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A Fraction of the Whole

3.94 of 5 stars 3.94 · rating details · 5,028 ratings · 900 reviews

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, Jasp...more

Paperback, 576 pages

Published September 23rd 2008 by Spiegel & Grau (first published February 12th 2008)

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Jan 23, 2008 Amanda rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: Everyone

Recommended to Amanda by: RandomReads

Shelves: knock-your-socks-off, book-club

Holy... just holy, holy, holy. A Fraction of the Whole starts good, stays good for five hundred pages and three continents, is laugh-out-loud funny throughout, at certain points made my jaw drop in astonishment/horror, contains so many beautiful passages (you know the kind where you go yes! that's so true! like one about how it takes a couple hours to feel the sun on city streets in the morning, and one about the sounds of swimming pools), and gives us a couple of unforgettable characters, who e...more

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Oct 20, 2010 oriana rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Recommended to oriana by: Amanda

Shelves: read-2008, why-werent-you-better, the-new-new-new-new-thing

Well, I'm sorry, but I really didn't like this book. I feel a bit guilty for this, first because it came recommended by people whose tastes I totally trust (sorry Amanda! sorry Kira!), and second because, due to my really shamefully busy life, it took me a ludicrously long time to read this (sorry Steve Toltz). So yeah, I mean, it was my fault—not Steve's—that this book has been hanging menacingly over my head for freaking ages. But let's face it, Steve, it's your fault that your book just wasn'...more

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Nov 23, 2012 Paul rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Recommended to Paul by: M J Nicholls (not deliberately)

Shelves: novels

What does it take to abandon a 711 page novel on page 458? After all there are only – er – 253 more pages to go. Finish it! No…! The thing is, I bought a bookcase this week – ah, how beautiful it is. Not one of those damned filthy flat-packs, no. This one was carpentered by doughty craftsmen and delivered in one piece to my very door. So now I have all my unread books collected together in one room. My God – there are so many of them. Frankly I had no idea. I think I have been going mouseclick c...more What does it take to abandon a 711 page novel on page 458? After all there are only – er – 253 more pages to go. Finish it! No…! The thing is, I bought a bookcase this week – ah, how beautiful it is. Not one of those damned filthy flat-packs, no. This one was carpentered by doughty craftsmen and delivered in one piece to my very door. So now I have all my unread books collected together in one room. My God – there are so many of them. Frankly I had no idea. I think I have been going mouseclick crazy. And most of these are from Amazon, which is not, as I thought it was, a benign organisation which provides work for marginal people in the Brazilian rainforest at all, it's a giant enterprise which has the morals of a praying mantis ("Amazon.co.uk, the British division of the firm, is under scrutiny by UK tax authorities for its affairs over a six-year period, beginning in 2004…Amazon.co.uk’s latest accounts reveal that it did not pay a single penny of British corporation tax in either 2010 or 2011").

And that's the problem – it's so easy to start riffing on bookcases and Amazon and corporate responsibility and other random subjects, every stand-up comedian does this, and Steve Toltz is a stand-up comedian masquerading as a novelist. As such, he's okay. Not bad. But he uses all his best one-liners in the first 200 pages. For example :

The past is truly an inoperable tumour that spreads to the present.

These days, when a war is on, "heroism" seems to mean "attendance".

Flowers really are lovely but not lovely enough to excuse the suffocating volume of paintings and poems inspired by them while there are still next to no paintings and poems of children throwing themselves off cliffs.

I love that "next to no".

You can see it's all a bit on the sour, mordant, deflating side – all right, this entire book is COMPLETELY on the sour, mordant, depressing side - because this is largely a comedy of sorts about mental illness, depression, anxiety and the like. The story is really fake, a silly cartoony not-meant-to-be-believable series of plot-like lunges all about a kid with problems growing up with his father who has even more problems and a presumed-dead uncle who had the most problems of the lot. None of the characters have the least appearance of life, they are manic stick-figures inhabited by the author's incessant, bellicose, blaring riffing on all the standard young male stand-up comic targets – school, drugs, lack of sex, fathers, police, school – when the comedy gives out, you get faux philosophising for a few pages. A Fraction of the Whole is just so blokeish, and as many readers point out, all the main characters, the son, the father, the uncle, speak in exactly the same maximum-volume voice. Which is the voice of Steve Toltz. I gave up when the character of Reynold Hobbs came along. This is a Rupert Murdoch stand-in – "the richest man in Australia". I couldn't take another 200 pages of sidesplitting savage satire of rich bastards. I checked my side. There was not the merest trace of a split. I checked the other. Nope. I looked at my new bookcase (which fills the room with the sweet aroma of varnish and wood). It sang its siren song.

