I Know This Much is True Chapter 15 Summary

How It All Goes Down

  • Dr. Patel sweeps into her office and educates Dominick on Shiva, the Destroyer.
  • She talks about Thomas—about gaining the trust of a paranoid schizophrenic, how he freaked out over security cameras and had to be restrained, and how she's trying to help without overmedicating him into oblivion.
  • They also talk about Thomas's less-than-healthy relationship with Ray.
  • Dr. Patel plays a tape of her interviewing Thomas; he's very paranoid, thinking the CIA and the Communists are after him.
  • After the tape ends, Dr. Patel suggest that Thomas is "struggling to cure himself" (15.300) and she wants to help him develop better life skills for the future instead of focusing on the past.
  • When Dominick leaves, Dr. Patel gives him a "prescription" (15.323) of her own: a list of books to read.