Meet the Deans

“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 . . .”

Heroes or Criminals?
Crackpots or Visionaries?
Families or Enemies?

“. . . Anyway, you know how it is. Every family has a story like this one.”

Most of his life, Jasper Dean couldn’t decide whether to pity, hate, love, or murder his certifiably paranoid father, Martin, a man who overanalyzed anything and everything and imparted his self-garnered wisdom to his only son. But now that Martin is dead, Jasper can fully reflect on the crackpot who raised him in intellectual captivity, and what he realizes is that, for all its lunacy, theirs was a grand adventure.
As he recollects the events that led to his father’s demise, Jasper recounts a boyhood of outrageous schemes and shocking discoveries—about his infamous outlaw uncle Terry, his mysteriously absent European mother, and Martin’s constant losing battle to make a lasting mark on the world he so disdains. It’s a story that takes them from the Australian bush to the cafes of bohemian Paris, from the Thai jungle to strip clubs, asylums, labyrinths, and criminal lairs, and from the highs of first love to the lows of failed ambition. The result is a rollicking rollercoaster ride from obscurity to infamy, and the moving, memorable story of a father and son whose spiritual symmetry transcends all their many shortcomings.
A Fraction of the Whole is an uproarious indictment of the modern world and its mores and the epic debut of the blisteringly funny and talented Steve Toltz.

Customer Rating:
Summary: From a Tallwalkingwoman
Comment: I started reading this book and couldn't put it down. This family is really wacked out. It is fun to read and I enjoyed it all the way through the book. Read it over the holidays and I wouldn't exactly call it funny like it says on the cover, more crazy. I think we all have some one over the edge in our family. Not like this family. I would recommend it to read.

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Customer Rating:
Summary: A very good read.
Comment: The reviews are misleading. It's not madcap, nor is it hilarious, and I don't remember laughing out loud even once, but it is a very good read. I've heard some compare it to "A Confederacy Of Dunces" and it's a stupid comparison. Confederacy is in a league of it's own and so is this book. It is a very well written, smart, witty story about severely flawed characters. You can't go wrong with this one. Warning, it starts slow and seduces you as it hits second gear. And it's his first novel! I'm envious.

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Customer Rating:
Summary: Cleverness is not enough
Comment: Like many other reviewers I like a lot of this book. There were sections so funny that I read them out loud to my wife. This is an author with both talent and potential. That said the book as serious weaknesses.
It is the story of father and son, mostly father, and his picaresque travels around both the geographical world and the philosophical world. The story is set in Australia and takes the reader to Paris and Thailand as well. The description of events in the life of the father is clever and entertaining. Many of the philosophical rants and ironic social commentaries that take up more and more of the narrative as the story progresses seem to have escaped from a college dorm room where they probably should have stayed. The book is too long for its style. A humorous dysfunctional family story with social commentary should get in and get out with its best stuff. Toward the end of this one I had become so calloused to the philosophical musings of the characters that I was skimming any text that did not actually advance the plot.
I think this author has a couple of great books in him. They will be written when he learns that cleverness is not enough.

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Customer Rating:
Summary: Lovely book!
Comment: I read this book in a week.

It's a 560 page book so it was pretty easy for me to go through.
I like Steve's vocab in this narration.

The narration represents this tone that is shared among the father and son. Although Jasper (the son) does not want to be anything like his crazy father... they seem to be alike in many ways.

The conclusion of the book was good.

The whole idea of being separate from a parent's idea of how a child should grow up.. is well summed up.

We can not hide from our identity.
The journey and the book is an easy read because so many things happen.

Overall great book

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Customer Rating:
Summary: A Creative Writing Assignment Gone Horribly Wrong
Comment: Comparing this to A Confederacy of Dunces is just wishful thinking on the publisher's part. Vonnegut? Please. This is nothing more than an amateur outing, like a creative writing assignment gone horribly wrong. I think the attraction of the book is that it portrays misfits, and everyone's into misfits these days. Not sure why. We all identify with those who don't fit in. I guess no one feels that they fit the mold, secretly. Hence the popularity of this and The Elegance of the Hedgehog, every Pixar movie ever made, The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, etc. It's not strange enough to qualify as black comedy or surrealism, nor real enough to be considered literature. It's not funny, and there aren't hidden gems of insight awaiting the reader. It's an unbelievable story about a father and son who seem interchangable, and whose motivations and feelings are not those of real people. There's nothing here to relate to, and no story worth following. I have no idea how this found a publisher, let along a bunch of positive reviews. Shows how little I understand the publishing industry, I guess.

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