Three stars for the 458 pages I read. You can't deny the manic energy of Steve Toltz' desire to write a lot.
(less)

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Aug 21, 2012 David rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Funny. Brilliant. Dense.

The protagonist Martin Dean on Europe:
"Paris-perfect city to be lonely & miserable in.
O London! You grisly town! You cold gray cloud! You low-lying layer of mist & fog. You dense moan.
And Rome? Full of sexual predators who live with their mothers.
Spain? Streets smell like socks fried in urine-too many catholics baptized in piss".
On regrets... "To this day the memory of that look still visits me like a Jehovah's witness, uninvited and tireless."

Martin Dean isn'...more

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Aug 29, 2008 jordan rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Wow, the New York Times reviewer couldn't have gotten this one mroe wrong.

One comes up a bit short trying to describe "A Fraction of the Whole." True, the book deals with the relationship of an eccentric father and son, but it is about that only in the way the "Confederacy of Dunces" is about a large rather odd man living in New Orleans. Indeed, it is Toole's classic "Dunces" which most often comes to mind when reading Toltz's "Whole," both highly original works in which odd protagonists offer m...more Wow, the New York Times reviewer couldn't have gotten this one mroe wrong.

One comes up a bit short trying to describe "A Fraction of the Whole." True, the book deals with the relationship of an eccentric father and son, but it is about that only in the way the "Confederacy of Dunces" is about a large rather odd man living in New Orleans. Indeed, it is Toole's classic "Dunces" which most often comes to mind when reading Toltz's "Whole," both highly original works in which odd protagonists offer meditations on the absurd inanity of modern life.

Toltz actually offers two protagonists. The first is Martin Dean. an out of work "philosopher" whose strange outlook is informed by many factors, including his relationship with his brother Terry - a criminal and Australian cult hero - and the large fraction of his youth spent in a coma. The second is Martin's son Jasper, who is just about as odd as his father. The narrative moves back and forth between their perspectives, a literary device currently in great fashion, but one often poorly used. Toltz, however, demonstrates his chops as a writer not only using it seamlessly, but to good effect.

As with "Dunces," attempting to explain the arc of this novel's narrative will not only fail to communicate what makes the work delightful, but will also risk ruining the readers fun, for it is at least as much the journey itself as where it goes that makes it a fun read. Some may likewise be put off by the works length - you know who you are - but such "shaggy dog" like meditations have their place and fans. I would also be remiss if I failed to mention that, in my humble opinion, this book is also frequently laugh out loud funny, a rarity in which I delight.

None of which is to say that Toltz's novel is perfect. As an introductory page from the publisher explains, when the book arrived on their desks they realized it might well be genius but was over 800 pages. Now reduced to 500, there are still a few passages and scenes which might have been trimmed without damaging the whole. Perfection, however, is overrated, and while I don't think this book is for everyone, some sizable fraction will not only enjoy it, but will hunger to see what Mr. Toltz produces next. (less)

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Sep 15, 2012 MJ Nicholls rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: novels, other-parts-of-the-universe, voluminous, nonreviews

I read this monstrous, merciless Australian comedy in a shack in Orkney in June 2010. For those unfamiliar with Orkney, it’s a small Scottish island known for its flatness. In the Annual Flatness Contest, Orkney narrowly beat the Whole of the Netherlands to win the coveted flatness trophy—a trophy crushed several times by a JCB hauler and shipped to a factory where extensive smelting work is done on its remaining points and prongs until the award achieves a “flatitude” of such 180˚ perfection as...more

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Aug 19, 2009 Lolly LKH rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: favorites

I am shocked to see anyone complain about this book being too long. I spent the majority of my time laughing like a madwoman when I read A Fraction of the Whole. Just this part alone made me think of all my cynical Hungarian elders, because man do they think like this "The younger passengers let out cries of joy. The older passengers knew that the key to happiness lay in keeping your expectations low. They booed." There was not one sentence that I would be happy seeing taken away. WHAT A WORK OF...more

20 likes · like · see review

Aug 04, 2008 Saba rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

To be fair I didn't finish this, so maybe the last half contained some redemption. It was amusing enough, but there was wasn't a single character I cared about.

