baaa baaa ... wally lamb

man, that book was HUGE. (that's what she said?)

seriously, i'm going to have to go back and start over. i really wanted to have post-it flags and i didn't manage to get them.

okay. some things.

twins.
the grandpa's book.
psych wards.
losing kids/pregnancy.
longing for exes.
child abuse.
injuries.
psychology/psychotherapy/digging into the past.
suicide/death/cancer.
parental relations.

okay. just wanted to throw that shit out there. can't fully get into it right now; my battery is going to die. do any of you have the oprah version? are there reading questions?

okay. look forward to talking to it.

there's more ... myay!

now smuss it.

Illin' Oy weighs in on This Much I Know

I have started to read the book. There's quite a bit that goes on in just the first couple of chapters so i just wanted to throw my thoughts out there.

Wally Lamb has such an absolute command of the mind of the psychopath. Even though the book is written from the perspective of the "sane" twin Dominick, I TOTALLY get the crazy brother, his motivation and his justification. The conflict is firmly established for me in the scene of the brother cutting his hand off in a public library and Dominick's decision to honor his wishes and not have the hand reattached.

First of all the narrative is told after the fact, from Dominick's point of view, in his home, being pestered by the librarian regarding her own selfish needs. The next chapter reveals more about how Dominick never puts himself or his needs first and is frustrated by his life's burden of the consequences of making decisions for others who may or may not be able to speak for themselves. The librarian is at Dominick's house asking for absolution of responsibility, concerned she'd triggered the event because she'd spoken to Tom harshly. Dominick provides the solace she was seeking for his own selfish motives, to get her the fuck out of his house. The scene I believe is important for two reasons: 1) because it gave Lamb an opportunity to review a gritty scene in hindsight, able to communicate gore appropriately and allow us to evaluate the mental health of Tom ourselves and 2) because I believe the decision to let the Librarian off the hook will bite Dominick in the ass later. It's written in as almost an afterthought on his part and I think he'll regret it down the line.

Even so, the brother's insanity is firmly set in cement. He can't seem to recall what year it is but he has a love of the newspaper, the daily record of current events. He's obsessed with them and has an emotional, passionate reaction to the Gulf War (the first one, in the '90s), but his only voice is to act out in a gruesome, heinous act of self mutilation. He's also obsessed with religion's capital punishment aspects and uses this as a rationale to carry on his "war protest" actions.

The librarian's visit also enables a flashback to the hospital where Dominick essentially has the fabulous codependent "fuck it" moment where he makes his brother live with the consequences of cutting his arm off. I adore this -- he's so angry with the responsibility of having a mentally ill brother who just cut off his own hand for a political statement and he's so angry with himself for not having seen the signs and whatnot, that he just honors the wishes of his insane patient brother and says fine you'll have a stub of a hand. Awesome!

So far I love Dominick. When his mom was dying a sad and painful death of breast cancer, he tried to make up for not being a better son by completely refurbishing her kitchen even though she didn't seem to have asked for it or want it. Unable to talk about his feelings or identify how he's feeling about the prospect of an astronomical loss, he turns to a busywork project.

Those are my thoughts about 30 pages in. More to come!

PS I wanted to hate this book because it's an Oprah book but Wally Lamb has such a delightfully wicked understanding of the minds of insane people and those who love them, I couldn't help but fall in love on the first page. I do hate the pro life embryo picture on the cover, though. What's up with that?

there's more ... myay!

now smuss it.

whoo hoo!

okay. i got the jump feature to work. so we can talk about the book as we go along if you're so inclined. for those who aren't familiar, i've customized the post template so what you need to do the jump is right in the template when you go to post. if your post will not need a jump, you can erase the html that's in the post. just delete it.

IF you want to do a spoiler, then follow these directions. put whatever you want in the beginning of the jump BEFORE the first set of with the fullpost in them.

then, put the rest of the hidden post after that and before the second set of with the word span in them. and it should work. let me know if it doesn't and i'll help you out.

what do you say? are we cool? apparently, adrian has read the whole thing already. i thought i was a really fast reader, but shit.

there's more ... myay!

now smuss it.

a technical note

i am doing my best to find a way to edit this particular template so it has a 'jump' feature like the smussyolay. why? because i think i'd like to try and discuss the new book as we go along since it's a big book and i think it will be hard to try and discuss all of the interesting things we might want to talk about after we're done reading. i think that's one of the reasons we don't talk very long ... because ... well, it's one of the reasons *i* have a hard time .... i forget what i wanted to talk about.

and i guarantee it's going to be hard with this. HOWEVER ...i don't want to ruin anything for anyone and i think it will be nice to write spoiler and the page we're up to in the title of the post and maybe a sentence about where we are and then put the rest of the post after the jump. i'm having a little more trouble than i've had with the smussyolay blog.

so, i'm working on it and i'll get back to you asap. so far i don't find this book the chore i found it the first time, btw.

there's more ... myay!

now smuss it.

and then there were more

so, my dear friend, kimberly, over at redneck reject is joining us! yay. i love that this is organically growing here and there. attraction rather than promotion, i say!

bring it, kids. bring it.

there's more ... myay!

now smuss it.

New Book Choice by Julene

Hey everyone!

I've been going over and over in my mind which book I would like to re-read and my super aversion to claiming anything as a "favorite". I had it narrowed down to 3 - A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving, A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius by David Eggers, and then whatever I had in the house.

Well, it's come down to the book behind door #3 - I Know This Much is True by Wally Lamb.

I'm not a huge fan of re-reading, so the book has been surprising me with it's voice and ability to retain my attention.

So, have at it and we will discuss at some point in the future.

there's more ... myay!

now smuss it.