او خواهد آمد، اگر من و امثال من بگذارند!
خدایا ما را از منتظران حقیقی اش قرار ده
او خواهد آمد، اگر من و امثال من بگذارند!
خدایا ما را از منتظران حقیقی اش قرار دهA review of the content of the book A Fraction of the Whole by Steve Toltz
I'll cut straight to the point and give some pointers on Steve Toltz's famous book, A Fraction of the Whole.
I had to read this book for a job and because of its interesting story, I was able to finish it in time (i.e. I read 695 pages of the book in 5 days).
Before I started reading the book, I searched about it on the internet, most of the readers of the book had praised it.
What attracted my attention the most was the praise of the author's philosophical and ontological views from the language of the characters in the story, something that the readers pointed out and emphasized many times, and this sensitivity made me read the book more carefully.
After mentioning this introduction, I will present some points (and actually criticisms) about this book (a dark and destructive book for the soul!):
Although the main characters of the story were Jewish in terms of race and atheist and atheist in terms of belief, in several places of the book, the oppression and oppression that happened to the Jewish people is mentioned explicitly or implicitly! The author of the book insists on insinuating to his audience that people are delusional and pessimistic about the Jewish people. For example, about Jews being rich or about them being deceitful, and this is one of the hideous and disgusting efforts of the author of the book. Why disgusting? Because the main characters of the story, despite insisting on being atheists, at the same time complained about people's cynicism towards Jews and their oppressed throughout history!
The author provides reasons to prove that the atheistic beliefs of the main characters in the story are correct and logical! Reasons that are more fallacious than logical and have clear and specific answers, but in no way do they mention the reasonable answers that are there in rejecting the reasons for atheism in the discussions of the book! It does not even raise the possibility that these fallacies may have a logical and valid answer!
All over the book believers in religion and even God are shown as naive and superficial people (and in some cases hypocrites and liars) and of course with closed minds! The author repeatedly insists on saying that the true believers in God and religion are those who believed in these concepts because of their fear and weakness. Almost like the nonsense that the likes of Nietzsche say! And you don't see any reasonable, logical and desirable character in the book who believes in God and religion, and this is very interesting and to some extent it may reflect the author's own real views in this regard.
One of the most misleading parts of the book is where the main character says: Even if there is a god, he would never blame me for not worshiping him or anything like that! Rather, if he intends to accuse me of something, it is because I have not lived well for myself! And this is the other side of humanism. To the extent that if there is to be a god, he cannot command or forbid us or we do not have to worship him, (and basically we do not have a duty to the creator assuming his existence!)
The maximum is to use the opportunity of living in this world to live well and enjoy.
The terrible insistence of the author who wants the audience to accept through his story and characters that there is no such thing as God and religion. He even returns the origin of telepathy (an example of which is given at the end of the book) to the mind and spirit and not beyond matter and sensations, and of course the repeated insistence of the first character of the story on his revelations in a coma is also a product of his own mind and Not seeing the spirit. From external facts! (This itself implies mockery and doubt in the authenticity and nature of the subject of revelation!)
The conditions of the book are also clear in terms of moral issues and do not need to be explained. Only sometimes we come across interesting points like this: on the one hand, the main character of the story claims that adherence to moral principles is ridiculous and that there is no such thing as immutable moral principles (like the nonsense of some so-called philosophers and thinkers), but The other side is suffering because his wife is having a relationship with his brother.
The main character of the story has a very negative and humiliating view of society and people, and this is another factor that turns it into a black and destructive work for the soul, along with the other things mentioned.
And finally I must say:
supporting the Jewish people and showing them as victims;
Proving the non-existence of God and the illogicality of believing in it despite the state of the world and its people
Also emphasizing the naivety, superficiality and lack of faith of the believers in religion and God and that basically such beliefs are rooted in the fear, weakness and naivety of individuals.
It is the foundation and main message of the book.
