A Fraction of the Whole

by Steve Toltz

Book Overview

Meet the Deans "The fact is, the whole of Australia despises my father more than any other man, just as they adore my uncle more than any other man. I might as well set the story straight about both of them . . ." Heroes or Criminals? Crackpots or Visionaries? Families or Enemies? ." . . Anyway, you know how it is. Every family has a story like this one." Most of his life, Jasper Dean couldn't decide whether to pity, hate, love, or murder his certifiably...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0385521731
• ISBN13: 9780385521734
• Release Date: September 2008
• Publisher: Random House Publishing Group
• Length: 576 Pages
• Weight: 1.00 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.2" x 5.3" x 8.0"

Customer Reviews

The Wages of Unbelief

"I don't believe in anything," proclaims Martin Dean, the sarcastic and witty "philosopher" father of Jasper Dean and brother to the dead but famous populist criminal Terry Dean. And indeed, as this humorous and long running narrative of his life, told by his son Jasper demonstrates, he really doesn't. Martin rejects religion, mysticism, nationalism, commericialism, almost any other ideology one can think of, and people in general, whom he regards as so full of foibles that they can barely be tolerated. He recognizes, under the tutelage of a seasoned criminal, that life has no meaning, no purpose, and no real value. And yet, he rejects, to the very end, the obvious existentialist option of suicide. Instead, he tries to create meaning for himself and the results are disasterous. From his first "project"-- a suggestion box to improve the quality of life in his town (the box inadvertantly leads to the destruction of his family and town) to the end when Martin, desiring adulation of the masses, promotes a ponzi scheme to enrich the people of Austrailia only to have corruption in its operations lead to the opposite effect, Martin is forever trying to create meaning for his life, only to have his plans backfire. In some contrast to Martin are the many interesting characters who surround him in this book, not least of which is his only son, the narrator of "his" life. (Jasper sets out to tell his own story but finds his father consumes most of the text and worries, with some justification, that he will turn out to be just like his dad.) Martin's only life-long friend, "Eddie" it turns out is really just a low life criminal. His first marriage, a fling that involved an accidental pregnancy, ends in her death at his "work" site. His business associates are ruined, often by Martin's own malefeasance, and his one true love is literally destroyed as a result of Martin's inability to believe in the one genuine miracle that occurs in his life. In short, not only does Martin drag himself down, he drags down everyone else. "Dad's philosophy won him few personal victories in life: not love, not peace, not success, not happiness," Jasper explains. And yet I'm sure many readers will find themselves grudgingly admiring the obstinancy Martin exhibits in his life even as it invariably leads to no good end. I know I did. One character, however, does escape the downward spiral of Martin's life. Anouk, the housekeeper, is a perfect foil for Martin. He believes nothing, while she believes in literally anything. Radical feminism, anti capitalist rants, yoga, buddhism, and the like are all somehow contained within her and despite her initial dislike of Martin, she does try throughout this novel to save him. Her efforts are apparently for naught, but in the process she does manage to save herself and by novel's end she has done very well. So what ultimately is the message of this wonderful novel? Clearly the skepticism and cyncism of Martin is writ

A hilarious pleasant surprise

This book hit me like a breath of fresh air. On the one hand, it's full of black humor and dry wit, but on the other it's very real and in parts quite touching. The novel follows Jasper Dean as he tries to piece together the history of his family, a group of people who really put the "fun" in "dysfunctional." From his own nontraditional upbringing to his uncle's sense of justice to the girl his father hires to clean their house, the characters in this book are bizarre and fascinating without seeming like caricatures or "types." A lot of authors have tackled similar themes and ideas, but in my experience they often try too hard to seem funny. A Fraction of the Whole stood out for me because Toltz's writing style never seemed forced or contrived to me. It's funny, but genuinely so. And that, to me, was very, very refreshing.

All these fractions do make an interesting whole

An interesting story about Father - son(s) relationships in some very odd situations. It is well written. Toltz describes the situations in complete detail. Some of the situations are ridiculous but make total sense based on the characters personalities, some funny situations and some ridiculously funny situations. It's very easy to immerse yourself in the story. Toltz does a good job of setting up the story starting out with setting up how these characters came to be and their genetic make up according to the stories told by the Father. The story is told in a fairly detailed and descriptive way. I do like the narrative style of this book. Through these characters you get to travel to many different places. It's quite an adventure. It's a crazy zany story that just could happen. It's fiction in a non fiction way in that the story is well written and the characters are believable This is an excellent fist novel that reads like a seasoned writer had written it.

Stuffed Full of Delicious Wisdom and Wit

I read this book twice, the first time for the story and I breezed through it pretty quickly. I'm a fast reader. But when I finished I knew I missed something, missed a lot, actually. This is sort of a father and son coming of age story and it's narrated by both and if you're not careful you'll think you're reading what the son has to say and not the father and you'll get confused. I got confused a couple times on that first reading. Then, while watching the umpteenth presidential debate, I realized I'd rather reread this book than see any more and I'm glad I did. This time I spent three days with the book, hung on every sentence. Oh how many times I said to myself, "I wish I'd said that." or "I've got to write this down." There are more pearls of wisdom with wit in this story, Aussie style, than you can shack a stick at. It's not often that I delve into a book because of the writer's craft, his art. Usually I want to escape, I want a fast paced thriller, the kind turned out by Messrs. Grisham and Koontz. Literature, as a rule, I don't go for, but this, wow! There is just so much delicious reading crammed into this massive tome, which is jammed full of real life, made up life, life lived the way it shouldn't be and life lived the way you would if you could. On my second read I started bending the corners of the pages I wanted to go back to, read to my girl friends, but I had to quit, because I'd bent too many pages, so good this book is. I can't praise it enough.

Like Dylan on Acid

This is a sometimes outrageously funny, sometimes over the top impossible to believe, sometimes deeply moving, happy, sad, fast-past, slower than molasses, character driven, scene inspired novel with description so deliciously written you'll wonder if it all could have come from the mind of a single human being. The book is long, some say too long, but for me not long enough. I'd like to read those four or five hundred pages which were slashed by the editor's red pen. Usually I like to do a book review by doing a brief synopsis, maybe a couple paragraphs, then go on to say whether or not I liked the book and why. Usually I say I liked it, because I don't finish books I don't like and I don't review books I don't finish. But this book. Wow! The story is good, to be sure, but truthfully, this story in the hands of another writer probably would have left me a bit flat. But the words poured from the pen, typewriter or laptop of Mr. Toltz have burned themselves into my brain. Page after page of brain burning words. Every page of this book is like reading Dylan on acid. Not real early Bob, or country Bob, or even the Bob of today. I'm talking about the Bob Dylan of a "A Hard Rain's a Gonna Fall." This is a whole book like that. Thousands and thousands of words strung together so horribly beautiful that it's impossible to believe. Yes there's a story here too, but more than that, there is beauty in every line. Thoughts worth thinking in every sentence. A new kind of free verse poetry on every page. It's impossible for me to say just how much I loved this book, I don't have the talent.