Episode 157 – I Know This Much Is True
The Worst Bestsellers
Worst Bestsellers
4.5 • 609 Ratings
🗓️ 14 September 2020
⏱️ 87 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Think of the saddest thing you can imagine. No, sadder. Make it fifty times sadder. Okay, you are in the vicinity of comprehending the levels of tragedy porn Wally Lamb has packed into his novel I Know This Much Is True. Because life in 2020 wasn’t already sad enough, and because some of us love Mark Ruffalo, we brought Arielle back to discuss this peak 90s Oprah’s Book Club pick. Content warnings for just about every imaginable potential trigger. We are serious!
Readers advisory: Here.
Footnotes: “‘This will happen’: Mark Ruffalo moved mountains to make HBO’s new Emmy hopeful” by Meredith Blake
“Why I Almost Stopped Watching ‘I Know This Much Is True’ After the First Episode” by Rebecca Chamaa
Oprah’s Book Club: The Complete List
Candy Pairing: Arielle says Torrone, Kait says your favorite candy that’s been stomped into the dirt, Renata says generic fundraiser candy.
Coming up next: Midnight Sun by Stephenie Meyer.
* Worst Bestsellers is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com.
(But no pressure, we’re also happy if you get these items from your local library or independent bookstore.)
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hello and welcome to worst bestsellers, where we read about the inner generational trauma of toxic masculinity so you don't have to. |
| 0:19.9 | I'm Renata. |
| 0:21.1 | And I'm Kate. |
| 0:22.3 | And for this episode, we read, I know this much is true by Wally Lamb. |
| 0:27.8 | Joining us to discuss this vintage Oprah's book club pick is Ariel, a writer and editor from |
| 0:33.6 | New York, who is not an attorney. |
| 0:37.4 | Hi, everyone. |
| 0:38.4 | Thank you for clarifying. |
| 0:39.8 | We will not ask you for legal advice. |
| 0:43.0 | I also just want to say, welcome back to Ariel. |
| 0:45.3 | You might remember her from reading V.C. Andrews with us last year. |
| 0:51.2 | And because she's just into trauma, into trauma and sad things happening in books, |
| 1:00.1 | she's back. |
| 1:01.7 | Yeah. |
| 1:01.9 | Speaking of trauma, there is a content warning for basically everything you can imagine |
| 1:08.2 | in the world in this book. |
| 1:10.4 | Truly, truly, all the major ones, Ray, everything you can imagine in the world in this book. Truly. |
| 1:11.7 | Truly. |
| 1:12.6 | All the major ones. |
| 1:14.2 | Um, rape, self-harm. |
| 1:16.9 | Uh, mental illness. |
| 1:18.0 | Suicide. |
... |
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