Steve Toltz's A Fraction of the Whole is a riotously funny explosion of a novel SHORTLISTED FOR THE MAN BOOKER PRIZE 2008 From his prison cell, Jasper Dean tells the unlikely story of his scheming father Martin, his crazy Uncle Terry and how the three of them upset - mostly unintentionally - an entire continent. Incorporating death, parenting (good and bad kinds), one labyrinth, first love, a handbook for criminals, a scheme to make everyone rich and an explosive suggestion box, Steve Toltz's A Fraction of the Whole is a ...
Read More
Steve Toltz's A Fraction of the Whole is a riotously funny explosion of a novel SHORTLISTED FOR THE MAN BOOKER PRIZE 2008 From his prison cell, Jasper Dean tells the unlikely story of his scheming father Martin, his crazy Uncle Terry and how the three of them upset - mostly unintentionally - an entire continent. Incorporating death, parenting (good and bad kinds), one labyrinth, first love, a handbook for criminals, a scheme to make everyone rich and an explosive suggestion box, Steve Toltz's A Fraction of the Whole is a hilarious, heartbreaking story of families and how to survive them. 'A fat book but very light on its feet, skipping from anecdote, to rant, to reflection, like a stone skimming across a pond . . . it is brilliant' Guardian 'Sparkling comic writing . . .It gives off the unmistakeable whiff of a book that might just contain the secret of life' Independent 'With tinges of magical realism and buckets of misanthropic humour it's a clever and funny debut' Observer 'If first novels were sandwiches, Steve Toltz's would be a juicy, swaggering doorstop of a sarnie, overflowing with eccentrically combined but delicious ingredients . . . Toltz is a superb phrase-maker with an acute eye for humanity's shortfalls'Big Issue Steve Toltz was born in Sydney. After graduating from Newcastle University in 1994, he has lived in Sydney, Montreal, Vancouver, Barcelona and Paris, working primarily as a screenwriter and freelance writer, but also doing stints as both a private investigator and an English teacher. A Fraction of the Whole is his first book.
Read Less
Add this copy of A Fraction of the Whole: a Novel to cart. $1.34, fair condition, Sold by Gulf Coast Books rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Memphis, TN, UNITED STATES, published 2008 by Random House.
Add this copy of A Fraction of the Whole to cart. $1.53, fair condition, Sold by ZBK Books rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Woodland Park, NJ, UNITED STATES, published 2008 by Spiegel & Grau.
Choose your shipping method in Checkout. Costs may vary based on destination.
Seller's Description:
Fair. Used book-May contain writing notes highlighting bends or folds. Text is readable book is clean and pages and cover mostly intact. May show normal wear and tear. Item may be missing CD. May include library marks. Fast Shipping.
Add this copy of A Fraction of the Whole: a Novel to cart. $1.63, fair condition, Sold by Once Upon A Time Books rated 1.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Tontitown, AR, UNITED STATES, published 2008 by Random House.
Choose your shipping method in Checkout. Costs may vary based on destination.
Seller's Description:
Fair. This is a used book. It may contain highlighting/underlining and/or the book may show heavier signs of wear. It may also be ex-library or without dustjacket. This is a used book. It may contain highlighting/underlining and/or the book may show heavier signs of wear. It may also be ex-library or without dustjacket.
Add this copy of A Fraction of the Whole to cart. $1.69, good condition, Sold by BookHolders rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Gambrills, MD, UNITED STATES, published 2008 by Random House Publishing Group.
Add this copy of A Fraction of the Whole to cart. $1.83, fair condition, Sold by Once Upon A Time Books rated 1.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Tontitown, AR, UNITED STATES, published 2008 by Spiegel & Grau.
Choose your shipping method in Checkout. Costs may vary based on destination.
Seller's Description:
Fair. This is a used book. It may contain highlighting/underlining and/or the book may show heavier signs of wear. It may also be ex-library or without dustjacket. This is a used book. It may contain highlighting/underlining and/or the book may show heavier signs of wear. It may also be ex-library or without dustjacket.
Add this copy of A Fraction of the Whole to cart. $2.26, very good condition, Sold by More Than Words rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Waltham, MA, UNITED STATES, published 2008 by Random House Publishing Group.
Choose your shipping method in Checkout. Costs may vary based on destination.
Seller's Description:
Very Good. . All orders9781501153198 guaranteed and ship within 24 hours. Your purchase supports More Than Words, a nonprofi t job training program for youth, empowering youth to take charge of their lives by taking charge of a business.
