{"product_id":"i-know-this-much-is-true-isbn-9780060391621","title":"I Know This Much Is True","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e#1 \u003cem\u003eNew York Times\u003c\/em\u003e Bestseller and Oprah Book Club selection\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\"Thoughtful . . . heart-wrenching . . . . An exercise in soul-baring storytelling—with the soul belonging to 20th-century America itself. It's hard to read and to stop reading, and impossible to forget.\"—\u003cem\u003eUSA Today\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eDominick Birdsey, a forty-year-old housepainter living in Three Rivers, Connecticut, finds his subdued life greatly disturbed when his identical twin brother Thomas, a paranoid schizophrenic, commits a shocking act of self-mutilation. Dominick is forced to care for his brother as well as confront dark secrets and pain he has buried deep within himself—a journey of the soul that takes him beyond his blue-collar New England town to Sicily’s Mount Etna, the birthplace of his grandfather and namesake. Coming to terms with his life and lineage, Dominick struggles to find forgiveness and finally rebuild himself beyond the haunted shadow of his troubled twin.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eI Know This Much Is Tru\u003c\/em\u003ee is a masterfully told story of alienation and connection, power and abuse, devastation and renewal—an unforgettable masterpiece.  \u003c\/p\u003e | \u003cp\u003eWith his stunning debut novel, \u003cem\u003eShe's Come Undone,\u003c\/em\u003e Wally Lamb won the adulation of critics and readers with his mesmerizing tale of one woman's painful yet triumphant journey of self-discovery. Now, this brilliantly talented writer returns with \u003cem\u003eI Know This Much Is True\u003c\/em\u003e, a heartbreaking and poignant multigenerational saga of the reproductive bonds of destruction and the powerful force of forgiveness. A masterpiece that breathtakingly tells a story of alienation and connection, power and abuse, devastation and renewal--this novel is a contemporary retelling of an ancient Hindu myth. A proud king must confront his demons to achieve salvation. \u003cem\u003eChange yourself,\u003c\/em\u003e the myth instructs, \u003cem\u003eand you will inhabit a renovated world.\u003c\/em\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cblockquote\u003e\u003cem\u003eWhen you're the same brother of a schizophrenic identical twin, the tricky thing about saving yourself is the blood it leaves on your bands--the little inconvenience of the look-alike corpse at your feet. And if you're into both survival of the fittest and being your brother's keeper--if you've promised your dying mother--then say so long to sleep and hello to the middle of the night. Grab a book or a beer. Get used to Letterman's gap-toothed smile of the absurd, or the view of the bedroom ceiling, or the influence of random selection. Take it from a godless insomniac. Take it from the uncrazy twin--the guy who beat the biochemical rap.\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/blockquote\u003e\u003cp\u003eDominick Birdsey's entire life has been compromised and constricted by anger and fear, by the paranoid schizophrenic twin brother he both deeply loves and resents, and by the past they shared with their adoptive father, Ray, a spit-and-polish ex-Navy man \u003cem\u003e(the five-foot-six-inch sleeping giant who snoozed upstairs weekdays in the spare room and built submarines at night),\u003c\/em\u003e and their long-suffering mother, Concettina, a timid woman with a harelip that made her shy and self-conscious: \u003cem\u003eShe holds a loose fist to her face to cover her defective mouth--her perpetual apology to the world for a birth defect over which she'd had no control.\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eBorn in the waning moments of 1949 and the opening minutes of 1950, the twins are physical mirror images who grow into separate yet connected entities: the seemingly strong and protective yet fearful Dominick, his mother's watchful \"monkey\"; and the seemingly weak and sweet yet noble Thomas, his mother's gentle \"bunny.\" From childhood, Dominick fights for both separation and wholeness--and ultimately self-protection--in a house of fear dominated by Ray, a bully who abuses his power over these stepsons whose biological father is a mystery. \u003cem\u003eI was still afraid of his anger but saw how he punished weakness--pounced on it. Out of self-preservation I hid my fear,\u003c\/em\u003e Dominick confesses. As for Thomas, \u003cem\u003ehe just never knew how to play defense. He just didn't get it.\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eBut Dominick's talent for survival comes at an enormous cost, including the breakup of his marriage to the warm, beautiful Dessa, whom he still loves. And it will be put to the ultimate test when Thomas, a Bible-spouting zealot, commits an unthinkable act that threatens the tenuous balance of both his and Dominick's lives. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eTo save himself, Dominick must confront not only the pain of his past but the dark secrets he has locked deep within himself, and the sins of his ancestors--a quest that will lead him beyond the confines of his blue-collar New England town to the volcanic foothills of Sicily 's Mount Etna, where his ambitious and vengefully proud grandfather and a namesake Domenico Tempesta, the \u003cem\u003esostegno del famiglia,\u003c\/em\u003e was born. \u003cem\u003eEach of the stories Ma told us about Papa reinforced the message that he was the boss, that he ruled the roost, that what he said went.