First things first: Would I re-read it? Definitely. It’s pretty good.

A Fraction of the Whole by Steve Toltz

Toltz tells a fictional story about a truly remarkable but possibly mentally unstable family with a cast of interesting characters that keeps you wondering what they are really like. The book begins somewhat slow – a backwards look and review of some of the lives involved via retold stories and memories, diaries. However, the outlandish events that occur are really interesting – I suggest paying closer attention than I did in the beginning, because everything does come full-circle.

This is at its’ heart, a story about adventure, but it pretends to be a story about a father-son relationship. The adventures are unexpected throughout the book, but poignant and rich with meaning in the context of the book. The characters are too out-of-touch to provide any meaningful comparisons to most people’s lives, but readers can sympathize with the complexity of life, even if the book takes it to an absurd extreme.

It touches on some broad issues like the meaning of life and existential and philosophical end-runs, but more to point out that the point of existence is not to ponder existence. The two brothers in the story and the paths of their lives profoundly tell a tale of the dangers of under-thinking, or over-thinking one’s existence.

The most entertaining characters are the ones that revolve around the fictional narrator/author, rather than the narrator himself. The writing style switches often, from the narration to “discovered diaries” written from another character’s perspective. While I usually look down upon this technique, it is natural and works well in this story.

I don’t give books grades, but I’ll give it a word. “Fun”