8 likes · like · see review

Jan 27, 2009 Brendan rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

LOOK, i dont mind quirky, even wacky, but zany i cant take and this book is zany as hell and seemingly grounded in nothing. toltz is funny, punchy and wicked so why on earth would he write such a long book? (732pgs) surely a long book has something to say that demands its long-bookedness. tolstoy, go for it, write a long book - you deserve it, you go to the depths of us but not this fellow (despite the booker shortlist). modern film seems to be doing this too. 'i dont know how to make a great mo...more

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Aug 19, 2008 Nancy Oakes rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: booker-prize-longlist, australia, favorite, fiction

I am simply blown away by the fact that this is Steve Toltz's first novel. This is one book where size doesn't matter: the 500 + pages literally flew in no time. I just started this the day before yesterday, and if silly things like sleep and family (not to mention preparing for a tropical storm) didn't get in the way, I'm sure I would have finished it yesterday.

I cannot, absolutely cannot do this book justice so I won't go into plot details, etc, but suffice it to say that this is undeniably o...more

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Jan 25, 2008 Kevin rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

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...more

7 likes · like · see review

May 01, 2009 Philip rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: directed-reading

I read this sprawling story for my in-person book discussion group. A Fraction of the Whole is long, engrossing, scary-funny, sad, horrifying, profane, profound, provocative in all the best ways. A convoluted plot with vividly strange characters whose lives I actually cared about even when I could barely stand to visualize their actions.

I can see why reviewers are reminded of John Irving, Kurt Vonnegut, and Tom Robbins; further comparisons I've seen to Twain, Dickens, Garcia Marquez, Borges and...more

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Jan 11, 2009 Banafsheh Serov rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Short Listed for the Man Booker prize in 2008, 'A Fraction of the Whole' was originally rejected by agents and publishers in Australia. It was only through a chance contact that the book was brought to the attention of Random House America and like a real-life fairytale went on to receive worldwide release and a nod from the most prestigeous literary prize.

Set in Australia, the book follows the Deans Family as retold by Martin Dean.
'The fact is, the whole of Australia despises my father more tha...more

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Dec 24, 2008 Arif rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

What a waste of my life. I left the last couple of pages unread just to make a statement of sorts.

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Jan 21, 2008 kira rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

The most memorable novel I've read in at least five years.

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Jan 07, 2009 Jennifer rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2009

I scanned the reviews in Goodreads to see how anyone could possibly describe this book and found that everyone else was struggling too so I don't feel so bad. This book was a surprise from beginning to end - the plot was all over the place, the situations were outlandish (not a word I use often but they really were - they lived in the center of a labyrinth for example) and the characters were oddballs, philosophers, pathetic, hysterical, and inspiring all at the same time. Somehow I had never he...more

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Aug 31, 2010 Aaron Briggs rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Fantastic first novel and a really great read. I found this based on a recommendation and that recommendation turned out to be spot on (thanks, Chris).

"A Fraction of the Whole" benefits from being wildly unrestrained -- Toltz is enviably imaginative in the way he constructs his characters and the only-slightly-unbelievable events that shape them. It's ruminative, but it never takes a breath to really ruminate. In fact, the whole novel skips along at a whiplash pace from one scenario to another t...more

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Jan 01, 2009 Melody rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: anyone

This is my favorite book this year. In fact, I'd place it as one of my all-time favorites, ever.

I like it for the same reason I like some of Neal Stephenson's books: it's chock-full of quirky characters, striking juxtapositions, and ideas that will give your brain a tickle. Like Stephenson, Toltz is a generous writer who never takes the easy path of moving a plot along by means of a plain, unadorned sentence. Instead, he packs it full of what one reviewer called "verbal dynamite," and another de...more

4 likes · like · see review

Aug 12, 2008 Travis rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Recommended to Travis by: becky

the story follows a neurotic, distanced intellectual who in his youth lived through a strange set of circumstances, lost himself in literature and philosophy, and subsequently thought himself into a corner. somewhere in there, on an adventure in pursuit of life, he had a kid. the story is told largely from his son's perspective, as he's coming to terms with his life with the maladjustment of his father.

Toltz's first novel was a huge surprise, not only that it managed to evade cliche that would o...more

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Mar 13, 2008 Alden rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: books-authors-i-have-interviewed

With simultaneous publication in the U.S., Australia and the U.K., Steve Toltz's first novel, A Fraction of the Whole, is about to make a big splash. And why not? A Fraction of the Whole is a big book (530 pages) with big ambitions—it covers 40 years in an often laugh-out-loud, insightful, sprawling, impossible-to-summarize tale of the larger-than-life mishaps and adventures of an Australian father and son and the various miscreants and reprobates who surround them.

