The sheer number of ideas explored in Steve Toltz’s novel, ‘A Fraction of the Whole,’ is absolutely mindboggling. There are so many ideas that no one theme stands out from the others. It wasn’t until Gumby jumped out of page 264 that I was able to highlight an event. The plasticine character was a lot smaller than I’d imagined; he couldn’t’ve been more than two inches tall. He could see that I was a little surprised. “Don’t worry,” he said. “I’m just passing through. Do you have any other books?”
“Sure,” I replied. “What are you looking for?”
“I don’t even know.” He shrugged. “I can’t tell what’s real or fake anymore.”
“This isn’t real?” I asked, knocking on the table.
“Maybe for you it is, but for the majority of worlds this is a work of fiction.”
“What do you mean?”
“Everyone lives in a world that was written by a parallel world. Your works of fiction are someone else’s reality. The same way that your reality is someone else’s fiction.”
“So you’re just looking for your home world?” I asked.
“Fuck that. A happy land of children’s bullshit. I’m looking for meaningless sex and illicit drugs.”
I opened Bret Easton Ellis’s book, ‘The Rules of Attraction.’ He jumped straight into page 14.
“Sure,” I replied. “What are you looking for?”
“I don’t even know.” He shrugged. “I can’t tell what’s real or fake anymore.”
“This isn’t real?” I asked, knocking on the table.
“Maybe for you it is, but for the majority of worlds this is a work of fiction.”
“What do you mean?”
“Everyone lives in a world that was written by a parallel world. Your works of fiction are someone else’s reality. The same way that your reality is someone else’s fiction.”
“So you’re just looking for your home world?” I asked.
“Fuck that. A happy land of children’s bullshit. I’m looking for meaningless sex and illicit drugs.”
I opened Bret Easton Ellis’s book, ‘The Rules of Attraction.’ He jumped straight into page 14.