Highs of First Love, Lows of Failed Ambition

And you thought you’re family was screwed up, wait until you met the Deans.

From sibling rivalry that leads to a life of crime and aimless wandering, to misfortune that is self-induced. Deaths, killings, unrequited love, duty, poisons, illnesses, page after page the reader finds themselves captivated by the misery of a journey to create and to become.

A few weeks ago I was handed this book, by a close friend, she had bought it on a whim and hadn’t read it yet. Her decision to hand it to me was merely this, it was about family which is a particular favorite topic of mine and I would have it read before she even finished the book she was currently on. This pale yellow book adorned with a sad lonely photograph of what I believe is the Australian bush with its interesting wholes punched into the cover has been weighing down my purse for two weeks. Not that I hold any resentment towards it, in actuality I believe it was some sort of Serendipitous move from the Universe for my friend to deposit this book in my lap. 

A Fraction of the Whole a novel by Steve Toltz is a book begging to be judged by its cover. Its like a joke, some kind of mockery to the reader to be completely unprepared for the story that lies within its pages. I enjoyed the cover, thinking it clever that there were wholes punched into the picture to drive the point of fractions home to the audience. I read the short summary on the back, intriguing enough small snippets of the adventures that were ahead of me in this narrative. But this novel was about so much more than just the journey, the adventure of the Dean family. It is a history of thought, a history of thoughts that inspired, crippled and plagued the characters of the Dean family and in turn bringing the torment to the unsuspecting audience willing to entertain the thoughts.

I am against writing in novels, not since my forced defacing of my own property in high school have I written in books. Instead post-its have become one of my main resources. I use them as book marks and write down interesting points authors make or names of other novels they mention. While reading Toltz novel, I covered several post-it notes and even took to writing down quotes and titles and authors down on whole sheets of paper that were folded into my purse. I was moved to read philosophers by the scores, the words of Henry James, Freud, Chekhov, Fromm echoed in so many of the Jasper and Martin Dean’s conversations that how could I not want to enlighten myself. With my tendency to self-analysis, Steve Toltz’s characters of Martin and Jasper Dean were like lit matches being thrown at nitrogen film.

The novel is divided up untraditional manner, 7 sections that sort of form chapters, divided into roman numerals of smaller sections, each about a different time period and from a different voice. The audience is presented with the main narrator, the protagonist, Jasper Dean, son to Martin Dean and nephew to Terry Dean. The first section is 179 pages, starting with Jasper giving a surface history of himself and moving into a history of his family as presented by his father, Martin. It is a descriptive detail of the first twenty two years of Martin’s life, his thoughts, his actions, his failures, his family, in short everything about him. The second section turns out to be somewhat shorter and focuses mostly on Jasper’s absent mother. The 3^rd section, divided nicely into an almost 5 act play (only its really in 6) details Martin’s descendent into madness from Jasper’s point of view. It’s an incredible ride of thought and understanding taking Martin from madness to compulsive behaviors that manifest into creating a physical state of his thoughts. 

At this point, I felt like I had been part of Martin Dean’s life. It was like he was one of my closest friends, that I was watching slowly verge on complete self-destruction. The excitement of thoughts being put so eloquently onto paper, the idea of self-analysis being such a key component of the movement of this plot line kept me reading even when the ideas that Martin was spouting were so depressing. Naturally enough, this is the point in the novel where you begin to wonder what purpose the main character of Jasper has in this mess of recorded moments. That’s when section 4 reveals to the audience Jasper. We really begin to understand him, following his education and the moments that he believes shaped his young life. Though Jasper’s development was not as through as Martin’s, it was very well plotted out, just as edge of your seat and though provoking.

When section 5, the book was more than half over and was proving to be mentally taxing. It took a lot of thought, to read about these two characters that over-thought every single action or non-action not only about themselves but also about everyone around them. Like I said, incredibly enlightening and a thrilling read but the action was becoming somewhat stall. It seemed there had been all this build up to a point that just hadn’t arrived yet, and that’s when the book became impossible to put down. Steve Toltz must be praised for his ability to draw his audience in, invest them emotionally as much as he did for the first 380 pages of his novel. I not only wanted to know what was happening with Martin and Jasper, I needed to know what was happening to them. In section five the story turns into action, and though thoughts are still vividly present, the characters finally take the world around them and shake it up. I won’t really ruin the climax of this novel for you, but I recommend the read to anyone. Though it is not an easy, or quick read and if you’re going to be carrying it around it really is a weight in your purse it is well worth it. If for nothing else, it gives you some great lines to use as facebook status, away messages and some great suggestions to further reading.