"It began as a little short st...more

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Jan 20, 2009 Emily rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I just could not finish this book. Usually I have to finish reading a book because I really want to see where they go with it, even if some of the book wasn't that great. This one just kept getting worse and more depressing and yucky. I don't really care what happens to these characters. Some of their problems were not their own fault but some of them were and I just found myself getting too frustrated with the choices they kept making. It is a very quirky and creative story. Even after the nega...more

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Nov 13, 2008 Joe rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: DWGibb, Tracey, Jill, Paula

This is the best thing I have read in quite a while. It's a first novel that portends great things to come from Steve Toltz. It's brilliant, demented, hilarious and very inventive. It definitely claims a high place in my top ten list. It's the story of a man and his father, and their dispeptic relationship. Toltz has an amazing way with words, and the situations he finds his characters in are at times wonderfully bizarre, and their bent view of the world is the result. The author has no fear of...more

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May 01, 2013 Amy rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: all-time-favourites, read-in-2011, read-in-2013

Forget 5 stars. I give this eccentric, loveable, hateable, bizzare and ridiculous novel 10 stars.

This book made me break all my own rules. For one, I bought this book on Amazon before I'd even finished my library copy because I needed it in my life and on my bookshelf. And for two, I added it to my All Time Favourites list after only one reading. Sacrilege! (I never do this! Sometimes books lose all their luster after the second read!) But now I've read it twice and heck, I was totally right. G...more

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Jan 10, 2009 Diane rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This is one of those books that people will have a definite opinion on. I liked it, and would recommend it to those who liked The Corrections or The Brief and Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao. The novel deals with Jasper and his relationship to his unique father, Martin. Molded by an early childhood illness, an infamous brother, and odd parents, Martin raises a child that is the recipient of of his unusual beliefs, self doubts and perhaps insanity. Told from the perspective of both Jasper and Martin,...more

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Mar 16, 2009 Ian Mapp rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. This is a 700 page monster of a book that although very entertaining, required disciplined effort to get through in nine days.

Its very funny. Its also very philosophical, with many truths written on each page and plenty of ideas structured around a caperish plot.

For 500 pages, it works brillliantly, but then you do feel that it collapses a little under its own weight and the last 200 pages you wonder what the purpose of the book is and what is it trying to get to.

The story - Jasper is in Jail wr...more This is a 700 page monster of a book that although very entertaining, required disciplined effort to get through in nine days.

Its very funny. Its also very philosophical, with many truths written on each page and plenty of ideas structured around a caperish plot.

For 500 pages, it works brillliantly, but then you do feel that it collapses a little under its own weight and the last 200 pages you wonder what the purpose of the book is and what is it trying to get to.

The story - Jasper is in Jail writing his life story. This instantly reverts to the same first person narrative of his father. Martin Dean...... Martin is the brother the notorious Terry Dean who is Australias number one criminal - loved by the masses for his crime wave against corruption in sport. Martin adn Terry are polar opposites and their stories crash over the years in a huge story that crosses continents.

Terry is captured and incarcerated in the jail that their father built. Martin has a suggestion box in the town, which is hilarious as people use to air grievenses against their neighbours. In a early indication of how things go wrong for Martin, he manages to burn down the village - potentially killing his brother.

He then goes off to France to follow his brothers girlfiend, who he loves and then gets involved with Eric, who finds him work and then as the story goes on, inexplicably provides him money to build a labrinyth house where Jaspers teenage years are described.

The book turns into a study of the fathers relationship with his son (who is rather too cool and worldly wise to be a believable character) and then goes off the rails a little as the background of the story is reveled. Terry is still alive and has been keeping an eye on the family through Eric. As one of Marty's scams backfires, they are forced to leave the country and end up in Thailand where all is revealed.

So the story is an obvious nonsense and is used to provide the structure for the authors comedy and observations (and there are many and most of them are on the button) of modern life. Its an impressive work and there are real laugh out loud moments and nods of inspiration. The only criticism is it is so damned long..... 200 pages less and it would have been a five star.(less)

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Jan 11, 2009 Jan rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

It's been months since I've had the pleasure of reading a novel like this one, in no small part due to Steve Toltz's sheer energy. Every page drips with zany metaphors that never seem out of place, and the velocity of the plot itself kept me glued to the book, often putting me in mind of a tragic and philosophical episode of South Park.

