More Than It Hurts You by Darin Strauss

This book got me thinking about what exactly makes a good story.  Unequivocally, I enjoy a book that completely absorbs me and leaves me wanting more at its end.  I love being surprised and engaged.  And I'm sure there are other things that make up the reasons that I prefer certain books over others, but I don't often go through asking myself why. 

More Than It Hurts You earned itself a spot on the recommendations list, although at times I found myself distracted and wondering if it was more than any other decent modern fiction novel.  It tells the story of a young couple and their infant son going up against a single mother doctor who is handling her own issues with her father.  The jacket sets your focus on the husband, Josh Goldin, and his active choice to be ignorant and happy.  Events in the novel challenge that, as you might imagine, and he rather openly thinks about this issue in a way that is sort of believable but a little heavy handed. 

Darin Strauss uses a few techniques to make this book different than a typical soul searcher or contemplation of your average privileged suburban couple enduring life's hardships.  The first, however, I believe to be more of a distraction (and part of the reason I was reluctant to admit that this really was a good book).  The characters in the novel talk just like you and I do.  That is to say, with abrupt jarring sentences, incomplete sentences and even incomplete thoughts.  Yes, I have read novels where I thought characters were too well planned, too thoughtful in their speech (and that's often the case in movies).  Here, I found it too much of an attempt to be real and distracting from the story.  I understood that these people were just like me, but I didn't need it to be so in my face. 

The other things that Strauss played with include the story structure and how he brings each part of the story to light, the method of story telling (embedding news articles about the characters to get background information in front of the reader) and pacing.  These elements were what set the book apart.  Ultimately, I believe the book is about perspective.  Not just Josh's, but everyone's perspective, including the reader.  As the story moved on, I found myself winking back at Strauss when I realized that he had even played with my perspective based on the choices he made in setting up the story.  Every author does this, but Strauss does it with just a heavy enough hand to punctuate his message and enhance the entire experience. 

So, I can't tell you more without ruining your experience, but this book surprised me, engaged me and definitely left me wanting more.