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'The literary event of 2015. Steve Toltz follows his extraordinary debut, the 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.
'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 art form.
'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.' (Publication summary)
Notes
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Dedication: For Marlowe
Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of
Other Formats
- Sound recording.
Works about this Work
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Steve Toltz : Quicksand
2016
single work
review
— Appears in: World Literature Today , March vol. 90 no. 2 2016; (p. 87-88)
— Review of Quicksand 2015 single work novel -
Well Read
2015
single work
review
— Appears in: The Advertiser , 6 June 2015; (p. 32)
— Review of Quicksand 2015 single work novel -
Cherry on Top
2015
single work
review
— Appears in: Australian Book Review , May no. 371 2015; (p. 30)
— Review of Quicksand 2015 single work novel -
Steve Toltz : Quicksand
2015
single work
review
— Appears in: The Newtown Review of Books , June 2015;
— Review of Quicksand 2015 single work novel -
Review : Quicksand
2015
single work
review
— Appears in: The Saturday Paper , 25 April 2015;
— Review of Quicksand 2015 single work novel
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Stretching a Friendship
2015
single work
review
— Appears in: The Weekend Australian , 2-3 May 2015; (p. 18)
— Review of Quicksand 2015 single work novel -
The Full Catastrophes of Aldo and His Fall from Grace
2015
single work
review
— Appears in: The Sydney Morning Herald , 16-17 May 2015; (p. 33) The Saturday Age , 16-17 May 2015; (p. 29)
— Review of Quicksand 2015 single work novel -
Heroic Missteps Amid All the Talk
2015
single work
review
— Appears in: The Sunday Age , 24 May 2015; (p. 17)
— Review of Quicksand 2015 single work novel -
Review : Quicksand
2015
single work
review
— Appears in: The Saturday Paper , 25 April 2015;
— Review of Quicksand 2015 single work novel -
Steve Toltz : Quicksand
2015
single work
review
— Appears in: The Newtown Review of Books , June 2015;
— Review of Quicksand 2015 single work novel -
Steve Toltz
2015
single work
interview
— Appears in: The Sydney Morning Herald , 2-3 May 2015; (p. 24) The Canberra Times , 2 May 2015; (p. 13) The Age , 2-3 May 2015; (p. 24) -
Steve Toltz on Quicksand : I Exaggerate a Part of My Alter Ego for Fictional Purposes
2015
single work
column
— Appears in: The Guardian Australia , 22 May 2015; 'As the Man Booker-nominated author returns with his second novel, he discusses fatherhood, death, the absurdity of human endurance and tapping his own dark side' -
Toltz No.2
2015
single work
interview
— Appears in: The Saturday Paper , 23 May 2015;
Awards
- 2017 winner Russell Prize for Humour Writing
- 2016 shortlisted Prime Minister's Literary Awards — Fiction