I read a book

I don't read much these days.  When I used to commute, I read lots of books and studied too. I just cant sit at home and read, there are too many distractions and there is Pete...

But, I heard a brief review of a book nominated for the Man Booker prize in 2008 and I just had to buy it.  Amazon says that it's "a witty 700-page romp that has cult written all over it".

The book I have just finished is called A Fraction Of The Whole by Steve Toltz and it's his first novel and it is excellent.  Now for me to read a 700 page book is unheard of but this is something very different.  I cant quite recall something written in this style.  Although the word "witty" is used in many reviews, it's actually more of a black comedy that follows the lives of several generations of a family in Australia (and beyond).

I give it 8 out of 10. It would have been more, but it was a little laboured in the last quarter.  I recommend it as a read for the whole holiday at 700 pages!  Here is the Amazon spiel.

Martin Dean spent his entire life analysing absolutely everything; from the benefits of suicide to the virtues of strip clubs  and passing on his self-taught knowledge to his son, Jasper.  Jasper reflects on the man who raised him in intellectual captivity, and the irony is this: theirs was a great adventure. As he recollects the extraordinary events that led to his father's demise, Jasper recounts a boyhood of outrageous schemes and shocking discoveries about his infamous criminal uncle, his mysteriously absent mother, and Martin's constant battle to leave his mark on the world.