Help me find this novel set in Australia
August 10, 2012 11:52 AM Subscribe
"Name that book" - a novel set in Australia, deals with a young male protagonist with a somewhat crazy father and no mother. There are also South-Asian smugglers and lottery tickets involved?
The association I have for the title is something LIKE "pieces of the whole" or "a million tiny pieces," but it is NOT one of the books that are actually named that. So, fragmentation is the main association for the title. The book itself was flippant in tone and somewhat of a bildungsroman for the young man as he grows to appreciate his father despite their problems. In the beginning half of the book there is a devastating wildfire in the Australian Outback that destroys their makeshift house. There is a pretty central love story of the young man for a young woman, and at some point either he or she saves an entire jar full of tears that they cried. There is also a central plot involving organized crime in a SE Asian country, and smugglers not being who they said they were, and later, lottery tickets (possibly fraud?).
Not being able to remember the name of this book is killing me, I'd really like to read it again.
The association I have for the title is something LIKE "pieces of the whole" or "a million tiny pieces," but it is NOT one of the books that are actually named that. So, fragmentation is the main association for the title. The book itself was flippant in tone and somewhat of a bildungsroman for the young man as he grows to appreciate his father despite their problems. In the beginning half of the book there is a devastating wildfire in the Australian Outback that destroys their makeshift house. There is a pretty central love story of the young man for a young woman, and at some point either he or she saves an entire jar full of tears that they cried. There is also a central plot involving organized crime in a SE Asian country, and smugglers not being who they said they were, and later, lottery tickets (possibly fraud?).
Not being able to remember the name of this book is killing me, I'd really like to read it again.
Response by poster: YES! I knew AskMeFi would come through!
posted by permiechickie at 12:19 PM on August 10, 2012
posted by permiechickie at 12:19 PM on August 10, 2012
Dang! Too late! This is like the first one of these I've known!
Great novel...
posted by maya at 12:51 PM on August 10, 2012
Great novel...
posted by maya at 12:51 PM on August 10, 2012
This thread is closed to new comments.
Amazing book! I read it like four years ago, so I can't remember the fine details, but I remember it being simultaneously hilarious, grainy, winsome and haunted. Also, very cool/distinctive book design with holes in the cover (admittedly part of the reason I bought the dang thing).
posted by obscurator at 12:12 PM on August 10, 2012 [2 favorites]