Description
Quicksand is the latest work by Steve Toltz after the acclaimed novel Part of the Whole. In an interview, Toltz wrote part of the whole about the fear of death and Rang Ravan about the fear of life. O God, why is not my role in this world merely a fallen clown? Why should I be the fallen clown that the rest of the fallen clowns fall on? In other words, why should it be written on my forehead that every old woman who slips in the supermarket should hold my arm?
The book Flowing sand is another work by Steve Toltz, author of The Part of the Whole.
The book is about the fear of life, said Steve Toltz.
The story of the novel begins with Liam, and in fact Liam is the author of a book about the misfortunes and failures of his friend Aldo.
Liam and Aldo are two high school friends who have failed in life.
Liam is a police officer who loves writing, whose writings have always failed and never succeeded, and even the reason he became a police officer is to create one of his books, which also failed, has a failed marriage, and has a cold relationship with His wife says Tess and his complicated relationship with his daughter Sonia.
Aldo, who is in fact the real hero of the novel and is written about in the center of attention, books and novels, is also an unlucky and unfortunate entrepreneur who has been defeated and injured a thousand times from his childhood to his old age, and has his worst fears. He comes, gets paralyzed and goes to prison and finally…
Throughout the novel, Aldo tries to kill himself thousands of times, but always fails, leading him to believe that he is an eternal miser.
In a very humorous way, this novel examines the fear of life in its own words, and examines this issue with angles and allusions and explanations from great writers.
Quicksand

The book Quicksand is written in three parts, with a sentence at the beginning of each part:
Oh, what hope, sea sea hope – but not for us. – Franz Kafka
This is one of the old and ridiculous human habits: when he loses his way, he runs faster.
The philosophy of the book Quicksand
This book, like Toltz’s previous work, is not just Toltz’s writings and ideas, but is replete with the writings of other great writers who were influenced by Toltz himself.
In this book, he also used the philosophy of people like Baudelaire, Camus, Freud, Kafka, Tolstoy and others.
This book is all about metaphysics. It is fully examining the existence of life, God, death and suicide.
The novel portrays Aldo, a failed villain who has failed even in his suicide attempt, and in the darkest possible way creates a transformed Kafkaesque character whose life is no darker than hers, which is the only solution for suicide.
The deep philosophical part of the novel begins in chapter two and occupies the largest volume of the novel, which during the first conversation he has with “Mimi” (when he first contacts him) he makes a completely camouflaged conversation, saying “Do not ask for a life of value Is he alive or not? “Ask if my life is worth living or not.” Which refers to the book The Legend of Sisyphus Camus, to which Camus answers this question, saying, “The only philosophical subject is suicide.” “
Of course, Aldo’s ideas gradually change in the novel, his conversation with Morrell, who is told by the omniscient’s story that you are mortal and corrupt, the only problem is that you confuse the indefinite with the infinite.
When he feels that he needs God or a spiritual force, he talks to him and tells his fear. In the end, a completely metaphysical state arises in which Aldo converses with a spiritual force and asks all the questions about the cause of resentment, the existence of hell, the cause of consciousness, why. God does not show himself to be beautiful, which in my opinion is a belief with a twenty-first century vision, not a belief thousands of years old.
About the book Quicksand
In his first book, Steve Toltz, he surprised a large audience around the world. In addition, it raised expectations of itself.
If you have read the book except for the whole, you will undoubtedly be interested in this book as well.
Before starting the book, I kept asking myself the question, will the flowing sand be as great as the whole ?? And at the end of the book I came to the conclusion that:
Not!! In my opinion, smooth sand is not good except for the whole.
But quicksand also has its own beauties. The beginning of the book may not be as stormy as the author’s first book, but it makes the reader feel good. The book starts well at the beginning and I think it gradually loses its charm until the middle of the book. In the middle of the book, the reader experiences the fascinating pen of Steve Toltz again. And enjoys it until the end of the book.
In this book, too, Steve Toltz uses humor and philosophy beautifully.
The story of Ravan Ravan goes from chapter to chapter and from future to past, and in my opinion, this prevents the audience from getting tired. And shows the art of the author.
I suggest you do not miss reading this good book.
Another critique of the book Ravan Ravan
The first thing you should consider when dealing with a second book by an author is the level of expectation.
Many writers with the masterpieces they created raised our expectations of the ability of their pen. For example, when you read Caramago from Caramago and then go to the book Praising the Author’s Death, you may be very disappointed. True, the look and style of writing are the same, but the appeal of the works is different from earth to sky.
