Customer Reviews

More Than It Hurts You

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(7)
1 star:		(13)

 

 

Being an avid reader who has worked in child protection, I approached this book with great interest. It concerns a suspected case of Munchausen by proxy, with the diagnosis made on a Jewish family by a black female doctor. The stress on race/ethnicity is pervasive throughout the book, sometimes seeming gratuitous. (When two characters are shown to their restaurant table, the waitress is described as "sway-bottomed Asian." When the doctor, Darlene Stokes, hurries to an elevator, it is "past a tragedy-struck white family who talked in sniveling whispers," and who are never mentioned before or after.)

Divergences from the main plot are quite long and detailed to the point of irrelevance, such as in the recounting of Darlene's college days. The author seems incapable of telescoping his vision of her background to keep the story moving for the reader. This occurs also with the early life of Darlene's mother, the work experiences of the child's father (Josh Goldin), and the background of the family's sleazy lawyer. Oddly, the background on the alleged child abuser (the child's mother, Dori Goldin) seems rather sketchy in terms of explaining her behavior.

Though obviously much work was done on this book, errors/implausibilities seem rather frequent. Darlene's mother indicates that she only had sex once with Darlene's father, in 1966. Yet later the author proclaims that Darlene was born on March 1, 1968 (?). Darlene receives a 6-year scholarship for med school yet, going by the dates, first becomes a resident 13 years later, with her husband loafing at home the whole time on an allowance from his father. Darlene's father, who has a long criminal record, is released from prison just in time to become a factor in her credibility, and also to inexplicably thwart a robbery. Late in the book, Josh just happens to run into Darlene at a store, conveniently providing a forum for their conflict.

Having worked in child protection, I was particularly thrown by what happened at the court hearing (which is not yet the book's climax). The state agency (CPS) all but disappears in favor of the hospital and its lawyer, such that the Goldins' lawyer, who plants news stories attacking Darlene, wins the day mostly by threatening the hospital's reputation. The hospital backs down, never calling Darlene to testify, and strong evidence found by CPS is somehow never presented. In reality, this would never happen. The state agency bears primary responsibility for getting the case to court, where government lawyers are its primary advocates, sometimes with an additional attorney for the child. The reporting doctor testifies or his/her findings presented, as is all relevant evidence from caseworkers, police, etc. The process cannot simply be steamrolled by an aggressive lawyer, no matter how many tabloid stories he plants.

Weaknesses in the main story may be what invited the lengthy divergences, with unnecessary scenes, characters, and details. A scene at the foster home, for example, primarily depicts the foster mother, but her husband or boyfriend emerges from the shower just in time for a description of his glistening body parts. We also receive a detailed description of an insipid art project he is leaving to display. Even in the aftermath of the hearing, on pages 382-3, new characters are being detailed who have no part in the rest of the book.

This novel deals with an interesting and complicated subject, and the writing is fairly good, but I found it generally disappointing for the reasons given above.

In Long Island Josh Goldin loves his wife Dori and their eight month old son Zack. However, the TV salesman is very worried about Zack who twice has been rushed to the emergency room with strange life-threatening symptoms. African-American ICU pediatric chief Dr. Darlene Stokes reports the Goldin case to the Child Protective Services; her theory is that Zack's mom suffers from Munchausen syndrome, which causes her to inflict harm to her child in an attempt to draw attention to herself and her family.

CPS decides to take Zack away from his white Jewish parents who challenge the government agency in court. The public is divided between parental rights and children protection as the case is not quite as black and white as the two sides pretend it to be.

Extremely timely with the Texas Child Protective Services-Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints incident and the media sell out to the Pentagon, Darin Strauss slices and dices the new American economy in which everything is for sale especially health (you may not be able to buy health unless your Cheney, but many Americans cannot afford anything but illness and death). Whether it is a hospital bed, a news report or a politician, the price is right. At times the powerful satirical elements overwhelm the basic social issue of parental rights vs. professional opinion re the welfare of a child as everyone is stereotyped to lampoon some aspect of society. Darin Strauss carves up Bush's American dream asserting that for many it is more a nightmare.

