Tom Spanbauer's first novel in seven years is a love story triangle akin to "The
Marriage Plot" and "Freedom," only with a gay main character who charms gays an
d straights alike. "I Loved You More" is a rich, expansive tale of love, sex, an
d heartbreak, covering twenty-five years in the life of a striving, emotionally
wounded writer. In New York, Ben forms a bond of love with his macho friend and
foil, Hank. Years later in Portland, a now ill Ben falls for Ruth, who provides
the care and devotion he needs, though they cannot find true happiness together.
Then Hank reappears and meets Ruth, and real trouble starts. Set against a worl
d of struggling artists, the underground sex scene of New York in the 1980s, the
drab, confining Idaho of Ben's youth, and many places in between, "I Loved You
More" is the author's most complex and wise novel to date.
