This book was recommended to me by dear friends Mistress Anna and Lady Bec, who have not steered me wrong when it comes to literary choices. They've come up trumps again; this is an amazing book.
The audacity of the plot turns made me gasp, and there were more than a few “Oh My God” moments that left me muttering aloud and shaking my head at the surprising twists.
It's almost hard to believe that Toltz's saga, which is in equal parts engaging and disturbing, is his first novel. It is no surprise however that the book was short-listed for the Man Booker Prize in 2008.
A Fraction Of The Whole chronicles the lives of three generations of the Dean family. Set in rural New South Wales, Sydney, Paris, Bangkok and a Thai jungle, through Toltz's tale we bear witness to the loneliness, isolation, depression, humour, ambition, intellect and insanity of the family members and their cohorts.
The characters we nestle closest to in the telling of this tale are father and son, Martin and Jasper. Martin's story, and those of his parents and brother Terry, are told to Jasper after he is teased about his notorious uncle by schoolmates. A philosopher, Martin is forever burdened by his aloneness, and by the devastation of his family as the bizarre consequences of his seemingly innocuous ideas reach their tragic conclusions.
It seems impossible that something as mundane as a suggestion box could be the cause of dire outcomes for the Deans and their community, just as it seems unlikely that a devoted mother would deliberately harm her beloved son. There are shocks a plenty here; many more than those I have mentioned.
It was refreshing to have no idea where the plot was heading, and unsettling to not stick with any one scenario long enough to sit comfortably in it's groove.
I found the contrasts exciting, and at times frustrating. For example, Martin's long-winded, often demented rants, frequently contained brilliant concepts and startling insights. Jasper's internal monologue was at times so completely at odds with his outward behaviour that it was sometimes difficult to reconcile the thoughts and the behaviour as belonging to the same character.
What made it easier to stick with the book despite the frustrations it sometimes caused, was the writing. Toltz's choice of words to convey the array of ideas contained in this story was quite often beautiful, and I particularly enjoyed his use of similes. The sinking sun as a dissolving lozenge, for example.
Setting the story in Australia also gave Toltz the opportunity to use our national obsession with sporting success as a plot device, and I think it's fair to say he parallels one character's tale with our country's bizarre reverence of colonial criminal Ned Kelly.
The other reason to stay the course with this book is the characters; they are definitely worth sticking around for. Despite their failings, and they all have them, I couldn't help liking most of them. They are so damn interesting. The way they rationalise their behaviour is amusing and authentic. Very few of their actions are thoughtless, and I felt privileged to be able to take a peek inside their minds as they thought through their deeds, or analysed them after the event. Through their internal musings I was introduced to interesting notions I hadn't given too much thought to previously, as well as being moved to dwell on some some aspects of my own life, and the direction I want my life to take.
There are some characters we don't get to know well, such as Jasper's mother Astrid, but we spend enough time with her to get more than a sense of her tormented mind.
This story is heavy going. There are moments of love and light and hope flashes in and out tantalisingly, but these are only rarely glimpsed in the mire of bullying, violence, crime, suicide, infidelity, mental illness, birth, death, and evil found on the pages of this book. Joy comes to the characters briefly in the form of sexual contact, and a feeling of connectedness to nature, but the overwhelming mood is of bleak struggle. A Fraction Of The Whole literally reeks with the stink of human existence. Breathe it in. Deeply.
