#6

I loved the conclusion of I Know This Much is True. So many ends were wrapped up, and in surprising ways that made it even better. The death of his twin really helped Dominick find himself. He was able to forgive himself for mistakes made in his childhood, forgive his mother for favoring Thomas, forgive Ray for being too hard on his stepsons, and even forgive Thomas for all the embarrassment he caused. Ray and Dominick become closer after Ray's leg is amputated due to gangrene. Their time in the hospital and physical therapy really strengthens the foundation that they never had. Dessa is proud of Dominick's progress, and they two of them start dating again. When they realize that the old spark never left- Dominick proposes, and the ex couple gets married again. Dominick and Dessa become friends with Thomas' social worker Lisa Sheffer, and her partner Monica. The two couples collaborate to form a women's help shelter in the Tempesta's old house, and name it after his mother, Concettina. The most important part of the end was the conclusion to Dominick's search for his father. He goes through many theories including his mother being raped and his grandfather and his mother committing incest. Ray finally tells him that his father was Nabby Drinkwater, a half-colored half-Wequonnoc indian, which makes his friend Ralph his cousin. This also solidifies his income for the rest of his life, seeing that a casino was just built on Wequonnoc land. I love the fact that Dessa and Dominick got back together, and they are finally able to adopt a child and belong in a community.

#5

Thomas kills himself. He was raped at the mental institution along with many others, but tested negative for HIV. Because of the "unsafe conditions", Dominick is able to get his brother out of Hatch and released to live at an assisted living center for a week until he can get a spot at a more permanent hospital for his kind of treatment. Due to the low security at the temporary facility, Thomas is able to break out. He goes to the river where Dominick, Leo, and Ralph Drinkwater used to work, takes off his shoes and socks, and jumps off of a tall cliff into the water. His body is found later, and Ray goes down to identify it. Dominick is faced with really strange emotions, from sadness, to feeling like an entire half of him is missing, to relief and happiness. Doctor Patel is trying to convince him that its okay to finally let go, to rid himself of the huge responsibility he put upon himself. Before Thomas' death, he always wondered if part of the mental illness had soaked into him too. The fact that their one cell split apart and became two people TERRIFIED Dominick. He always wanted to differenciate himself from Thomas, be better than the "retard brother". Now that Thomas is dead, Dominick can cope with his own feelings and stop carrying around those of his twin. The other part of being the only son left is Ray's confession and guilt. He knows that how he treated the boys was wrong, and now carries the remorse of trying to "toughen them up". Dominick and Ray become close, especially after Dominick finds out that Ray has been planting tulips on Angela's grave for ten years.

#4

This section of reading takes us back to Dominick and Dessa's breakup. She needs time to heal after Angela's death, and so she takes a cruise by herself. With her time to think, she believes at first that she can go back to Dominick and things will work out, but once she sees him in the airport, Dessa realizes that she can't cope with his grief and needs some time on her own. After crying in front of his students, Dominick quits his job teaching and becomes a housepainter. The two spend time apart, but always meet inconspicuously at gas stations or funerals or visiting Thomas in the hospital. This section of the book now becomes about Dominick finding himself while Thomas is at Hatch and the burden is lifted. He starts visiting Doctor Patel, an indian therapist and anthropologist. In her office she has a statue of the Hindu god Shiva, who represents destruction. Dominick at first is confused by this, but Patel tells him that in her office they need to destroy his old walls and figure out who he is. "Remodeling".
Dominick gets very angry at some of the things she suggests, and has a hard time dredging up bad memories from his childhood to figure out his life now.

