I Know This Much Is True

I Know This Much Is True by Wally Lamb

My review

rating: 4 of 5 stars
Identical twins. One is schizophrenic and one is not. And that barely even skims the surface of Wally Lamb's beautiful, questioning, and poignant second novel.



Wally Lamb's books are long. At 900 pages, 'I Know This Much Is True' is only a bit shorter than 'War and Peace'. I guess I've been reading his novels out of sequence (I started with 'The Hour I First Believed' and have not yet read 'She's Come Undone'). I love his prose. I love his constant soul searching blended intriguingly with historical fiction and epic family sagas. Yes, his metaphors get repetitive after 500 pages, but I don't mind. It's well worth it to find such a gripping novel which covers so much ground. I found myself wanting more. I didn't want this book to end.



This novel is not as polished as Eugenides' 'Middlesex' but Lamb's attention to detail and his creation of complex and believable characters and their struggles with self discovery are so moving. Finding peace through self discovery -- something we all seek and strive to achieve.






View all my reviews.