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asurges's review against another edition
4.0
WHOA. This is not a book for people who want to avoid fiction about the climate crisis, pandemics, or anything about life after death or death or murder or gruesome deaths. Very well written with characters that are complex and well drawn, and the gallows humor made me laugh out loud many, many times in a way that later occurred to me was cathartic.
Had trouble sleeping once I'd finished reading it.
Had trouble sleeping once I'd finished reading it.
ccornejo's review against another edition
2.0
This book was not for me. I didn?ЗЦt find any of it remotely humorous. I now know to stay far away from satire and dark humor. Mostly just made me depressed. Trigger warnings should be mentioned about infanticide.
rachemorre's review against another edition
3.0
Conflicted on this one. While I loved the dialogue and so much of the writing, the plot and characters were tedious from the start and only became more difficult to tolerate as the story progressed. A scene with infanticide towards the end (that was also completely unnecessary) made me sick to my stomach and pretty much ruined this one for me.
sambocky's review against another edition
4.0
This book was a trip. A traumatic, upsetting trip. It is full of nuance and social commentary and low-key philosophy. It's also full of distaste and unpleasantness. Devastating in an existential kind of way.
Overall: I can't say I'm super glad I read it; I can't say I'd recommend you read it. But I must say I'm impressed (in a shaky kind of way).
Overall: I can't say I'm super glad I read it; I can't say I'd recommend you read it. But I must say I'm impressed (in a shaky kind of way).
bianca89279's review
4.0
3.5
Here Goes Nothing had an original premise, as it's told from the perspective of Angus Mooney from the after-life, after his surprising and unexpected demise.
We find out about his difficult upbringing, having been fostered by several families, after being abandoned by his parents when three years old. By circumstance and lack of direction, he becomes a petty thief, and he gets himself a prison record.
When he finds someone to love and settle down with, he becomes a respectable citizen.
As was the case with Toltz's previous two novels, there were many quips popping up everywhere. And quite a few philosophical soliloquies or thought bubbles about love, relationships, the afterlife, faith etc. At times, it is somewhat comical, but I never found it ha-ha funny.
I was willing to suspend my disbelief and go with the whole after-life scenario. I finished the novel and had no clue about what Toltz was trying to say or show within these pages. Also, towards the end, there was a lot of afterlife gibberish that made no sense and added nothing to the story.
In conclusion, this had potential and some brilliant moments, but the amalgam didn't result in a fully satisfying reading experience.
Here Goes Nothing had an original premise, as it's told from the perspective of Angus Mooney from the after-life, after his surprising and unexpected demise.
We find out about his difficult upbringing, having been fostered by several families, after being abandoned by his parents when three years old. By circumstance and lack of direction, he becomes a petty thief, and he gets himself a prison record.
When he finds someone to love and settle down with, he becomes a respectable citizen.
As was the case with Toltz's previous two novels, there were many quips popping up everywhere. And quite a few philosophical soliloquies or thought bubbles about love, relationships, the afterlife, faith etc. At times, it is somewhat comical, but I never found it ha-ha funny.
I was willing to suspend my disbelief and go with the whole after-life scenario. I finished the novel and had no clue about what Toltz was trying to say or show within these pages. Also, towards the end, there was a lot of afterlife gibberish that made no sense and added nothing to the story.
In conclusion, this had potential and some brilliant moments, but the amalgam didn't result in a fully satisfying reading experience.
emfiander's review against another edition
dark
funny
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
The best thing about this book was the writing. It's funny, in a witty dark humor kind of way. The premise is definitely interesting (although, fair warning, some of the plot points outlined in the description don't occur until well into the story), but I had a lot more fun in the first half, while everything was being set up, than watching it all play out in the second half. It was very good at evoking the emotions of frustration (and the futility of that feeling), existential dread, and meaningless helplessness. The characters are more vessels for ideas than people. It poses a lot of questions it does not attempt to answer—which is, I think, part of the point. And while I don't necessarily mind that in theory, because I think it can be good to explore those questions on your own as a reader, they were often presented in an overwhelming cascade that made it difficult not only to explore and ponder but to even care about doing so. But so long as I wasn't reading one of those sections, I was really enjoying myself.
nina_reads_books's review
3.0
I’m trying to catch up on reviews as I've been powering through the books this month so this one is from a couple of weeks ago. I listened to Here Goes Nothing by Steve Toltz on audiobook and while it was enjoyable enough I finished it feeling like I wasn’t sure what the point was.
