Critic Reviews
Good
Based on 10 reviews on
A wildly inventive, savagely funny and topical novel about love, mortality and the afterlife, by the Booker-shortlisted author of A Fraction of the Whole.
Angus is a reformed ne'er-do-well looking forward to the birth of his first child when he's murdered by a man who is in love with his pregnant wife Gracie. Having never believed in God, heaven or hell, Angus finds himself in the afterlife - a place that provides more questions than answers. As a worldwide pandemic finally reaches the shores of Australia, the afterlife starts to get very crowded and Angus finds a way to reconnect with his wife Gracie and maybe even seek revenge on his murderer...
Here Goes Nothing is a novel of exhilarating originality and scope about birth, death and everything in between and after by 'a writer of prodigious talent' (Peter Carey) that contains a vision of the afterlife that rivals Dante's Divine Comedy and George Saunders' Lincoln in the Bardo, and the emmy-nominated The Good Place.
Justine Jordan is the Guardian's deputy literary editor.
Like all Steve Toltz novels, Here Goes Nothing is a force of nature - Rob Doyle reviews an author who raises wisecracking to a world view https://t.co/CqsDGpP4U3
Neil Pasricha is an entrepreneur and author.
Steve Toltz is on 3 Books! He is the Booker-shortlisted novelist of A FRACTION OF A WHOLE and HERE GOES NOTHING. We discuss writing routines, writing habits, writing practices, raising readers, and, of course, Steve’s 3 most formative books. Enjoy: https://t.co/sNiCOjGrzN https://t.co/NZFLcp6WQW
Melville House is an independent publisher in Brooklyn, publishing literary fiction, nonfiction, and poetry ... and liking it. @MelvilleHouseBooks@mstdn.social
@steve_toltz 's ominously accurate and hilariously biting cult classic Here Goes Nothing is now available in paperback! https://t.co/N7nBDBDhSR
"Toltz... is smart, imaginative and funny, unafraid to lob a literary grenade into hard-held beliefs of humankind. He uses Here Goes Nothing as a jumping-off point to parody the perversity and stubbornness of human nature and to highlight our uneasy relationship with mortality. Think of it as a comic, modern-day Divine Comedy with more intercourse and fewer opportunities to reach Paradise." -- The Star Tribune
"Enjoyable as social commentary, a philosophical exploration of life's meaning, an inventive, pop-culture-referencing mystery-of-sorts or simply a good yarn, "Here Goes Nothing" makes for rich, reflective, involving reading." --The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
"Surreal, sharply funny and as dark as the grave. Fans of noir fiction and quirky thrillers ... will dig right in." -- Shelf Awareness
"With a stygian sense of humour, Toltz persuasively argues that humanity, for all the progress made, has achieved little of substance other than finding new ways of distracting itself as the world burns... Here Goes NothÂing works because we care about Angus, Grace, and Owen. It would have been easy for Toltz to depict them as caricatures; instead, they are three wonderÂfully flawed but sympathetic individuals." -- Locus Magazine
"Toltz's wit and black humor transform a morbid premise into a rollicking ride. The result is an audaciously creative imagining of what awaits after death." -- Publishers Weekly
"Toltz (Quicksand, 2015) revels in the irony of an afterlife skeptic forced into a ghastly second act. Angus' narration is thick with zingy one-liners pointing up the absurdity of it all... an exploration of big feels, among them the slow-spreading dread of societal cataclysm, the grief of watching one's beloved embrace a new partner, and the fear that now may be as good as it gets." -- Booklist
"You may laugh or weep and be shocked or outraged, but you won't be bored. You may even develop a greater understanding of human nature -- even as it plays out in the hereafter." - The Washington Independent Review of Books
"Outlandishly satisfying and timely...this is highly intelligent reading of the tallest order with much to unpack." -- Bookreporter
"Here Goes Nothing is a thought-provoking work that's perfect for anyone whose dim view of our planetary existence is tempered by hope in something better than a doctrinaire ending." -- Criminal Element