Wonderful. Uproarious. Captivating.
Why don’t more people discuss Toltz when they discuss pivotal Australian novelists? ( )

Comedy

The term The Great American Novel is often bandied about. But what about The Great Australian Novel ? How come a country so full of fascinating characters has produced so few stories about them? Well this is it. The Great Australian Novel. The fun loving, rebellious, heroic & egalitarian nature of the Australian character is displayed on virtually every page. Every page contains insanely brilliant and incredibly hilarious observations of modern day Australian society. All aspects are covered. And, make no mistake about it, lots of them are attacked quite viciously. The author's favorite targets appear to be The Media, Politicians, Religion, The Penal System,and The Judicial System. This book will teach you all there is to know about the Australian character. At the same time it'll make you think. It'll make you laugh. It'll make you cry. ( )

absolutely amazing ( )

There is a lot one could probably say about this book, but I'll just say that in my humble opinion, while there was plenty of action, twists, turns and laughs amid the incessant philosophising, said philosophising did tend to repeat itself somewhat after a while.

For example (mild spoiler): I can no longer even read the phrase "a philosopher who thought himself into a corner" without seething with rage. Damn, I proof-read it just now. I'm going to post this and go take a few deep, calming breaths.

Overall it was reasonably entertaining, though, so don't let me turn you off it. ( )

I loved these psycho flawed characters so much. ( )

absolute ripper. 5 bloody stars. ( )

This was the best book I have read this year. Hands down. Read it now. ( )

great story, I laughed out loud often ( )

Certainly not as rip-roaringly hilarious as many of the reviews I've read suggested-maybe it's my sense of humour! There were parts of this book-generally the beginning and the end that I would award 4 stars. They moved along at a pace, there was excitement, surprises and humour and I felt empathy with the characters. However a huge section in the middle took it down in this reader's eyes to two stars. The very same characters irritated me, the pace was slow and the tone depressing. Glad I didn't give up on it though-worth sticking out to the end-and some interesting reflections on the human condition. ( )

A very funny, fast-paced Australian novel that brims with interesting philosophical ideas. Wanes a little at the end, but a joy nonetheless. ( )

I loved this book so much it is ridiculous. ( )

The Fraction of the Whole failed for me. The reasons remain unclear. Perhaps it is a younger soul's predilection, like skinny jeans. Novels which yearn to be hilarious seldom are, at least to me. This was a lasagna of philosophical rant larded with jokes and asides. It didn't bake well in my presence. Perhaps it is a longwinded Candide for the Oz set. The characters all possessed identical voices and the contrivance of the project induced groans. I remain both uncertain and unmoved. There is a relief that it is over.

Likely a 2.5. Rounded downward to reflect my mood. ( )

Ik heb erg lang over dit boek gedaan. Maar het was wel de moeite en de tijd waard. Het begon echt enorm sterk maar dat was het niet overal. Er wordt veel in gefilosofeerd en soms grepen die gedachten mij ook wel. ( )

Some of my favourite books are Big Books --- Anna Karenina and Bleak House, for example. And I read Stephen King’s The Stand at least four times. So when I say “I hate big books,” clearly I don’t mean ALL big books. Just most of them. I appreciate a tightly written 200 page novel, 300 if the author wants to ramble a bit. My main complaint with long books is that I usually just don’t want to be in the world the author created for that many hours, especially now since life has cut back on my reading time. I like to get into a book, enjoy it, and get out, and then bring on to the next one. The other problem with every long book is full of filler that shows the lack of a strong editor. The upside is that with A Fraction of the Whole, I discovered more about myself and my distaste for long books.

Before we go further, I’ll say that there was a lot to love about A Fraction of the Whole. There were sentences and paragraphs that were among the most beautiful and clever that I’ve ever read. There are sections that tell a great story ---one that is both heartfelt and entertaining. Whether you read critical reviews or reader reviews, you’ll see that people love this book, and deservedly so. But for me, it was just too much. I read and read and read and didn't feel like I was getting anywhere. I’ve been reading this book since March. That’s 7.5 months.

What It’s About: Jasper Dean, living sometime recently in Australia, tells his story growing up with his manic father Martin, who’s lived his life in the shadow of his criminal brother Terry. Terry Dean is the most popular criminal in Australia since Ned Kelly. Individually, these three characters continually try to improve the lives of those around them by gambling on some off-the-wall scheme, but it always turns in to bad (sometimes tragic) unintended consequences.

What I liked: as I already said, great writing and storytelling.

Why I Struggled:
1. The singular voice—definitely my biggest problem with A Fraction of the Whole. Some parts are told by Jasper, some by Martin, but they both have the exact same voice. And it’s always slightly frenzied. Although the voice could be very, very funny, overall, I found it tedious. Note to self: perhaps for long novels, look for 3rd person narration and a variety of characters.

2. My edition was only 561 pages long due to formatting, but normal editions are well over 700 pages. It’s rare that a book needs to be that long. This should have been divided into at least three novels, maybe four. Further pain ensued because the various breaks are random—this book has 7 numbered sections of length varying from 200 to 50 pages. Within these sections there are randomly spaced subsections. Long sections always make any book a slog, in my experience. Give the reader’s eyes and brain a bit of a breather, and often we can’t wait to jump back in. Don’t make us wade through wet concrete.

3. I was around 100 pages in before we heard from a female character. That just bores me. Also, at one point, Jasper and Martin have girlfriends, and I was several pages into a vignette about one of them and thought I was reading about the other ---I came up short when there was a comment about her being in her 30s, and I was all “hold on, she’s 17!” I had to go back and reread with the other character in mind, and I realized that they were basically the same person with a different hair colour. Was this part of the theme of the son reliving the father’s life in every way?, or was it the author’s complete inability to write real female characters? I’m going to say the later.

