Quicksand

July 27, 2015
The second novel from Toltz (A Fraction of the Whole) is all about the eccentric and ambitious Aldo Benjamin. Set in Australia, Aldo’s tragicomic story is told by his friend, policeman and failed writer Liam Wilder. Plagued by mountains of debt and dogged by a series of deaths, Aldo botches one suicide attempt, and the collateral damage leads to an accusation of attempted infanticide. Uncommonly unlucky, Aldo’s bad fortune stretches back into his high school years when, as a virgin, he was falsely accused of rape. Later in life he is accused of murdering his girlfriend, and his digressive testimony at the subsequent trial occupies the second half of the book. Yet Aldo remains constantly buoyed by ideas for another business plan, another scheme, another way to die. Eventually Aldo finds himself crippled—marooned on a magic beach, and it is there that he finally concocts the perfect business plan. Toltz channels a poet’s delight in crafting the perfect phrase on every highly quotable page. In his epic lack of employment and sincere lust for life, Aldo Benjamin is quite a memorable character. By turns hilarious and hopeless, Toltz’s novel is a tender portrait of a charming and talented loser.

July 15, 2015
A longtime friendship is tested in this comic novel that's determined to find the elusive humor in matters of rape, suicide, imprisonment, and infanticide. Aldo and Liam, the alternating narrators of the second novel by Australian author Toltz (A Fraction of the Whole, 2008), were high school classmates whose lives wildly diverged after graduation. Liam became a police officer and aspiring novelist, while Aldo became the kind of person who constantly courts intervention by the authorities. After failing at every day job he's had and business he launched (including ill-fated porn and dating sites) and divorcing after his wife's stillbirth, a suicidal Aldo stalks his ex, nearly accidentally smothering the newborn baby she had with another man. Later, he's paralyzed below the waist (for reasons disclosed late in the novel), which only exacerbates his urge to do himself in. Liam, who first bonded with Aldo because each had lost a sister, does what he can to help, but he has his own marital strains and artistic failures to manage. Laughing yet? The comedy in this story is largely in the telling: Aldo is a fast-talking raconteur, well aware of how much he exhausts everyone around him but unable to stop explaining his serial haplessness. ("At least twice a year a bird flies into my head....When I play a piano, the lid invariably closes on my fingers.") Toltz tries a variety of rhetorical devices to give this story an antic, irreverent feel-court testimony, conversations with God, police interrogation, poetry-but the overall effect is that of a writer trying too hard to mine unlikely topics for humor. Toltz means to say something about the enduring power of friendship in the face of our foibles and misunderstandings, but his efforts to apply a sincere tone to that theme feel forced and unearned. Earnestly seriocomic, with the "serio" part arriving too late and the "comic" part too intermittently.

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Starred review from September 15, 2015
Even a random perusal of a few pages in this frenetically paced follow-up to Australian Toltz's Booker Prizenominated first novel, A Fraction of the Whole (2008), makes it clear why so many are singing the author's praises for originality and prodigious ability to turn a clever phrase. Liam Wilder, the first-person narrator here, is a wannabe author suffering through a detestable day job as a Sydney police officer, constantly calling in favors for his scofflaw best friend, Aldo Benjamin, who also doubles as the aphorism-spouting protagonist of Liam's work-in-progress. The twisting, flashback-heavy story line follows the ups and downs of the pair's friendship, constantly at the mercy of Aldo's disaster waiting to happen lifestyle, which has resulted in, among other mishaps, Aldo's temporary confinement in prison and a wheelchair. Along with stream-of-consciousness peeks into Liam's hyperkinetic thought processes, Toltz spices up the narrative with long poetic digressions, police interrogation transcripts, and even murder trial testimony, providing multiple venues for his darkly humorous observations on everything from human relationships and hero worship to creative inspiration and mortality. Leaving aside the almost superfluous, difficult-to-follow plot, Toltz's considerable gifts as a wordsmith alone put him in the front ranks of contemporary literary fiction writers.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2015, American Library Association.)

Starred review from September 1, 2015

This much-anticipated follow-up to Toltz's widely acclaimed debut novel, A Fraction of the Whole, is an ambitious, rowdy, and ultimately very moving portrait of an old friendship between Aldo Benjamin, who might best be described as a paraplegic malcontent and latter-day Beat poet "madman," and his best friend, Liam Wilder, an unhappy police officer who is writing a novel about Aldo. Although the narrative lags at the outset, with numerous testy, jokey exchanges between Aldo and Liam, it develops into something memorable and distinctive, combining high seriousness (discussions about God, suicide, and America) with comedic, high-spirited exuberance. The novel concludes meditatively, reflecting poignantly on the nature of friendship, life, and love. Toltz's talent is obvious from the first page, which, added to his signature mixture of humor, fearlessness, and barbed social commentary, makes one appreciate the comparisons he's received to writers such as Jonathan Franzen, Gary Shteyngart, and John Irving. VERDICT Highly recommended; an important young writer to watch.--Patrick Sullivan, Manchester Community Coll., CT

Copyright 2015 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

April 1, 2015

Short-listed for the Man Booker Prize and the Guardian First Book Award, Toltz's A Fraction of the Whole featured an Australian family crazily fractured between heroes and villains. His new novel stars best friends Liam, no great shakes as a cop or a writer, and Aldo, a criminal entrepreneur for whom everything goes wrong. When Liam decides to write about Aldo's relentlessly failing enterprises and efforts to win back his ex-wife, the narrative gets darkly funny even as it celebrates the value of friendship.

Copyright 2015 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

September 1, 2015

This much-anticipated follow-up to Toltz's widely acclaimed debut novel, A Fraction of the Whole, is an ambitious, rowdy, and ultimately very moving portrait of an old friendship between Aldo Benjamin, who might best be described as a paraplegic malcontent and latter-day Beat poet "madman," and his best friend, Liam Wilder, an unhappy police officer who is writing a novel about Aldo. Although the narrative lags at the outset, with numerous testy, jokey exchanges between Aldo and Liam, it develops into something memorable and distinctive, combining high seriousness (discussions about God, suicide, and America) with comedic, high-spirited exuberance. The novel concludes meditatively, reflecting poignantly on the nature of friendship, life, and love. Toltz's talent is obvious from the first page, which, added to his signature mixture of humor, fearlessness, and barbed social commentary, makes one appreciate the comparisons he's received to writers such as Jonathan Franzen, Gary Shteyngart, and John Irving. VERDICT Highly recommended; an important young writer to watch.--Patrick Sullivan, Manchester Community Coll., CT

Copyright 2015 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

February 26, 2015