A Fraction Of The Whole

Spectacular.

The Age

More twists and turns, weird changes of fortune and amazing revelations than your average Shakespeare comedy.

Sydney Morning Herald

A gloriously absorbing, preposterous and funny excursion to the brink of madness and the meaning of life.

The Sunday Telegraph

A riotously funny first novel that is harder to ignore than a crate of puppies . . . This is not a book to be read so much as an experience to be wallowed in. Mr Toltz's merry chaos - a mix of metaphysical inquiry, ribald jokes, freakish occurrences, and verbal dynamite booming across the page - deserves a place next to A Confederacy of Dunces . . . A Fraction of the Whole is a sort of Voltaire-meets-Vonnegut tale.

Wall Street Journal

A rich father-and-son story packed with incident, humour and characters reminiscent of the 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.

The Sunday Times (UK)

Toltz brings all the energy and assurance of a young Peter Carey to this burlesque, bravura performance.

Irish Times

A Fraction of the Whole is that rarest of long books - utterly worth it . . . The story starts in a prison riot and ends on a plane and there is not one forgettable episode in between . . . It reads like Mark Twain with access to an international airbus.

Esquire

Hold on tight because you're about to ride a juggernaut . . . What Toltz has done masterfully is have his way with every aspect of modern life. He racks 'em up and knocks 'em down with a laser wit, a fine turn of phrase, and a devastatingly funny outlook on everything human.

Seattle Times

Combines the hilarious high-low reference points of early Martin Amis with the annihilating punk inventiveness of Chuck Palahniuk.

Best Life

Packed with plots, sub-plots, sub-sub-plots, tangents, flashbacks, diversions, philosophical wanderings and spectacular set pieces . . . Fuelled by brilliant ideas and driven by original language and a very funny voice.

The Age

Very light on its feet, skipping from anecdote, to rant, to reflection, like a stone skimming across a pond . . . There's a section about a labyrinth that you could imagine Borges writing, another about a lottery gone wrong that made me think of Vonnegut, and a strange, lovely account of childhood illness that had echoes of Garcia Marquez. In some ways it plays like a modern Arabian Nights . . . Brilliant.

The Guardian (UK)

Brilliantly funny . . . every sentence is a quotable aphorism clothed in light-hearted observations about human behaviour.

The Courier-Mail

There is something for everyone in this kaleidoscope of a novel.

Canberra Times

Wild . . . an odyssey that's inspired, sorta stoned, tender, and very funny. Sometimes all at the same time. Toltz's invention is as breathtaking as the speed of his narrative . . . There is wit on every page.

Chicago Sun-Times