More Than It Hurts You by Darin Strauss

From the Publisher

The acclaimed author of Chang and Eng returns with a literary showstopper -- a beautifully realized novel that at its heart is the story of a woman who will risk everything to feel something; a doctor whose diagnosis brings her entire life into question; and a man who suddenly realizes that being a good husband and a good father can no longer comfortably coexist.

Josh Goldin was savoring a Friday afternoon break in the coffee room, harmlessly flirting with coworkers while anticipating the weekend at home where his wife, Dori, waited with their eight-month-old son, Zack. And then Josh's secretary rushed in, using words like intensive care, lost consciousness, blood. . . .

That morning, Dori had walked into the emergency room with her son in severe distress. Enter Dr. Darlene Stokes: an African-American physician and single mother whose life is dedicated both to her own son and navigating the tricky maze of modern-day medicine. But something about Dori stirred the doctor's suspicions. Darlene had heard of the sensational diagnosis of Munchausen by Proxy, where a mother intentionally harms her baby, but had never come upon a case of it before. It was rarely diagnosed and extraordinarily controversial. Could it possibly have happened here?

As their four lives intersect with dramatic consequences, Darlene, Dori, and Josh are pushed to their breaking points as they confront the nightmare that has become their new reality. Darin Strauss's extraordinary novel is set in a world turned upside down-where doctors try to save babies from their parents, police use the law to tear families apart, and the people you know the best end up surprising you the most.

About the Author
DARIN STRAUSS is the author of the international bestseller Chang and Eng and the New York Times Notable Book The Real McCoy. Also a screenwriter, he is currently adapting Chang and Eng with Gary Oldman. The recipient of a 2006 Guggenheim Fellowship in fiction writing, he teaches writing at New York University.

The Washington Post - Ron Charles

If you don't belong to a book club, Darin Strauss's bitter and brilliant new novel is reason enough to start one. You can always disband afterward, and in any case your discussion of More Than It Hurts You may be so heated that you'll never talk to those people again. Strauss has packed this gripping story with the whole radio dial of divisive, hot-button issues…Strauss made a name for himself with two historical novels based on real celebrities: Chang and Eng (2000), about the original Siamese twins, and The Real McCoy (2002), about a boxer at the turn of the last century. This time around, with an extraordinary degree of breadth and confidence, he's moved to a hyper-contemporary setting and invented his own characters.

Publishers Weekly

Strauss's third novel is the story of three ordinary individuals whose paths interconnect in extraordinary ways. Arthur Morey's exquisite performance brings those characters and many others to life in a believable and honest manner. His slight shifts in dialect are subtle yet flawless; his pacing is steady and allows the story to unfold nicely. There is an underlying sense of urgency and panic in each of Strauss's characters, and Morey allows it to sharpen his reading without going overwhelming it. Ultimately, listeners will be enthralled by the touching stories Strauss offers here, but Morey goes one step further and manages to bring the stories to vivid life. A Dutton hardcover (Reviews, Jan. 7). (June)

Library Journal

In Strauss's (Chang and Eng) third novel, TV airtime salesman Josh Goldin learns that his wife, Dori, has just taken their eight-month-old son, Zach, to the emergency room. This sets off a series of events that eventually forces Josh to question the state of medical care, the legal system, and his wife's sanity. When Zach is treated a second time for mysterious, life-threatening symptoms, head pediatrician Darlene Graves becomes suspicious and calls in Child Protective Services (CPS). Suddenly, the Goldins' suburban Long Island lives are made difficult by visits from the CPS investigator, and Darlene's life, too, becomes stressful as a newspaper reporter attacks her for going after innocent people and her long-lost father, a former prison inmate, suddenly turns up wanting to build a relationship. Ultimately, it is Josh who finds himself most conflicted, caught between his love for his wife and the mounting evidence that Dori might, in fact, be harming their son. The narrative switches from medical to psychological to courtroom drama as each character is gradually forced to face his or her own reality. Highly recommended. [See Prepub Alert, LJ 2/1/08.]—Joshua Cohen, Mid-Hudson Lib. Syst., Poughkeepsie, NY

What People Are Saying

This book is harrowing, hurtling, heartbreaking and -- more than anything -- devastatingly accurate. Darin Strauss (a novelist whose talents sometimes seem limitless to me) has created characters whose complexities and dark motivations -- though they are always hidden from each other, and even sometimes from themselves -- are never hidden from their author. This is a brilliant, sharp, suspenseful novel, impossible to turn your gaze from. --Elizabeth Gilbert, author of Eat, Pray, Love

Darin Strauss has written a novel that is -- suture by suture, idea for idea -- peerlessly brilliant. Here is a supreme, mature novelist at the height of his powers. --Gary Shteyngart, author of Absurdistan and The Russian Debutante's Handbook

A prize-winning, front-cover-of-the- Times-Book-Review type of story that's sure to be one of the few novels of this era to be remembered in thirty years-and not just because it's going to be made into a movie. Destined to be the most important popular novel since The Corrections. --Kevin Baker, author of Paradise Alley

That rare thing: a blockbuster with a can't-miss commercial hook-and it's also a great story, a cross between Bonfire of the Vanities and The Lovely Bones. --David Lipsky, author of Absolutely American

Darin Strauss's latest is an eviscerating portrayal of contemporary American life, surgical and exact. At turns funny and disturbing, unsparing in its insights yet generous with understanding, More Than It Hurts You is a relentlessly rewarding piece of art. --Colson Whitehead, author of Apex Hides the Hurt and John Henry Days

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