Harriet Klausner

I haven't read his other books but I picked this up because of the great cover. Turns out it's a really riveting novel about a sick baby, a heartless doctor (well, she SEEMS heartless) and a husband and wife who don't know each other as well as they think. Definitely pick this up. It will break your heart a little but you'll be better for it. I'm off to buy his book about the original Siamese twins.

This is an absorbing psychological study of what people do to motivate themselves and others as well as what secrets and lies they tell themselves to do so. At one point a main character asks himself "How much blindness does a happy life require?" On the surface, this is a story about a family dealing with allegations of Munchausen by Proxy (where a parent makes a child ill or hurts it to get the attention for themselves). But that is only one layer of the deep and varied textures of this story. Fidelity, racism, abandonment, love, hate, and status all come into play throughout the book, with a constant strong current of redemption at any cost running under it all.

Although I have written about "More Than It Hurts You" elsewhere, I just wanted to say here that I think this is a terrific book. To me, it is everything that modern fiction should be, and too often is not--carefully plotted, incredibly well-researched, and beautifully written; full of tremendous, memorable characters; great scenes, and intriguing ideas about contemporary life that come together in a harrowing story. It has an ambition that is all too rare today, and that ambition is fulfilled.

This is a wonderful book in the realist tradition of the masters, old and new. From beginning to end, you are in the grip of a true tale teller who lets the story unfold as life unfolds, one crisis, one tragedy, one astonishment at a time. In this, like the greatest of novels, it is, in a sense, about time--what it does to us, what we do in it. Finally, in this book is a sure depiction of life as we live it today, the vehicle being Josh Goldin and the terrible truth he learns about his own wife, and his baby. Read it, read it again, then talk about it forever.

More Than It Hurts You is what I like to call "full-dress fiction." That is, it's everything that fiction is supposed to be. It has a contemporary, realistic plot, but it's so much more than a "problem" story. The author uses this medical story to make some really telling insights about American life today. His characters are fully drawn, you're often not sure who the real villains are, and even when you are, you still have a basic, human sympathy for them. The author really takes you fully into their world, which is what I want from a novel. I've enjoyed Strauss' previous, historical novels, but this one strikes home. It is a treat.

I often go to Amazon to see reader ratings before I invest time in reading a novel. This time I didn't and I am glad I didn't. If I had I might have decided to pass and wouldn't have read this work of near genius.

One well received review says that what happened in this novel couldn't have happened. That the family in this novel could not have fallen through the cracks of the child protection system. I am not in that profession so maybe the reviewer is correct, maybe it could not have happened. But I argue two things: one is that one reads the newspapers and knows that families *have* fallen through the cracks of the child protection system, the other is that this particular detail is a small part of the experience of reading this novel.

In this book you're treated to easily absorbed yet sophisticated insights about race, status, education and self assumptions peculiar to contemporary life on the east coast of the United States. These insights ring true. But the great thing about this book is that this is a book of horror. The reader is soon in the room when the horrible thing occurs and then is soon in the mind of the villain as she justifies and rationalizes her actions.

I would have regretted missing this book. I recommend that you not make that mistake based on the negative reviews posted here.

This book has enormous potential for a compelling storyline. However, it puts unnecessary emphasis on characters that are not interesting and not even influential to the central plot. There are some random tangents, and an irritatingly high number of typographical errors.

A hospital, a family, a doctor, an explosive trial. I was riveted from the beginning -- a baby in intensive care -- and stayed riveted to the end, when it seemed a whole culture was in intensive care, or needed to go under the knife. Strauss takes on the modern world: this means identity politics, media, law, relationships -- and a weird alliance/loyalty to truth-telling. I'd love to know if the author was thinking about some of the giant "I'm-sorry-I-can't-recall" trials of the last few years with the big scene at the end. It felt true, sickening, thrilling, moving. It's the kind of book you don't just read; it's a book you want to argue w/ the writer, then argue w/ other readers. I wanted to sit down when it was over and just go through my impressions: so many thoughts after finishing this novel.