And Speaking of Australian Lit Stars...

The Sydney Morning Herald meets with Steve Toltz, the downunder author who is creating a huge international stir. The Herald calls Toltz’ first book, A Fraction of the Whole (Spiegel & Grau), a “comical, philosophical, picaresque, hugely enjoyable” debut:

As a schoolboy, when he didn't know the answers to questions in biology tests, Steve Toltz would write down some silly invention for his own amusement. The moral challenge came when he did know the correct answer and still wanted to make something up. “I struggled with that,” he says, “but the impulse against seriousness eventually won out.”

Toltz is the Australian author currently getting the big, international buzz. The LA Times recently called him “a superb, disturbing phrasemaker” (Seriously: does praise get any higher than that?) while The Wall Street Journal called A Fraction Of The Whole “a riotously funny first novel … that is harder to ignore than a crate of puppies, twice as playful and just about as messy” (OK: eww) then went on to say the book is “a sort of Voltaire-meets-Vonnegut tale” (OK: wow).

So, clearly, no matter who you’re reading these days, and what country you hail from, Toltz is one to watch.

We’re watching.