About this title: An uproarious indictment of the ridiculousness of the modern world and it's mores, this novel also tells the moving, memorable story of a father and son whose spiritual symmetry transcends all their many shortcomings.
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Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Spiegel & Grau
Date Published: 2008-02-12
ISBN-13:9780385521727ISBN:0385521723
Description: Fair. Ships Now. binding good Text block clear, no marks-no writing-missing pages. No dust jacket. Dings or dents in cover. remainder mark. read more
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Spiegel & Grau
Date Published: 2008-09-23
ISBN-13:9780385521734ISBN:0385521731
Description: New. New, unread, unused & in perfect condition with no damaged or missing pages. Pre-release book with different cover and stickers. Great Copy. Ships Lightning Fast. read more
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Spiegel & Grau
Date Published: 2008-09-23
ISBN-13:9780385521734ISBN:0385521731
Description: New. New, unread, unused & in perfect condition with no damaged or missing pages. Pre-release book with different cover and stickers. Great Copy. Ships Lightning Fast. read more
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Spiegel & Grau
Date Published: 2008-09-23
ISBN-13:9780385521734ISBN:0385521731
Description: New. New, unread, unused & in perfect condition with no damaged or missing pages. Pre-release book with different cover and publisher stickers. Great Copy. Ships Lightning Fast. read more
Description: Acceptable. Former Library book. Book has some water damage, but book is still completely readable. Shipped to over one million happy customers. Your purchase benefits world literacy! read more
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Spiegel & Grau
Date Published: 2008-09-23
ISBN-13:9780385521734ISBN:0385521731
Description: Very Good. Clean pages, no spine creases, light page creases, no writing, minor shelf-wear to cover including a light crease on the front. read more
Description: Good. 0385521731 This book is in Good Used Condition. The Book shows some signs of wear. This book smells like cologne. There may be some markings inside the book. 100% Money Back Guarantee! ! ! read more
Description: Very good. Book has appearance of light use with no easily noticeable wear. Millions of satisfied customers and climbing. Thriftbooks is the name you can trust, guaranteed. Spend Less. Read More. read more
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Spiegel & Grau
Date Published: 2008
ISBN-13:9780385521734ISBN:0385521731
Description: New. Brand New! Buy with confidence-your satisfaction is guaranteed at B-Logistics! Due to the large scale of our operation, we do not have access to the specific contents/condition of our items. Please note that Expedited shipping is not available at this time. read more
Binding: Softcover
Publisher: Spiegel & Grau
Date Published: 2008-09-23
ISBN-13:9780385521734ISBN:0385521731
Description: NEW. Softcover. From an inventory that is 100% brand-new, 100% direct from the publishers' distribution channel. We carry NO pre-owned, NO remaindered. We pack in CARDBOARD to ensure the pristine quality is maintained. (Bubble-wrap alone is NOT sufficient to protect from USPS equipment. ) Guaranteed brand-NEW, protected with CARDBOARD, your satisfaction is guaranteed. BKLUVID: 9780385521734. read more
"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 Voltaire might seem a bit of a stretch, but the acid prose, wicked insights and wacky narrative twists bring those authors to mind as well. Called a "hilariously misanthropic" "wildly looping rollercoaster" that "reads like the trajectory of a gleefully crazed Roman candle," I'm left breathless and a bit exhausted by the end of the book. Many times the very same sentence would make me laugh out loud, then flinch, then feel very very sad.
It's probably not irrelevant that I gave the book four stars until I read my own review and then figured I had to up that to five. Certainly makes a big, big impression."
"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 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.' And so begins the first part of the book where we are taken on a rollicking rollercoaster of a family yarn. Witty and side-splittingly funny, it is delightfully original and satisfying. Unfortunately that's where the fun ends. From there, Toltz takes the reader on a different tangent. We learn about his parents through his father's diaries upon which, the book loses all its adventurous flare and instead settles into a steady tedium that overshadowes it's original momentum. There are still occasional flashes of its brilliant start but they became increasingly rare as the book draggs on.
A Fraction of The Whole starts with a great deal of promise and probably could have kept it, had it been culled back by a few 100 pages to maintain its momentum."
"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 negative things I've said, I would still say that the writing itself is very good. If the author writes something else, I will probably check it out to see if it is a different story. This one was just a little too weird."
"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, the novel describes a relationship that varies between indifference, disgust, hate and love."
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