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Quicksand

Quicksand 1

by Toltz Steve and Steve Toltz
Publication Date: 22/04/2015
4/5 Rating 1 Review

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Steve Toltz follows his Booker-shortlisted A Fraction of the Whole with a novel that's just as edgy, hilarious and compelling: Quicksand, at once unmistakeably Toltzean and unlike anything that's come before. 'Why should I let you write about me?' 'Because you'll inspire people. To count their blessings.' Aldo has been so relentlessly unlucky - in business, in love, in life - that the universe seems to have taken against him personally. Even Liam, his best friend, describes him as 'a well-known parasite and failure'. Aldo has always faced the future with optimism and despair in equal measure, but this last twist of fate may finally have brought him undone. There's hope, but not for Aldo. Liam hasn't been doing much better himself: a failed writer with a rocky marriage and a dangerous job he never wanted. But something good may come out of Aldo's lowest point. Liam may finally have found his inspiration. Together, maybe they can turn bad luck into an artform. What begins as a document of Aldo's disasters develops into a profound story of love lost, found and betrayed; of freedom and incarceration; of suffering and transcendence; of fate, faith and friendship; of taking risks - in art, work, love and life - and finding inspiration in all the wrong places. Quicksand is a fearlessly funny, outrageously inventive dark comedy that looks contemporary life unblinkingly in the eye. It confirms Steve Toltz as one of our most original and insightful novelists.
ISBN:
9781926428680
9781926428680
Category:
Contemporary fiction
Publication Date:
22-04-2015
Publisher:
Penguin Australia Pty Ltd
Pages:
448
Dimensions (mm):
232x155x37mm
Weight:
0.67kg
Steve Toltz

Steve Toltz was born in Sydney, Australia in 1972.

His first novel, A Fraction of the Whole, was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize and the Guardian First Book Award.

His second novel, Quicksand, won the 2017 Russell Prize for Humour.

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Quicksand questions what it means to be happy and at what cost. It is a dark comedy centred on the essentially well-meaning but utterly hopeless Aldo Benjamin, who is a disastrous entrepreneur. He has big hopes and even bigger dreams, but he doesn’t have the capability to make things happen. It is hard not to feel sorry for him for most of the book, but he begins to wear thin by the end. This book made me laugh hard in parts though and there were other parts that equally made me cringe, so it’s definitely an entertaining read The other “saddults” in the book, Aldo’s best friend Liam, old high school teach Morrell and wife Stella are all believable characters wrapped up in the mayhem of Aldo’s life, trying to distance themselves from him but unable to turn their back It’s lines like ‘Do you mind if I point you out to a few students as a possible worst case scenario? that make this book great.

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