After reading the book, part of the whole level of our expectation from Toltz rose from the beginning to the end of the Milky Way. For me personally, it was like every line I read from this author. So far, Toltz is a genius to me. A genius who wrote except for the whole. We lived with this book, many of us had it in our hands for a long time and we could not put it down. Still, if anyone asks me the best book you have read recently, I will answer without hesitation: except for the whole.
On the other hand, Peyman Khaksar took a big risk by translating the second work by Toltz. The book is a work of art and should be considered far from the judgment space. But this is practically impossible. Subconsciously, before starting the book, you hold a pen and pencil to find the same pure Toltz sentences. Unconsciously says better or worse than the whole.
Personally, if what I said was important, I would ask Mr. Khaksar not to translate any of Toltz’s work anymore. Let this person remain in our minds the same wonderful writer. But this is not the solution. Is it possible not to read books because our ideal writers are questioned? Of course, I know what I said was not true. But I repeat, I think Toltz is a genius.
The books I have just described to you should have a distinctive feature. They should be able to accompany the audience in the first fifty pages. I’m not saying they have the power to nail, but the traction needed to keep going is very important (this is true of all books, of course).
So far all we have talked about is the whole thing. Now let’s go to Aldo Benjamin and his predicament.
One of the advantages of Toltz is that he knows both the dish and the container well. For example, where he told the story in the form of Aldo’s testimony and defense, he was able to satisfy me a lot, he was really smart. This knowledge makes the stories that Toltz narrates not dry and empty, and even if the reader can not communicate with the theme of the story, he falls in love with the wise characters of the book.
Characters who are often people with a lot of knowledge, but all inactive world. Knowledge that does not help them, because they have not learned the science of living.
Aldo, you were always the wrong person with the wrong clothes, you said the wrong thing with the wrong tone, you addressed the wrong person or people at the wrong time and place, always with a sense of error…
If we consider the graph except for the whole x = infinity, the graph is a sinusoidal gravel. Up to page 100 you have to make the decision to leave the book aside or continue. I, who really endured, until at last, about a hundred and one plates were sparked by Toltz flint, and the flame rose.
Overall, the book “Fluffy Sand” met my expectations, but as a normal novel, not a masterpiece. Read the flowing sand. If you have not read anything but the whole, first read the book Ravan Ravan, after reading the book, you will enjoy the whole of the book.
Excerpts from the book Quicksand
Now that we have the internet, we can no longer say “you have not seen anything yet” because everyone, to see everything until the age of twelve.
Untapped talent puts pressure on the soul.
Most cops are beaten up by the oppressed seeking revenge or hypocritical scoundrels dreaming of deadly power.
Remembering the past is like watching a Hollywood movie, you can’t see the characters on the toilet.
The head of the donkey also becomes uniform after a while.
Listen Stella, every time I hear someone who has been single for forty years, I think of a man who laid an egg on his head and walked a thousand kilometers and his name is recorded in the Guinness Book of Records. I say to myself, God bless you for your perseverance, but why did you make such a mistake?
My biggest fear is that when I am in the bathroom, someone comes and steals my house.
People immediately consider a suicide tragic, but they do not consider the decades of unbearable mental suffering that led to suicide.
Some memories are like water holes that never evaporate.
If there is a crack in a thousand kilometers walk, my foot will go away.
Other parts of the book Quicksand
I have swallowed bees many times. And I eat a bird at least twice a year. I always hit the ground when I yell at someone. When I play the piano, my fingers should not close the door. It is not possible for me to cross the train tracks at night and Yahoo does not have a train honking its horn for me. Every time I climbed a ladder, a step under it broke. I may not get sick on my birthday. Every time I travel, I arrive in the city one day after the celebration. Can you tell how many obese women you are pregnant with?
The blind have wonderful hearing and the deaf have a unique sense of smell. What do paralyzers get?
I feel closer to Sotomo Yamaguchi Yamaguchi than any other human being, the unfortunate one who went on a business trip to Hiroshima just when the atomic bomb exploded and then returned to Nagasaki and as soon as he arrived the second bomb fell.
The inviolable law has always been this, when it comes to your dream that it is too late.
Maybe the reason I did not die was because I was already dead.
The fact is that to some extent you can invest in yourself and the time you have, then you have to leave your friends alone on the cold rocks. You have other things to do.
Every day when you wake up alive, conqueror, go and seek your spoils.
1- Introducing the book Quicksand on YouTube
2- Introducing the book Quicksand in Aparat
Reviews
There are no reviews yet.