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More copies of this ISBN:This title in other formats:More Than It Hurts Youby Darin Strauss
Review-a-Day (What is Review-a-Day?)"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..." Ron Charles, Washington Post Book World (read the entire Washington Post Book World review) Synopses & ReviewsPublisher Comments: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. Review:"The third novel from the author of Chang and Eng and The Real McCoy is an often satiric page-turner that tracks a Long Island family crisis. Josh Goldin is a happily married TV airtime salesman with an eight-month-old son. When baby Zack is treated twice for mysterious and life-threatening symptoms, the head of a pediatric ICU, Dr. Darlene Stokes, tells Child Protective Services that she thinks Josh's wife, Dori, suffers from Munchausen syndrome, whereby the afflicted injure their children deliberately to draw attention to themselves. The Goldins' ensuing battle to keep Zack provides grist for public debate about issues ranging from parents' rights to race (Dr. Stokes is black, the Goldins Jewish). Strauss takes delight in skewering a world in which everything (news coverage, legal representation, hospital beds) is for sale, sometimes digressively, always amusingly. The stereotypes are intentionally heavy-handed: Josh's perceptions almost always register through race and class-related fear and disgust. But the heart of the story — the unraveling of Josh's life and the steady erosion of his faith that ignorance can be a virtue and happiness a choice — is riveting. (June)" Publishers Weekly (Copyright Reed Business Information, Inc.) Review:If you don't belong to a book club, Darin Strauss' 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, chief among them a form of child abuse... Washington Post Book Review (read the entire Washington Post review) Review:"This book is harrowing, hurtling, heartbreaking andmore than anythingdevastatingly 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 themselvesare never hidden from their author. This is a brilliant, sharp, suspenseful novel, impossible to turn your gaze from." Elizabeth Gilbert Review:"The novel feels like an episode of Law & Order: SVU (without the predictability or the ads), allowing one-time wunderkind Strauss (2001's Chang and Eng) to shake off that sophomore slump and hit a homer." Marie Claire Review:"Nothing in Darin Strauss's previous big novel, Chang and Eng, prepares you for the emotional wallop of More Than It Hurts You. At its core, this one is a thriller... Strauss uses his suburban malcontents to touch on election-year issues — HMOs, race-baiting, gender politics — so look for this one to dominate the conversation like nothing has since The Corrections.... Strauss hits you where you live." GQ Review:"Josh Goldin agrees with his wife, Dori, that their infant sun ended up in the emergency room due to a freak illness. After all, he seems fine now. Which is why Josh doesn't understand when an investigation opens up to scrutinize their parenting. As the family is ripped apart, Josh and Dori are forced to confront the lies they've been telling each other — and themselves." Redbook Magazine Review:"Strauss' novel is most effective not in its sweeping, occasionally grandiloquent observations about society as a whole, but in its mastery of personal, domestic issues." Chicago Tribune Review:"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." Library Journal Review:"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 Synopsis:The acclaimed author of Chang and Eng returns with a beautifully realized novel that at its heart is the story of a woman who will risk everything to feel something and a man who suddenly realizes that being a good husband and father can no longer comfortably coexist.
About the AuthorDarin 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. What Our Readers Are SayingAdd a comment for a chance to win!
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