4. The characters were always desperate for money, but somehow they managed to eat and have a home to sleep at every night without really saying how. I don’t know, maybe Australia just has a robust welfare system. I don’t actually believe that.

Other Things to Say: A Fraction of the Whole was shortlisted for the Booker Prize, which is pretty damned impressive for a first novel, especially when the author isn’t British (no slag against British writers, but instead an observation that we colonies don’t make the list every year, so all the better. Good job, Steve Tolz!).

Rating: Mixed. 3.5 stars. I think that it took me most of the year to read, but that I still finished (I abandon books in a heartbeat), says something. Not sure what it says, but something.

Recommended for: Reviews tell me most people like this more than I did, I despite my protests, I’m not sorry I read it. I just would have been satisfied at any 200 page section.

Why I Read This Now: I had just finished the longish Books Are Beautiful The Little Stranger and thought I’d tackle another long book from that series. I had to take a lot of breaks and read other things in between. ( )

Epic, rollicking fun, with a liberal dose of heartbreak and melancholy, too. This really reminded me of John Irving books like Garp, Owen Meany, and Hotel New Hampshire. It has a similar combination of adventurous, what's-around-the-next-corner plotting, and black humor that masks a deep well of humanistic tragedy. The tale of Australia's worst father and the son that loves/hates him nicely pulls off being outrageous, bigger than life hi-jinks, as well as a moving character story. ( )

The best think I have read in years. I could not stop myself from laughing and crying outloud. ( )

This is a story that covers multiple generations of the Dean Family, focusing mostly on brothers Martin and Terry Dean, and Martin’s son Jasper. Jasper is the narrator of the tale, writing his story down from prison, and promising the reader right off that they will never find his father’s body. Although it took a long time to get through the story, oddly enough I rarely felt impatient. The characters are thoroughly developed and I enjoyed spending time with them. The tale has tragedy, humor, romance and violence. The only drawbacks were the long philosophical monologues by Martin, and the story itself was a bit overlong. After Jasper became a teenager I felt the author kept writing just to extend the story, and not necessarily because he had anything further to say. But the ending was lovely and unexpectedly poignant, and I find myself thinking about Jasper and wondering how his story continues. Four and a half stars. ( )

So far (page 170) so good! Unlike anything else I've read. Serious and very funny, at least if you find a sentence like this funny: "There's nothing perplexing to me about a leafy shrub evolving out of the big bang, but that a post office exists because carbon exploded out of a supernova is a phenomenon so outrageous it makes my head twitch." I'm not surprised it's by an Aussie writer. Here ( )

Not a typical book for me and I almost gave up halfway through but ended up enjoying it thoroughly. Quite sneery at times but the exaggerated misanthropy ultimately has an enlightening purpose. ( )

Funny in parts, but not worth the time investment. ( )

Everything that has been said about this novel, already has been said. I was not moved by the story at the beginning. The first thing that I did notice is the way the story is written. It is unique. The dialog and the descriptions the Steve Toltz uses is outstanding. More than humorous I would say it is very witty. I never busted out laughing, but would read the witty lines over and over again.
A little past half way through the book, I almost gave up, thinking that I had already read the best part and I could not see where this was going. I hung in there and am happy that I did.
I was pleased with how the author tied up everything at the end. No stone was left un-turned.
Although it is a long book, it is worth reading. I fell in love with this book and I now call it one of my favourites. ( )

Riotously funny and unique. ( )

I find it hard to write about this book and was torn between three and four stars. It is so difficult to even say what this book is about. Sometimes I laughed out loud at the situations the main character found himself in. On the surface, it was a fictional autobiography of an Australian man whose uncle was a renowned serial killer of sports figures who cheated, whose mother committed suicide in Paris when he was only an infant, whose extremely intelligent father was plagued with multiple mental illnesses (including extreme paranoia) and built a huge labyrinth in which to place his home, and who was always mysteriously followed throughout his life by a man from Thailand who was constantly taking his picture. It may appear that I should have listed this as a spoiler, but it is only a tiny fraction of the book. This was not an "I can't put it down page-turner," but I knew that it was a book that I had to finish reading. I'm glad I did. ( )

The life stories of Terry Dean, his half-brother Martin Dean, and Martin’s son, Jasper, make up most of the fractions of this novel. Sometimes the first-person narrator is Martin, sometimes it is Jasper. But it really makes no difference since their voices sound exactly the same. Indeed everyone’s voice sounds the same in this lengthy but tiresome first novel. There are moments of wit and startling similes, which in isolation might suggest a novel of insight and humour. Unfortunately the whole ends up being much less than a fraction of its parts.

There is a kind of flatness in this writing, almost like a naïve painting with no perspective. Indeed the comparison might be taken further, given the distortion of the human form often found in naïve painting. Here the characters are thin and exaggerated and typically grotesque. The environment in which they live, which is ostensibly Australia (and latterly Thailand), is completely bereft of identifying marks. It might be anywhere at all. Or nowhere. As the story develops and the voice of the narrator is passed from Jasper to Martin and back to Jasper, you may get the impression that the author simply got tired of one voice at a certain point and switched to the other in order to sustain his interest, not unlike alternately standing on one leg and then the other. This might also explain the coarse peppering of the text with quotes from philosophers and writers from across the ages. Perhaps a bland stew needs such seasoning. But what it really needs is more careful cooking.

Not recommended. Not even a fraction of it. ( )