#3

"I Know This Much is True" begins the same way as In the Time of the Butterflies. We meet Thomas right after he cut his hand off, and then explore his childhood in order to learn more about him. Thomas was always Concettina's favorite. Their mother would fix Dominick a snack to keep him occupied, and then she would "play nice" upstairs with Thomas. They would read books and play dress up, feminine things that Dominick just wouldn't do. The favoritism was very obvious though, and he was very distraught when his mother died. Accompanying the death in their family, Ray starts sleeping on the couch downstairs and Thomas gets worse. Even though Ray and Concettina started their marriage partly out of convenience, there is no doubt that Ray loved her and wanted to keep her safe. She had a harelip, or birth defect, and he was the only person who told her she was "just as kissable as anyone else". The death of the person he was closest to hurt Thomas, and all of a sudden even more people or things were "out to get him". Another death that occurred during this week's reading was the most significant one in the book. Dominick's ex-wife Dessa and his daughter dies. This occurs in a flashback, but describes the way that he finds her in her crib. She was only three weeks old when she died, and Angela stays with Dessa and Dominick in their worst of times. In his anger and blindness after the death of his first child, Dominick gets a vasectomy. Dessa is overwhelmed by his unwillingness to talk about his feelings, to cope with his anger, and leaves him. She says he "sucks all the air out of the room". Those words stay with Dominick in every relationship thereafter, and he never falls out of love with Dessa.

#2

In this week's reading, we learn more about why Thomas and Dominick Birdsey have big problems of their own. Their mother won't tell the twins who their father is, but she married Ray Birdsey when they were young. Ray is a war veteran two times over, and almost all of his interactions with his step-sons were to "toughen them up". He took control of their mother's life, deciding what she would cook for dinner, how much money would be spent on the boys' college education, and each day would count out the money she would need for the day, never more. Ray has tried to exhibit total control over his new family in all aspects of their lives. Although a good guy at heart, he is definately a promoter of tough love. On the morning after Halloween, Dominick sneaks his candy into church. This is exceptionally rebellious because Ray is very religious, and serious about church behavior and attendance. During mass, Dominick slips Thomas a roll of Necco Wafers, and the crunch gives him away. Ray beats Thomas up in the church parking lot--just demonstrating his fatherly power. During his hours in therapy, Dominick is always wondering if the abuse from his step father is what triggered Thomas' schizophrenia and his own problems with anger management. I think Dominick also blames himself for being favored by Ray. It was almost like the anger that should have been taken out on two was taken out on just one twin, and Dominick feels responsible by not pulling his share of the weight.

#1

The beginning of "I Know This Much Is True" is interesting. It begins with Dominick's brother Thomas cutting his hand off in a library--what a kick start into describing the mental illness. Thomas has been hearing voices in his brain since he was nineteen years old. They tell him that he is God's messenger, and that he needs to get the people's attention before war breaks out between Iraq and the United States. When questioned about his self-mutilation, he replied that he wanted Saddam and George W. Bush to "wake up and stop fighting." The paranoid part of his Schizophrenia is also very strong. He is always afraid of something, be it communists or members of al-Quaida. The illness is so bad for Thomas that he can't eat normally in a McDonalds, he hides from terrorists in the bathroom and orders a Happy Meal for the Little Mermaid toy. The difficult part for Dominick is the fact that he can't understand why Thomas acts this way. He USED to be normal, he USED to have a regular brain. Dominick has trouble being patient so far, but undoubtedly loves his brother very much. After Thomas cuts his hand off and the story becomes public, the media has a field day. The incident could cause criminal charges, and so instead, Thomas is sent to Hatch, a state mental hospital in Connecticut, for a period of two weeks. During that time, he will be observed by the staff and reevaluated. If the people working with him decide he is stable, he will be released to another type of low security nursing home. If not, Thomas must stay in Hatch for a year. Dominick feels like that would be a breach of his promise to his mother, and goes on a rampage to keep Thomas out.

I KNOW THIS MUCH IS TRUE

For this quarter's outside reading, I chose to read "I Know This Much is True" by Wally Lamb. He is one of my favorite authors-his books are the kind you never forget. I read "She's Come Undone" a little under a year ago, and I'll never forget the story of Dolores' problems with sexual abuse and her weight. The story has the same theme as a book we read earlier in the year, "Animal Dreams". In each book the character is struggling to find themselves and hopefully my new book will be the same. The inside cover hints at the story; I'm really excited to learn more about it. The main character Dominick has a twin brother that's a paranoid schizophrenic, and makes a promise to his mother on her deathbed that he will take care of him. The story accounts the struggles of taking on another person almost like a son, as well as switching back between his grandfather's memoir. This should be a great read.