I Know This Much Is True

For the Spandau Ballet song, please see True (Spandau Ballet song).

I Know This Much Is True is a novel by Wally Lamb, published in 1998. It was featured in Oprah's Book Club in June 1998.

Plot summary

The novel takes place in Three Rivers, Connecticut. Dominick Birdsey's identical twin, Thomas, suffers from paranoid schizophrenia. With medication, he can function properly and work at a coffee stand, but occasionally he has severe episodes of his illness. Thinking he is making a sacrificial protest that will stop the war in the Middle East, Thomas cuts off his own hand in a public library. Dominick sees him through the ensuing decision not to attempt to reattach the hand, and makes efforts on his behalf to free him from what he knows to be an inadequate and depressing hospital for the dangerous mentally ill.

In the process, Dominick reviews his own difficult life as Thomas's normal brother, his marriage to his ex-wife, which ended after their only child died of SIDS, and his ongoing hostility toward his stepfather. Dominick also displays classic symptoms of PTSD, as a result of stressors in his adult life. First in Thomas's interests, and then for his own sake, he sees a therapist, Dr. Rubina Patel, an Indian psychologist, employed by the hospital. She helps Dominick come to understand Thomas's illness better and the family's accommodations or reactions to it.

In the course of Thomas' treatment, Dominick is covertly informed of sexual abuse taking place in the hospital and helps to expose the perpetrators. He succeeds in getting Thomas released, but Thomas soon dies, apparently by suicide. After Thomas's death, Dominick discovers the identity of their birth father, who was part African American and part Native American--a secret their mother had shared with Thomas, but not with him.

During the midst of this, Dominick is also reading the autobiography of his grandfather, Italian/Sicilian-born Domenico Tempesta, which discloses details about the legacy of twins in their family. Dominick learns about himself and his mother through learning about his grandfather.

He also learns that his live-in girlfriend has been seeing a man on the side, as well as letting him watch her and Dominick during sexual intercourse. She is also HIV-positive, having contracted it from her secret lover. She asks Dominick to raise her baby if she dies. At first he resists, but later, after having found his way back into a relationship with his ex-wife, Dessa, they decide to remarry each other and adopt the child. The book ends with Dominick able to cope with the considerable loss, failure, and sadness in his personal and family history.

Characters in "I Know This Much Is True"

• Dominick Birdsey: protagonist.
• Thomas Birdsey: Dominick's identical twin, a paranoid schizophrenic, commits suicide.
• Dr. Patel: Thomas's psychiatrist at Hatch, Dominick's therapist.
• Lisa Sheffer: Thomas's social worker, Dominick's friend.
• Dessa Constantine: Dominick's ex-wife, whom he remarries.
• Angela Birdsey: Dominick's and Dessa's baby daughter, dies of SIDS.
• Concettina Tempesta Birdsey: Thomas's and Dominick's mother, daughter of Domenico and Ignazia Tempesta.
• Ray Birdsey: Thomas's and Dominick's stepfather.
• Leo and Angie (Athena Constantine) Blood: Dominick's best friend, Dessa's younger sister.
• Joy: Dominick's live-in girlfriend for a period of time, contracts AIDS from Thad, dies young.
• Tyffanie Rose: Joy's and Thad's biological daughter, result of affair, adopted by Dominick and Dessa.
• Thad: Joy's bisexual half-uncle and secret lover, Tyffanie Rose's father and great half-uncle.
• Ralph Drinkwater: Penny Ann Drinkwater's twin, Dominick's cousin.
• Penny Ann Drinkwater: Ralph Drinkwater's twin, Dominick's cousin, murdered as a small girl.
• Domenico Tempesta: Thomas's and Dominick's grandfather from Sicily.
• Ignazia Tucci Tempesta (Violetta d'Annunzio): Dominick's beautiful grandmother from Pescara, commits suicide.
• Prosperine Tucci ("The Monkey"): Ignazia's best friend, loathed by Domenico Tempesta, committed to an asylum.
• Pasquale Tempesta: Domenico Tempesta's younger brother, dies young.
• Vincenzo Tempesta: youngest brother of Domenico Tempesta, sleeps with many different women, dies young.

Film, TV or theatrical adaptations

According to IMDB, a movie based on the book was in the works and was to be released in 2008. The project has been put on hiatus for the time being.

Awards and nominations

It was featured in Oprah's Book Club in 1998.