Add this copy of A Fraction of the Whole to cart. $2.26, good condition, Sold by More Than Words rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Waltham, MA, UNITED STATES, published 2008 by Random House Publishing Group.
Choose your shipping method in Checkout. Costs may vary based on destination.
Seller's Description:
Good. . All orders guaranteed and ship within 24 hours. Your purchase supports More Than Words, a nonprofit job training program for youth, empowering youth to take charge of their lives by taking charge of a business.
Add this copy of A Fraction of the Whole to cart. $2.59, very good condition, Sold by HPB-Ruby rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Dallas, TX, UNITED STATES, published 2008 by Spiegel & Grau.
Choose your shipping method in Checkout. Costs may vary based on destination.
Seller's Description:
Very good. Connecting readers with great books since 1972! Used books may not include companion materials, and may have some shelf wear or limited writing. We ship orders daily and Customer Service is our top priority!
Add this copy of A Fraction of the Whole to cart. $2.62, very good condition, Sold by ThriftBooks-Atlanta rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Austell, GA, UNITED STATES, published 2008 by Spiegel & Grau.
Add this copy of A Fraction of the Whole to cart. $2.62, very good condition, Sold by ThriftBooks-Reno rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Reno, NV, UNITED STATES, published 2008 by Spiegel & Grau.
I chose this book after it made the short list for the Booker Prize. Mr. Toltz's quirky characters each maintain a distinctive voice. While it sometimes feels like an exercise in voicing all the fringe devil's advocate arguments that thinking, curious people contemplate, Mr. Toltz puts it all into a freewheeling humorous whole.
Bellona
Aug 5, 2008
Satirists Rejoice
Finally, someone has written the Australian equivalent of Thackeray?s Vanity Fair, a novel that satirises just about every aspect of Australian society, from the Western Suburbs of Sydney to the rarefied world of media moguls; from the cult of murderous folk heroes like Ned Kelly to the scandalous conditions of modern-day detention centres. The first two parts, in which Jasper and his father Martin Dean regale stories about their families, seem quirky and well-written, but still relatively innocuous, and don?t go far toward explaining what all the fuss is about. They?re good chapters, they?re interesting and far from dull, but they?re not sheer untrammelled genius. It?s at Part Three that things really get into full swing, at the point at which Jasper informs us: ?In the newspaper and television reports made immediately after my father?s death, much was made of the years of the early to mid-1990s, the period covering the worst excesses of his so-called insanity. Not only was this epoch notable for the arrival of Anouk Furlong (as she was known then) ? a woman who played no small part in provoking his mental collapse ? but this was the eventful slab of years that included strip clubs, mental asylums, plastic surgery, arrests, and what occurred when my father tried to hide our house. ?Here?s how it all happened:? To write ?here?s how it all happened? is indeed rather unconventional and even cheeky, given that the book then goes on for another 418 pages (Australian edition). It?s the sort of thing one would normally expect before a few paragraphs of explanation. Jasper Dean is the chief narrator, though his eccentric, disturbed father occasionally takes over. Martin is what might be called an amateur philosopher: big-talking, whimsical, impulsive, given to making long (very long) rambling speeches. Fortunately, he seems to be playing at being an amateur philosopher and seeing whether he can get away with it, rather than being a pretentious git ? which makes him bearable, and almost endearing. It?s as if he?s saying, ?Look at me, I?m a philosopher! You listen to all the other philosophers, so you have to listen to me too!? And he does actually have some shrewd observations to make about what?s most wrong with the world (see Chapter Two of Part Five for the full run-through). He may have a screw loose, but the rest of them are firmly in place. His crazy career culminates in his plan to turn every Australian into a millionaire. Weird? No. In a world of Who Wants to be a Millionaire, and, even more deplorably, Who Wants to Marry a Millionaire, it?s the sort of media gimmick just moronic enough to be 100% credible. And of course it all goes horribly wrong, bring down upon Martin the collective hatred of the Australian nation (or at least those members of it who are into that sort of thing). The book really is too big for any reviewer to give a full run-through of its plot, but if you stick with it right through to the end, you won?t regret it (unless you hate satire, in which case you shouldn?t start on it in the first place). Those first two parts, with their quirky stories, turn out to be essential component parts of the whole, and at the end prove crucial to the whole plot. And the rest is so good you?ll probably find yourself doing what I did, and turning down the corners of pages that contain jokes or words of wisdom so clever you know you?ll want to read them again. Unless you find satire offensive, just go ahead and read it. In the meantime, you?re missing out on one of the most massive, beautifully vicious satirical novels that has ever been published.
