A Fraction of the Whole - Softcover

Toltz, Steve

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0385665555 ISBN 13: 9780385665551

Publisher: Doubleday of Canada, 2009

Synopsis

The Father is Martin Dean.
He taught his son always to make up his mind, and then change it. An impossible, brilliant, restless man, he just wanted the world to listen to him – and the trouble started when the world did.

The Uncle is Terry Dean.
As a boy, Terry was the local sporting hero. As a man, he became Australia's favourite criminal, making up for injustice on the field with this own version of justice off it.

The Son is Jasper Dean.
Now that his father is dead, Jasper can try making some sense of his outrageous schemes to make the world a better place. Haunted by his own mysteriously missing mother and a strange recurring vision, Jasper has one abiding question: Is he doomed to become the lunatic who raised him, or a different kind of lunatic entirely?

From the New South Wales bush to bohemian Paris, from sports fields to strip clubs, from the jungles of Thailand to a leaky boat in the Pacific, Steve Toltz's A Fraction of the Whole follows the Deans on their freewheeling, scathingly funny and finally deeply moving quest to leave their mark on the world.

About this title

Review:

Brilliantly read by both actors to make you mourn as much as laugh, this David Copperfield Down Under on speed with son is an epic in every sense, including length. But don't be tempted, even if there is one, to get an abridged version. Every macabre detail, every chaotic incident, every wisecrack is an essential fraction of the whole. Heartfelt thanks to Whole Story Audio Books for getting this and half the other 2008 Booker shortlist out so quickly. To cut a single sentence would be criminal. -- --Sue Arnold, The Guardian

Utterly brilliant. --The Times

A grand achievement and the debut of a great comic talent... go away and read it. --The Sunday Times

About the Author:

Steve Toltz was born in Sydney. After graduating from Newcastle University in 1994, he has lived in Sydney, Montreal, Vancouver, Barcelona and Paris, working primarily as a screenwriter and freelance writer, but also doing stints as both a private investigator and an English teacher. A Fraction of the Whole is his debut novel.

About this edition

• Publisher: Doubleday of Canada
• Publication date: 2009
• ISBN 10: 0385665555
• ISBN 13: 9780385665551
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 561