Reviews

Here Goes Nothing by Steve Toltz

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kvltprincess's review against another edition

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5.0

I laughed a lot, and I even teared up a little. Excellent dark humor.

vicrine's review against another edition

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1.0

0/10 DNF it reminded me of that book that kept saying "It's just a bagatelle." Whatever.

tazzle_dazzle's review

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2.0

Interesting concept but in execution appears to be a vehicle for the author’s unsavory and at times outright offensive views of humanity and modern life.

raygainford's review against another edition

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3.0

A very interesting take on death and the afterlife. Darkly comic but quite bleak at times. It was an interesting premise that kept me invested, but I’m left feeling a little disappointed. The characters are unlikeable. There’s so much of this afterlife that is left unexplained purely because the main character believes ignorance is bliss and never thinks to ask any questions. A little bit overwritten in parts and I’m still not sure what Steve Toltz was trying to say.

hannahjsimpson's review against another edition

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2.0

When Angus Mooney is murdered by an unwelcome house guest, he finds that the afterlife is about as painfully mundane as life was. As he struggles to assimilate to his new reality he is consumed with worries about the pregnant wife, Gracie, he left behind who is now living alone with his murderer, Owen. When a devastating pandemic takes over Earth both Owen and Gracie join Mooney in the afterlife.

This was a complex plot to describe and I'm not sure I've done it justice in the above summary. So much is going on and yet the plot is weirdly vague. All of these characters are unbearable and it's a slog to get through because I didn't want to spend any time with them. No questions about this afterlife are answered, which is probably due to the fact that Mooney is the singularly most incurious person in human history. I'm sure this is all a point the Toltz is trying to make about how humans see the world and how pointless it is to worry about the afterlife/ Regardless, this is a depressing book, whose humor cannot be truly appreciated because of how bleak the characters and setting of the book are.

booksandbikes17's review against another edition

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1.0

Unfortunately I couldn't get into this one. I loved A Fraction of the Whole but this book felt very frivoulous and lightweight, with no real meaning or even an engaging story. Disappointing.