The book focuses on Angus who has had a pretty hard life with his parents abandoning him as an infant, living in foster care to becoming a petty criminal as a young and not so young adult. Eventually though he meets and falls in love with quirky marriage celebrant Gracie. The couple are living happily trying for a baby when a stranger appears at the door and inserts himself into their life. It’s not a spoiler to say that Angus ends up dead and in an afterlife of sorts. The story then follows both Angus as he grapples with the randomness and bureaucratic insanity of the new place he finds himself in and Gracie as she struggles with her grief over losing her husband.
Throw in a worldwide pandemic (funnily enough set after our most recent pandemic which it references) which has the population in the afterlife growing exponentially with disastrous consequences for living arrangements and some interesting experiences for Gracie as the pandemic takes hold in Australia and you have what was billed as “a wildly inventive and savagely funny novel about love and mortality”.
To some degree this is what I experienced. There were certainly some amusing parts and the administrative organisation of the afterlife was reminiscent of The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida which made for some wryly funny situations. But the novel did start losing me towards the end as the situations become ridiculous and kind of shocking actually. Gracie is really full on and I didn’t find her as quirkily endearing as I think she was supposed to be. There are ghosts, there are philosophical musings about where we go when we die and faith in general but honestly I just don’t know what the point of it all was?
So not a total win for me.
The book focuses on Angus who has had a pretty hard life with his parents abandoning him as an infant, living in foster care to becoming a petty criminal as a young and not so young adult. Eventually though he meets and falls in love with quirky marriage celebrant Gracie. The couple are living happily trying for a baby when a stranger appears at the door and inserts himself into their life. It’s not a spoiler to say that Angus ends up dead and in an afterlife of sorts. The story then follows both Angus as he grapples with the randomness and bureaucratic insanity of the new place he finds himself in and Gracie as she struggles with her grief over losing her husband.
Throw in a worldwide pandemic (funnily enough set after our most recent pandemic which it references) which has the population in the afterlife growing exponentially with disastrous consequences for living arrangements and some interesting experiences for Gracie as the pandemic takes hold in Australia and you have what was billed as “a wildly inventive and savagely funny novel about love and mortality”.
To some degree this is what I experienced. There were certainly some amusing parts and the administrative organisation of the afterlife was reminiscent of The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida which made for some wryly funny situations. But the novel did start losing me towards the end as the situations become ridiculous and kind of shocking actually. Gracie is really full on and I didn’t find her as quirkily endearing as I think she was supposed to be. There are ghosts, there are philosophical musings about where we go when we die and faith in general but honestly I just don’t know what the point of it all was?
So not a total win for me.
pilebythebed's review against another edition
3.0
The Afterlife and the Beforelife (?) as concepts in fiction have never really gone away from the Bible through Dante’s Inferno and beyond. But in these uncertain and pandemic-riddled times there seems to be have been a bit of a renaissance in the depiction of these ideas. Movies like Soul and Nine Days and TV shows like The Good Place have dealt with that part of humans that either exists before or survives death. Australian author Steve Toltz, best known for his Booker shortlisted debut A Fraction of the Whole, takes on life, the afterlife, organised religion, the pandemic and a range of current issues in his latest book Here Goes Nothing.
It is no spoiler to reveal that the narrator of Here Goes Nothing, Angus Mooney, is dead. He reveals as much in the opening lines of the book. Before we get to how he died, we start the strange story of how his wife invited a dying stranger into their home and how the cash strapped pair make a deal with him that enables him to stay. Before long Mooney is dead, finds himself in an unexpected afterlife, trying to work out what to do with his new life but also finding an unhealthy way to keep track of his wife and the lodger who is sliding into his place.
