More Than It Hurts You

January 7, 2008
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.

Starred review from February 15, 2008
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

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