Jason Chambers: Glad to see Dennis here talking about More Than It Hurts You on the blog, and the decision-making process that goes into his purchasing. I came across this book on my shelf a couple of weeks before it came out (I don’t remember when I picked it up initially) and thought it would be worth a quick read. I had not read any of Strauss’ previous novels, but remembered the publicity and positive reviews for the first one.
There is a lot of good stuff in here: the doctor’s childhood seriousness compared to the frivolity of her peers; social and racial conflicts; the current state of the American press, and the couple’s struggle with trust and fractured parenthood. The three major characters are all really well written. Sure, a couple of the minor characters fall a bit flat, but it’s not much of a damper on the book as a whole.
And I don’t think that Strauss is a genious prose stylist, as some of the reviews have suggested, but he is good and there are a handful of jaw-dropping scenes that make the book. In one, without giving away too much, Strauss splices two simultaneous scenes together, one with Josh gladhanding at a massive Manhattan advertising sales event, while Dori tends to their child on Long Island. An outrageously creepy and completely shocking scene. It might not be a novel for the short pile of books to get to immediately, but I think it’s worth a read. JC
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