A Fraction Of The Whole

Steve Toltz

Apr 2012 · Penguin UK

About this ebook

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? Relatives or Enemies? It's a simple family story... Visit the website here 'Riotously funny. . . deserves a place next to A Confederancy of Dunces.' - Wall Street Journal 'A rich father-and-son story packed with incident, humour and characters reminiscent in styles of Charles Dickens and John Irving. . . A Fraction of the Whole soars like a rocket.' - LA Times 'A grand achievement and the debut of a great comic talent. But it also has a heart. . . go away and read it.' - Sunday Times 'Toltz brings all the energy and assurance of a young Peter Carey to this burlesque, bravura performance.' - Irish Times 'A gloriously absorbing, preposterous and funny excursion to the brink of madness and the meaning of life.' - Sunday Telegraph SHORTLISTED FOR THE 2008 MAN BOOKER PRIZE

About the author

Steve Toltz was born in 1972 in Sydney. His first novel, A Fraction of the Whole, was released in 2008. It is a comic novel which tells the history of a family of Australian outcasts. The narration of the novel alternates between Jasper Dean, a philosophical, idealistic boy, who grows up throughout the novel and his father, Martin Dean, a philosopher and shut-in described at the start of the novel as "the most hated man in all of Australia" The novel has repeatedly been compared favourably to John Kennedy Toole's Pulitzer Prize winning novel A Confederacy of Dunces. A Fraction of the Whole was shortlisted for the 2008 Man Booker Prize and the 2008 Guardian First Book Award. His second novel, Quicksand, is expected to be published in 2015. He will be at the Oz, New Zealand festival of literature and arts program in 2015 in London. He will also be at the Sydney Writers Festival 2015.