A Fraction of the Whole - Books (Steve Toltz, Hardcover)

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Customer Reviews of A Fraction of the Whole

RThomp
UK
8th January 2009

And then and then
I bought this book after hearing rave reviews on Radio 5 Simon Mayo. I wonder whether the reviewers only read the first part of it.

At times I really enjoyed this book, but at others it just seemed to drag. The structure seemed quite week. It reminded me of the stories my son wrote when first at primary school - his structure would go something like this 'Then he did ..... and then he did..... and then....'.

BJ
Blaven Ecosse
3rd January 2009

A Fraction of the Length Would Be better
The main interest of Steve Tolz's book lies in his inventive use of language. The characters are cardboard cutouts and one simply cannot suspend disbelief for the overcontrived plot. For the first 100 or so pages, Tolz litters the text with original and very funny metaphors, similes, Rabelaisian lists and other literary coinages and the book fizzes along with real sparkle. After that however, Tolz completely runs out of literary steam and the book becomes very pedestrian indeed and is then mostly littered with cliches. In places, Tolz adopts David Foster Wallace's tic of abbreviating words, although unlike Wallace he does not resort to lengthy footnotes. Having said that, a good deal of the book could have been put into footnotes, and as footnotes tend to be more concise than regular narrative prose, this would have shortened the book a good deal with entirely beneficial results . There is a good novella contained in a fraction of this book.

Ben
UK
21st December 2008

Entertaining but a tad too ambitious. Sometimes less is more...
If you're an author publishing a debut novel over 700 pages, you should ideally have an exceptionally 'literary' and evocative writing style, coupled with a very captivating story. "A Fraction of the Whole" is entertaining, but I'm not sure Toltz has sufficiently demonstrated either here. Still, this is is a fun, slightly quirky book that never felt like much of a slog; but then it never felt entirely captivating either.

Roz D
London
8th December 2008

file under could do better
The whole magic realist style of this book threw me every time I came accross it. There were just too many incredible and whacky events, which although entertaining, just totally detroyed an sympathy for the characters. It's an endearing and at times eciting tale but it just seemed well... a little imature for my liking, and splitting the book into three was just gimmicky. Thankfully Tolz didn't win the booker so he wont be cursed by the second book booker syndrome.

bookworm
UK
20th November 2008

Am I missing something?!
Considering the rave reviews this book has received, I was expecting it to completely grab my attention by the scruff of its neck and hurtle along at full force...but to be honest it's a bit of a false start!

I won't describe the plot (it's been done so many times before!) but i'll try to give another take on the whole thing...

The writing style is quite easy to read, and is well composed. But the plot itself takes a while to develop, as do the characters. It took a while for me to really get into the book and have an empathy for any of the characters.

I like a book that grabs me from the start, or if not then one that is at least sufficiently intriguing to make me want to read on. Unfortunately this did neither! That's not to say it was terrible - it certainly wasn't! - but I'm struggling to see the basis for such wonderful reviews. I wonder if I'm missing something...perhaps I ought to try a second reading and see if I pick anything up on another re-run! :-)