\u003c\/em\u003e Searching for answers, Dominick turns to the whispers of the dead, to the pages of his grandfather's handwritten memoir, \u003cem\u003eThe History of Domenico Onofrio Tempesta, a Great Man from Humble Beginnings.\u003c\/em\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eRendered with touches of magic realism, Domenico's fablelike tale--in which monkeys enchant and religious statues weep--becomes the old man's confession--an unwitting legacy of contrition that reveals the truth's of Domenico's life, Dominick learns that power, wrongly used, defeats the oppressor as well as the oppressed, and now, picking through the humble shards of his deconstructed life, he will search for the courage and love to forgive, to expiate his and his ancestors' transgressions, and finally to rebuild himself beyond the haunted shadow of his twin. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eSet against the vivid panoply of twentieth-century America and filled with richly drawn, memorable characters, this deeply moving and thoroughly satisfying novel brings to light humanity's deepest needs and fears, our aloneness, our desire for love and acceptance, our struggle to survive at all costs. Joyous, mystical, and exquisitely written, \u003cem\u003eI Know This Much Is True\u003c\/em\u003e is an extraordinary reading experience that will leave no reader untouched. \u003c\/p\u003e | \u003cp\u003e\"Lamb details the pain and perversions of generations of dysfunctional families in the struggle between twin brothers at midlife. His craftsmanship and characterizations are exceptional. . . . Fine work, relentless in its effect.\" - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eLibrary Journal\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“A fully developed and triumphantly resolved exploration of one man’s suffering and redemption.” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003ePublishers Weekly, starred review\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“A can’t-put-it-down-novel . . . packed with graceful writing, unrelenting dramatic tension and characters how force the reader to form an emotional bond with them . . .The only thing bad about Wally Lamb’s new novel is that it’s too good.” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eDenver Post\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“A gratifying saga of loss and redemption.” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003ePeople\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\"[A] tour de force that sweeps the reader along in its swift emotional current....A work of astonishing craftsmanship, structural symmetry, and literary self-awareness . . . Read it and weep.\" - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eSt. Louis Post-Dispatch\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\"Dominick Birdsey is an epic hero and his story an inspiring, darkly comic tale of redemption—a late twentieth-century \u003cem\u003eLes Miserables\u003c\/em\u003e.\" - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eGlamour\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\"Every now and then a book comes along that sets new standards for writers and readers alike. Wally Lamb's latest novel is stunning—and even that might be an understatement . . . this is a masterpiece.\" - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eLisa Ko, author of The Leavers\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\"The saga of the century. Best, most wonderful, most dramatic, most powerful. There are no superlatives impressive enough to describe this, another Lamb masterpiece.\" - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eOakland Press\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\"Thoughtful . . . heart-wrenching . . . . An exercise in soul-baring storytelling--with the soul belonging to 20th-century America itself. It's hard to read and to stop reading, and impossible to forget.\" - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eUSA Today\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\"Wally Lamb is one of those rare contemporary writers who can produce a 900-page book that defies readers to put it down. . . stunning. . . powerful. . . . The book is so effectively structured that the reader can easily fall into its pages, becoming a part of it, in the way that a powerful play lures its audience into its setting and story line...A rich literary tapestry that is an affirmation of life.\" - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eDallas Morning News\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\"Never grapples with anything less than life’s biggest questions. . . . Lamb clearly aims to be a modern-day Dostoevsky with a pop sensibility.\" - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eNew York Times Book Review\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\"You couldn’t ask for a more beguiling summer read.\" - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eEntertainment Weekly\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Harper","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":44889078104293,"sku":"NP9780060391621","price":27.5,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1842\/7735\/files\/9780060391621.jpg?v=1730230463","url":"https:\/\/k12savings.com\/products\/i-know-this-much-is-true-isbn-9780060391621","provider":"K12savings","version":"1.0","type":"link"}