A fraction of the whole

 - By Steve Toltz

Hilarious, insightful, philosophical, perspective, the novel left me with a mixture of feelings. I could not keep the book down, but more importantly, I could not stop thinking. The background process ticked off the moment the lives of the Dean family unfolded and did not stop till I read the last word. This is a sort of book, one can pick and read any page and stop to think – and perhaps continue that line of thought for eternity. The characters of the dean family are vividly portrayed for their differences, but, what stood out mostly is the narration of the tale from different view points, giving more or less the shared animosity towards the collective living of the society. To think that this is the first novel by the author, it is unbelievable!!! It had about 700 pages and it is filled with wit, humor and a challenge to everyone who opens it – the challenge to put this down unfinished!

The initial narration starts with Jasper Dean, the son, who speaks about his father Martin Dean and about the others involved in shaping Martin to be the person he is. The story takes place in Australia for majority of the part, but, if one thinks we could get a taste of what is Australia like, hell no. The book is solely about the perceptions of Martin Dean and how his thoughts or ideas shaped his future and there by his notions and there by influencing his son’s future. The father who tried to teach his son about the values in life, giving contradictory advices most of the time, fails in his life and becomes the father his son loves to hate. Never once forming the bond, with his eccentricities (I have to call them eccentricity, if only because of my limited vocabulary), Martin Dean drives his son from mingling in the society to a person who is abrasive and filled with condescension against the very society.

The story begins with Jasper writing this from a jail, albeit for not having anything better to do. That is a strange, but, then, as the novel progresses, it does not seem to be a surprise any more. I laid my hands on this one – wondering what is this intriguing title – “A fraction of the whole” and wondered, what exactly is in it? I opened it and this is how it starts:
“You never hear of a sportsman losing his sense of smell in a tragic accident and for good reason; in order for the universe to teach excruciating lessons that are unable to apply in later life, the sportsman must lose his legs, the philosopher his mind, the painter his eyes, the musician his ears, the chef his tongue.” And that did it. I picked it up. Most of the time, though, I was laughing out loud because of the way it is written, but then, there is nothing to laugh about, when you feel sympathetic most of the time to the characters. The sublime style captivated me, and it took me sometime to get out of the characters mind.

The novel drifts to the life of Martin Dean, Jasper’s father, from Martin’s perspective and that too in vivid detail. It left me feeling sorry for Martin most of the time, as he was driven mostly from one hopeless branch to another. From the condescending eyes of his father, to awaiting death due to childhood sickness, to being in coma, to being ridiculed, to being idolized by his little brother, to being the cause of shattering the dreams of his little brother because of the unforeseen turn of events, to being poisoned by a crazed mother, to finding a semblance of love in his father’s eyes when everything is lost and finally, seeing his entire family dead, again – due to his lack of foresight, to an undying love with Caroline Potts and finally to his journey to Paris where he eventually becomes the father of Jasper Dean. It might sound too simple, but it is not. It is much more complex, because Martin questions every notion along the way. His thoughts sounded so far fetched, it left me rolling most of the time. C’mon, he actually suggests that, the little criminal gang that his brother is part of, requires a mentor who could train them and guide them in the right direction and that is how they need to learn the tricks of the trade they chose to live in – from the person IN the trade. And that just left me flummoxed for a few minutes, before I took a deep breath and pursued him more! And more it was, when he actually runs around the Sydney to get the handbook for criminals (titled: Handbook for Crime) published!!! And the titles in that book are something like this: Manslaughter:Oops!, (loved this), Crimes Of passion: hot headed murder.

Terry, his little brother, was like a kid possessed, with his passion about sports and more importantly, he was a kid for whom nothing was impossible. He was loved by the Australia, until the coerced fight left him in no shape to play further, which led him into the world of crime, though as a pay off to the bullies of the school, for leaving his brother alone. It takes us into the mind of Terry as well, though it is said from Martin’s perspective. On an impulse, Martin gets too creative for his own good when he decides to put up a suggestion box in the town. Little did he foresee the repercussions that would be unleashed, to self and towards his family!

Then the novel comes back to the perspective of Jasper, who was taught by his father, about life, in general. These are quite interesting to me, particularly because, the little anecdotes felt like they were written exclusively for this book!!! From the confusing advices to little gestures of warmth to almost ridiculous idea of paying a visit to an empty box in a cemetery, just because the kid has a right to mourn his mother in an appropriate setting, (LOL) this book is a joy ride with a subtle sympathy aligned to ALL the characters. Despising his father becomes very easy in the end, but, what can one say, blood is thicker than water and hence the bonds of the family last stronger through the tough times and hence Jasper could not desert his father for long, when his “make every one in Australia a millionaire” scheme turns out to be a fraud, making the almost overnight most-loving man in Australia to “the hated” man in Australia? And that too, because the outrageous almost successful scheme was backstabbed by his most-trusted friend Eddie, who turns out to be a farce that would be revealed later?

Each character in the novel turns out to be so different from what they initially came out as! Amouk, another significant character in the novel, who perceives the ideas of Martin Dean quite seriously, if only to save him from his depressed haste to meet his end! Man, that was one superb set of events, the persuasion of the richest man in Australia to heed his ear to Martin to help realize one of his crazed ideas! I thought that the author was fond of love triangles, if there is a semblance of love portrayed in the novel, if not for just hormones and opportunities, to put it palpably!

It is hilariously philosophic, outlandishly assertive – having everything – crime, love, hate, passion, friendship, kinship, affection, plots, twists, ironic tales. This is a sort of novel that one cannot put down, but that which does not leave the conscience for sometime to come!