I Know This Much Is True

By: Wally Lamb

Narrated by: Ken Howard

Length: 5 hrs and 42 mins

Publisher's summary

Identical twins Dominick and Thomas Birdsey were born in the waning moments of 1949 and the opening minutes of 1950. Now at 40, Dominick's entire life has been compromised and constricted by anger and fear, by the paranoid schizophrenic twin brother he both loves and resents, and by the past they shared with their adoptive father, Ray, a spit-and polish ex-Navy man, and their long-suffering mother, Concettina. The brothers' relationship undergoes the ultimate test when Thomas commits an unthinkable act that threatens the tenuous balance of both his and Dominick's lives. Wally Lamb's long awaited follow-up to the critically acclaimed novel She's Come Undone is narrated by Tony Award-winning actor Ken Howard.

(P) and ©1998 HarperCollins Publishers Inc., All Rights Reserved, Harper Audio, A Division of HarperCollins Publishers

Critic reviews

Publishers Weekly Listen Up Award: Best Audio of 1998, Fiction

"This award-winning Broadway stalwart here shows himself to be as adept behind the mike as behind the footlights." (AudioFile)

Gritty and Real

Wally's description of the mental illness schizophrenia and how it was handled in the 70's, 80's and 90's is very true to life. He also encapsulated the effect it has on the family and the twin-sibling eerily close to reality.

Dominique's first-person narrative is gripping and kept me captured all the time.

The roundness of the story

Great educational real life story and an eye opening account of the challenges of dealing with the mental illness of a loved one.

Tough to hear but good

As with most of Wally Lamb's books, this one had some truly tough parts to listen to. I had to close my eyes and hold on tight to get through them. However, the depth of feeling adds to this great story. Very satisfying on all levels.

Excellent

What made the experience of listening to I Know This Much Is True the most enjoyable?

The story and the narration by Ken Howard.

What other book might you compare I Know This Much Is True to and why?

Healing Faith. Both have a spiritual element based on forgiveness.

What does Ken Howard bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

A calmness!

Who was the most memorable character of I Know This Much Is True and why?

Both twins.

Any additional comments?

Loved it

BAD audio

I had read this book years ago and remember loving it, so when the abridged version was on sale, I purchased it in order to refresh my memory of the story, but not have to commit to re-reading the notoriously verbose Mr. Lamb.

The story was great- I am always amazed by the depth and truthfulness in Wally Lamb's male characters. I obviously would have probably been more engaged had they chosen to flush out certain parts (impossible when you go abridged), but overall, enjoyable and informative.

The narration was SIMPLY. HORRIBLE. First of all, this must have been taped eons ago b/c it had the clarity of a 1930s newsreel being projected through a 1980s answering machine. To make matters worse, Mr. Howard's voices were simply distracting. Often, despite the fact the story takes place in Rhode Island, he sounded like an Italian uncle from North Jersey, but then appeared to tire of the affectation, and returned to his normal (non-irritating) speaking voice mid-sentence. Also, the schizophrenic brother's voice was almost identical to Buffalo Bill's famous, "I'd $%^# me" line in Silence of the Lambs, which had the unfortunate affect of dehumanizing the character (which is likely contrary to Mr. Lamb's intention).

I'd go ahead and read this book, in its entirety, over the abridge audiobook.

Fantastic. inspiring to listen to the reinvention

Loved it and enjoyed how all the characters were connected. The story telling was fantastic.

The story WAS amazing!!

The narration was off.. I did NOT like how the narrator portrayed the brother with Autism. I both read and listened to this story, which was amazing both ways... I am, however, GLAD, I read the book 1st... The narration did NOT reflect the same story as the brother was portrayed in the written book. In the narration/audible version it appeared/seemed as if they were portraying the brother/twin w/a problem? As possibly 'mentally" challenged instead of as he had a personality disorder (which he did, NOT disabled!)... WHICH HE IS NOT!! Autism and mentally challenged are COMPLETELY DIFFERENT! This turned me off to the audible version... IT remains a GREAT story!!

Enjoyed this book

I enjoyed this book. I always like a happy ending; with the added bonus of self discovery. The narrator's voice was easy to listen to.

Wonderful listening

I I listened to this, my favorite book of all time on a 22 hour air flight! I had read this book 13 years ago and the narration was satisfying!

Good- but didn't live up to the hype

My sister raved about this book. Having a mentally ill family member, I thought I'd be able to relate to it. It was a good book. But it wasn't great. She's Come Undone is 100x better (Which I've only read, not listened to).