When this year's Booker Prize shortlist was announced, some observers lamented the length of the six contenders, which included Steve Toltz's nearly 600-page debut, A Fraction of the Whole. But the propulsive, globetrotting narrative accomplishes something few debut novels manage: it offers a harmonious blend of linguistic and thematic ambition bolstered by genuine storytelling prowess.

Jasper Dean kicks the narrative off from a prison cell in his home country of Australia, recounting the recent riots and declaring that his father, Martin Dean, is dead and his body will never be found. From there, the story spins across generations and continents, with Jasper and Martin alternating duties as narrator. From Australia to France and Thailand, the father/son team blunders its way through an endless series of misadventures, offering germane cultural and societal observations along the way.

During his childhood and adolescence, Jasper suffered the meandering musings of his father, who had little use for traditional parenting duties and instead chose to raise his son with the help of countless literary and philosophical texts. As Jasper's story unfolds, Toltz circles back to Martin's upbringing, focusing on his brother Terry, a mischievous child who turns criminal at a young age. Terry's life of crime makes him a national celebrity, but he is ultimately captured and imprisoned in a penitentiary mere miles from his home.

Throughout the book, Toltz moves back and forth in time, counterpointing the urgent, first-person views of both Jasper and Martin's characters with little regard for conventional narrative structure — making it all the more impressive when it works. A detailed plot summary wouldn't do the book justice, but the many other intriguing characters flitting through Jasper and Martin's lives include Astrid, Jasper's mother, who commits suicide in fantastic fashion; Anouk, Martin's salty housekeeper, who becomes much more by the end; and Harry West, a career criminal who authors a how-to manual called The Handbook of Crime.

A Fraction of a Whole has enjoyed near-universal praise, and for good reason. The story is sprawling and relentlessly witty, often shocking but more often poignant. Could Toltz have trimmed it by 100 pages? Probably. Is the long journey worth it? Absolutely.

-Eric Liebetrau