Book Review: "I Know This Much Is True" and The Issue of Character Torture

Most of my writing projects have started as a result of a character coming to mind. For instance, my thesis at Wilkes University was brought about by a writing prompt where a child was faced with something emotionally scarring, and almost a year later, I had written 325 pages that ended up sort of being about her. As I wrote, her mother became center stage, and she had a bunch of pretty crappy stuff happen to her, too. Throughout, I tried to keep the plot simple so that I could focus on my characters. Whenever I'd get stuck, I'd throw more and more wrenches into my main character's gears, hoping that it would move things along.

I didn't realize how ridiculous this was until I went back to revise. What had I been thinking? By trying to power through some less inspired sections, I had basically written a very silly, unbelievable book. Some of the scenarios were downright laughable. But what really made me realize this was Wally Lamb's book, I Know This Much Is True. While very well written, it was also very hard to believe that this one character experienced all of these things that might not happen to any of us in our lifetimes.

As part of a little book agreement between a friend and I, we've been picking books, reading them and discussing them. IKTMIT started out perfectly for me. I was into the characters and the story. Everything felt really authentic, and I was really relating to Dominick's plight as a caretaker. Truly a man with the world on his shoulders, I felt his Italian duty to his family attitude all the way to my bones.

But then, something weird happened. Something out of his character. Something that didn't make sense. Then, the weird somethings started popping up like summer afternoon thunderstorms. They were all over the place,  By the time I reached the end of the book, I had no idea what I had read. Basically, poor Dominick (you can't help but pity him) had been on the recieving end of some pretty terrible things, victimized by the author the entire way through the text. There are some bright spots for him, though very few and far between. In fact, at the end of the book I found it hard to believe that his story ended where and with whom it did.

I felt as though Dominick's main issue, the care of his schizophrenic identical twin brother, to be enough for him to have to endure as a character. I don't understand why Lamb felt the overwhelming urge to give him more crosses to bear. Lamb's decisions to make the unbelievable happen to this man over and over again jolted me from my waking dream while reading this book, making it nearly impossible to enjoy it. The things that happened to Dominick felt completely contrived, and part of me felt as though Lamb just didn't have the heart to kill his darlings.

There is a good story in there somewhere amongst the 900+ pages. Cut away two-thirds of that and maybe you have something that will move you, change your life. As it stands, IKTMIT for me was largely a very long and drawn out disappointment.