I Know This Much Is True by Wally Lamb
Review by: TenaciousC

"You can't love both God and money!" Thomas shouts, shortly before severing his right hand in a carrol in the public library and flinging it away from himself. This is a story of a set of Italian twins, Thomas and Dominic, one insane, one sane. Their mother had them out of wedlock and her strict Old World Italian father hated that. She had a harelip and no self esteeem. She was in love with a redheaded boy her father disliked so she ended up marrying another man, one her father would approve of, although he died near the same time. This man, Ray, beat his stepsons awfully, Thomas worse than Dominic, because Thomas was such a weak child. Being identical twins, they shared a lot of the same hurts growing up, but Dominic was jealous of his twin's close relationship with their mother, who esplained it to Dom by saying, "Dear, Thomas is so much WEAKER than you. He NEEDS me. Now go watch for your father." Dom was a child too, though, and scared, and resented his mother and brother because of this. Around their 18th year, Thomas's strange behavior started to come out, and within only a few years, escalated so badly that he had to be institutionalized. In the meantime, their mother died and Dominic was married, lost a baby, lost his wife, began to lose his sense of purpose, his sense of self, and finally, saw that he was losing his brother. So Dominic goes to war for Thomas, against the state, against the drugs, against the doctors, against the past- and things pop up that he would have never dreamed of. A long lost but nearby family he never knew was his. His stepfather's surgery. Their family's history. His real father. And much more. This is a great read, a wonderful story, a heart-wrenching tale. I recommend it to anyone who enjoys a good book you can settle down, and sink INTO.

Back to Main