A Fraction of the Whole

by Steve Toltz

Australian Steve Toltz's debut novel is a big, wild book that encompasses a wide range of styles and emotional registers, at turns caustically funny, larger-than-life, conceptually brilliant, and heartbreakingly bittersweet. Jasper Dean struggles under the shadows of his doomed father Martin and his infamous outlaw uncle Terry, a bank robber and serial killer. Though Martin is dead as the book begins--killed in a prison riot--he takes over the role of narrator at points in the book, confessing his crimes and apologizing for his hopelessly contradictory fatherly advice. Though fundamentally a broad comic tall tale, A FRACTION OF THE WHOLE rises above mere comedy with the pathos of the familial drama, and the utterly arresting and unique quality--half mad half brilliant--of the book's narrative voices. A FRACTION OF THE WHOLE was short-listed for the Man Booker Prize in 2008.

Editions of A Fraction of the Whole

ISBN

9780385521734

Binding/Format

Paperback

Publisher

Spiegel & Grau

Date

2008

Price

$2.05

Good

Publisher Notes

After his father's death, Jasper reflects on Martin Dean, the man who had raised him in intellectual captivity and spent his entire life analyzing absolutely everything, and describes his unusual boyhood, colorful family members, father's failed battle to make a lasting impression on the world, and their many adventures together. A first novel. Reprint. 40,000 first printing.

Media Reviews

"It's a fat book but very light on its feet, skipping from anecdote, to rant, to reflection, like a stone skimming across a pond....Any one of [the book's] anecdotes would make a decent full-length novel. And not all the same kind of novel either - there's a section about a labyrinth that you could imagine Borges writing, another about a lottery gone wrong that made me think of Vonnegut, and a strange, lovely account of childhood illness that had echoes of García Márquez....Brilliant."

Review this book!