birdseys' upbringing with an abusive father and passive mother profoundly shape Dominick's life. However, Thomas's self-mutilation on the eve of the Persian Gulf War sets his brother on the path of coming to terms with his family, the loss of his daughter, and a reconciliation with his former wife. This is not an easy novel to read, but it is engrossing from the start.
Opinion: Plain and simple? I love Wally Lamb. His style, his characters, and the detail he puts into each of his stories are amazing and I was no less enthralled with this monster of a novel. At over 900 pages, I was pulled in from the beginning, aching to read more about the twins, their history, and searching as eagerly as Dominick in hopes to find their biological father and why it was kept such a secret from the beginning. I also enjoyed the way multiple stories were woven throughout the novel, jumping through time and space to different points in each timeline that seamlessly connected as you read on. Really enjoyed this novel, and was actually a bit disappointed when I finished it.
Now Reading: Turn Around Bright Eyes: The Rituals of Love and Karaoke by Rob Sheffield
x-posted to my journal