It has to be said that Toltz’s afterlife is idiosyncratic but uninspiring. It is essentially, our world but grimier. People have had all of their Earthly maladies cured but they still eat and drink and work and fight and procreate and can still die (and still no one knows where they go next). There are religions, refugee camps, housing shortages, border skirmishes and, of course, a bureaucracy that essentially runs the place (an interesting commonality with all of the works previously mentioned).
Mooney is what can only be called a Toltzian character. Damaged, self-deprecating, needy, obsessive and self-destructive. While he is in some ways the perfect guide to what is a dispiriting and grey afterlife, he is also a hard character to spend a lot of time with. Meanwhile his nemesis, Owen Fogel, while more than a little sociopathic, is also suave and charismatic when he wants to be.
Because this novel was written post 2020 it has a pandemic thread - a new, deadly pandemic is sweeping the world spread by domesticated dogs. This allows Toltz to comment on the global response to Covid, and the Australian response in particular. It is also used as a plot device that puts pressure both on Angus’ pregnant wife Gracie and on the resources of the afterlife in which Mooney has found himself. In a clear allegory of various refugee crises around the world, those who run the afterlife have to find a pragmatic solution to the sudden influx of souls that they are unable to house.
Being about the afterlife, Toltz also has plenty to say about religion and its various institutions. The afterlife itself has its own forms of religion, because humans will be human. Back on Earth, Gracie is a marriage celebrant and later attends baby namings, and she tells things as she sees them, something that wins her plenty of work despite her unvarnished views.
Here Goes Nothing is a novel full of ideas but they are delivered in a fairly cynical, downbeat and fatalistic style. There is comedy here but it is intensely black and generally at the hapless Angus’ expense. And given what comes before it, it is unsurprising that the narrative builds to a particularly dark conclusion that may need to come with trigger warnings for some.
It is no spoiler to reveal that the narrator of Here Goes Nothing, Angus Mooney, is dead. He reveals as much in the opening lines of the book. Before we get to how he died, we start the strange story of how his wife invited a dying stranger into their home and how the cash strapped pair make a deal with him that enables him to stay. Before long Mooney is dead, finds himself in an unexpected afterlife, trying to work out what to do with his new life but also finding an unhealthy way to keep track of his wife and the lodger who is sliding into his place.
It has to be said that Toltz’s afterlife is idiosyncratic but uninspiring. It is essentially, our world but grimier. People have had all of their Earthly maladies cured but they still eat and drink and work and fight and procreate and can still die (and still no one knows where they go next). There are religions, refugee camps, housing shortages, border skirmishes and, of course, a bureaucracy that essentially runs the place (an interesting commonality with all of the works previously mentioned).
Mooney is what can only be called a Toltzian character. Damaged, self-deprecating, needy, obsessive and self-destructive. While he is in some ways the perfect guide to what is a dispiriting and grey afterlife, he is also a hard character to spend a lot of time with. Meanwhile his nemesis, Owen Fogel, while more than a little sociopathic, is also suave and charismatic when he wants to be.
Because this novel was written post 2020 it has a pandemic thread - a new, deadly pandemic is sweeping the world spread by domesticated dogs. This allows Toltz to comment on the global response to Covid, and the Australian response in particular. It is also used as a plot device that puts pressure both on Angus’ pregnant wife Gracie and on the resources of the afterlife in which Mooney has found himself. In a clear allegory of various refugee crises around the world, those who run the afterlife have to find a pragmatic solution to the sudden influx of souls that they are unable to house.
Being about the afterlife, Toltz also has plenty to say about religion and its various institutions. The afterlife itself has its own forms of religion, because humans will be human. Back on Earth, Gracie is a marriage celebrant and later attends baby namings, and she tells things as she sees them, something that wins her plenty of work despite her unvarnished views.
Here Goes Nothing is a novel full of ideas but they are delivered in a fairly cynical, downbeat and fatalistic style. There is comedy here but it is intensely black and generally at the hapless Angus’ expense. And given what comes before it, it is unsurprising that the narrative builds to a particularly dark conclusion that may need to come with trigger warnings for some.
kybrz's review against another edition
1.0
A bland, cynical book that tries humor repeatedly and comes up short. Can easily say this book was not for me. The level of cynicism was off-putting and no iota of hope showed itself at any point.