Over the past several years, I have always found an excuse not to read Lamb’s colossal psychological tearjerker, I Know This Much is True. I had an inkling that I would be quite taken with its protagonists, but it required a considerable amount of time and abandon. Well, I devoured this tale in a two day timespan while working during the Christmas holidays. I Know This Much is True weaves the tale of identical twin brothers Dominic and Thomas, one who is an emotionally crippled house painter and the other is a paranoid psychizophrenic; the latter’s actions will have harrowing consequences on the state of mind of the other. Lamb continues to marvel without dousing us in heavy sentimentalities and that is no mean feat at over 900 pages.

If you can think of some way in which a life can be screwed up, there is probably an example of it in this book. But don't worry, it turns out all fantastically tidy in the end. It was impossible for me to read this book with anything resembling belief. I felt like I was reading tabloid material for hundreds of pages, followed by an advertisement for how a psychiatrist can save your life. Perhaps because I don't know any amount of people who combined have even a quarter of the problems that the characters in this book had, or perhaps because I don't have an undying faith in the miracle powers of psychiatry, but I found the book to be tiresome and unbelievable...something that not even good writing can overcome. ( )

Wow -- I think this is my favorite book of all time. I almost gave up reading it about halfway through, but kept on and boy am I glad I did. ( )

I loved the story and found it well written. Two things puzzled me:
why do all italian men in this book beat up their wives? I live in Central Europe and have a lot of italian friends: they are maybe known for adultery but not for being brutal against their wives.
Second: I didn't like the end. It is a little bit too much happy end! ( )

amazing- i could not put it down! ( )