Quicksand by Steve Toltz (Sceptre/Hodder, £17.99)
The second novel by Man Booker shortlisted author Steve Toltz returns to the subject of outsiders, this time in the form of two friends: Liam, a failed novelist who gives up his artistic ambitions and becomes a policeman, and Aldo, a failed entrepreneur with implausibly bad luck.
Aldo is riddled with debt, wrongly accused of rape (twice) and murder and after becoming a paraplegic is confined to a wheelchair. He is “always the wrong guy with the wrong outfit saying the wrong thing in the wrong tone of voice in the wrong place at the wrong time to the wrong person.” As Liam is called on again and again to bail him out, he wonders if Aldo is, perhaps, the perfect subject for a novel. He begins setting down the story of Aldo’s life in a variety of literary forms.
Teeming with energy, wit and compassion, Quicksand is an ambitious tragicomedy. All the big subjects of life are here, treated in a hugely entertaining way. There are times when the novel’s dexterity can feel overwhelming and Toltz’s acumen exhausting; but even when it becomes overwhelming, we still keep turning the pages.
The second novel by Man Booker shortlisted author Steve Toltz returns to the subject of outsiders, this time in the form of two friends: Liam, a failed novelist who gives up his artistic ambitions and becomes a policeman, and Aldo, a failed entrepreneur with implausibly bad luck.
Aldo is riddled with debt, wrongly accused of rape (twice) and murder and after becoming a paraplegic is confined to a wheelchair. He is “always the wrong guy with the wrong outfit saying the wrong thing in the wrong tone of voice in the wrong place at the wrong time to the wrong person.” As Liam is called on again and again to bail him out, he wonders if Aldo is, perhaps, the perfect subject for a novel. He begins setting down the story of Aldo’s life in a variety of literary forms.
Teeming with energy, wit and compassion, Quicksand is an ambitious tragicomedy. All the big subjects of life are here, treated in a hugely entertaining way. There are times when the novel’s dexterity can feel overwhelming and Toltz’s acumen exhausting; but even when it becomes overwhelming, we still keep turning the pages.