Why do I only give it four stars? I would say that "Fraction of the Whole" suffers from being occasionally over-wordy, and the prose is often overly repetitive. I...more

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Apr 21, 2013 Margot rated it 4 of 5 stars

I read this a while ago, so my main memory is that I really enjoyed it. And that the characters are a bit crazy (understatement alert!) I highly recommend it.

Some parts I particularly enjoyed:

"My grandmother put as much energy into learning English, and this was the beginning of a new catastrophe. As her understanding of the English language grew, she began to understand her husband...From then on every day was worsened by the new language barrier that had grown up between them--the barrier of s...more I read this a while ago, so my main memory is that I really enjoyed it. And that the characters are a bit crazy (understatement alert!) I highly recommend it.

Some parts I particularly enjoyed:

"My grandmother put as much energy into learning English, and this was the beginning of a new catastrophe. As her understanding of the English language grew, she began to understand her husband...From then on every day was worsened by the new language barrier that had grown up between them--the barrier of speaking the same language." (11)

"I tell you, it's indescribable the joy children get from watching a fight. It's a blinding Christmas orgasm for a child. And this is human nature undiluted by age and experience! This is mankind fresh out of the box! Whoever says it's life that makes monsters out of people should check out the raw nature of children, a lot of pups who haven't yet had their dose of failure, regret, disappointment, and betrayal but still behave like savage dogs. I have nothing against children, I just wouldn't trust one not to giggle if I accidentally stepped on a land mine." (14)

"It's so rare that people give you real, practical advice. Normally they say things like "Don't worry," and "Everything will be OK," which is not only impractical, it's exasperating and you have to wait until they're diagnosed with a terminal disease before you can say it back to them with any pleasure." (88)

"Betrayal wears a lot of different hats. You don't have to make a show of it like Brutus did, you don't have to leave anything visible jutting from the base of your best friend's spine, and afterward you can stand there straining your ears for hours, but you won't hear a cock crow either. No, the most insidious betrayals are done merely by leaving the life jacket hanging in your closet while you lie to yourself that it's probably not the drowning man's size. That's how we slide, and while we slide we blame the world's problems on colonialism, imperialism, capitalism, corporatism, stupid white men, and America, but there no need to make a brand name of blame. Individual self-interest: that's the source of our descent, and it doesn't start in the boardrooms or the war rooms either. It starts in the home." (94)(less)

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Jan 24, 2013 Brian Sweany rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

"You never hear about a sportsman losing his sense of smell in a tragic accident, and for good reason; in order for the universe to teach excruciating lessons that we are unable to apply in later life, the sportsman must lose his legs, the philosopher his mind, the painter his eyes, the musician his ears, the chef his tongue. My lesson? I have lost my freedom, and found myself in this strange prison, where the trickiest adjustment, other than getting used to not having anything in my pockets and...more

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Jan 15, 2013 Valerie Derbyshire rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Just when I'd completely and utterly lost faith in publishing - just when you think they're all corrupt bastards who are owned by pop stars and footballers - Penguin come up trumps and publish something that is actually worth reading. This book is described by The Guardian as "Funny, heartbreaking, brilliant" and there it is, in three words. Not a chapter passed when I did not laugh out loud at the one-liners, the frequent displays of acerbic wit - not a moment when I was not awed by the skill w...more

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Jan 09, 2012 Simon Lipson rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This just didn't work for me. Toltz is a gifted writer with an eye for off-the-wall detail and an ear for witty, throwaway dialogue. But this is a 700 page shaggy dog story and I lost interest after about 200 because I didn't care about the protagonist or any of the other main characters, mainly, I suppose, because they're not (and probably aren't intended to be) wholly believable. They all strike me as emotionally vapid, one-dimensional, cartoonish and, in some cases, plain uninteresting, while...more

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About Steve Toltz

Steve Toltz (born in 1972) is an Australian novelist.

Toltz graduated from the University of Newcastle, New South Wales, in 1994. Prior to his literary career, he lived in Montreal, Vancouver, New York, Barcelona, and Paris, variously working as a cameraman, telemarketer, security guard, private investigator, English teacher, and screenwriter.

A Fraction of the Whole, his first novel, was released i...more

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“Sometimes not talking is effortless, and other times it’s more exhausting than lifting pianos.” — 98 people liked it

“I think that's the real loss of innocence: the first time you glimpse the boundaries that will limit your potential.” — 81 people liked it

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