Saturday, May 8, 2010

I Know This Much Is True

I think I bought this book because of the title. I just hear the title as a whisper...an Oprah whisper. I think it was an Oprah book, but even if it wasn't, it should havebeen. Can't you just hear Oprah saying this title in many different ways. But the day that I bought it, I heard her whisper it, so I bought it. I can't resist the Oprah whisper.

I also started reading this book at the perfect time in my life. I had just started our rotation in Civil Commitments and this book involves a lot of the crazy. But, reading it made me understand a little bit more about what the family goes through, how mental illness can be all consuming, how it can make you bitter and how it can destroy others.

The book is also hella long. Like, H-E-L-L-A long. So, despite the writing and the characters and the beautiful prose I got bored at the end. I was mostly just reading it to be done with it.

The short story is that one guy has issues, but his brother is worse. Schizophrenic worse. So, the one guy pushes all of his issues and problems aside to take care of his brother and he's bitter about it. He drives people away left and right. But then there's redemption and warm fuzzies, but also some sad things.

I feel kind of blah about it. 4/5 or 7/10 stars.

2 comments:

Grace said...

I remember that when I read that I literally had no idea what happened in the beginning because it was soooooo long. I mean seriously, why would you do that to us Wally Lamb?

Molly said...

At least this one is good. I've heard that "The Hour I First Believed" is just as long and not very good. But again with the title, it just draws me in! But I agree, Wally should take a short story writing class and report back.