This book kills me dead- Wally Lamb

[dragojustine]

I know This Much is True, Wally Lamb

 

I am so glad I picked this up.  The story of the twin brother of the paranoid schizophrenic trying to heal his own anger issues while somehow saving his brother sounds exactly like the kind of Oprah’s Book Club thing I would avoid, but it is beautiful.  It ends up all wound up with issues of race in ways I didn’t expect, and it also ends up all wound up in family histories and lies and secrets, which hit me hard.  It reminds me ever so vaguely of the things I like best about Faulker, in fact.  In any case, it is exactly as sad as you knew it would be- because while Dominic, our narrator, is still capable of healing and creating a life for himself, there is no salvation for Thomas.  Some bits might tend toward the overwrought, but I really found this beautiful.