The Slap (2008)

A great premise and structure, but a book of this length with hardly any sympathetic characters was too much for me. I just didn't want to spend time with these people - couldn't make myself finish it. ( )

There were part of the book that I loved and parts that left me wanting to chuck it - all in all, it was a good book but quite complex....

Back Cover Blurb:
At a suburban barbecue one afternoon, a man slaps an unruly three-year-old boy.
The boy is not his son.
It is a single act of violence, but the slap reverberates through the lives of everyone present. ( )

The people in this book are all kinds of fucked up. Take this exchange between a mother and her teenage son:

She cleared her throat and suddenly barked out, 'Are you going to take drugs?'
He looked at her reflection in the mirror. She looked small, a little afraid. Slowly, he nodded.
'What kind?'
'Weed, I guess.'
'What else?'
He shrugged. 'Stuff.'
'What stuff?'
'Speed. Maybe an E.'
'Oh, baby.' She began to reach out to him then abruptly withdrew her hand. 'I guess you're all grown up.'
He eyed her refection warily. Was she pissed off with him?
She stood up and kissed him quickly on the cheek. 'Just be careful.' She stopped at the door. 'I heard on the radio there's going to be sniffer dogs. Better put the gear up your arse.'

Good advice there, mom. Way to be looking out for your little dingo baby.

Many people have complained about the explicit language and sex scenes. The truck driving sailor in me couldn't care less; there wasn't a single word printed in this book (other than the Australian slang, which flew right over my head) that I haven't said once, twice, a million times before. However, my critical reader side isn't as forgiving. Have you ever overheard a group of teenagers loudly "conversing" in public and every other word out of their mouth is 'fuck' and it's so obvious that they think it makes them look cool but in reality they just look like asshats?* That's what this book reminded me of. I wasn't offended in the slightest, just bored by it. Once I've read the word 'c*nt' in a book for the 20th time, I'm pretty desensitized.

The characters are all morons/assholes/douche bags/suckers, but that was ok. I like flawed characters. I also like totally messed up story lines and unhappy endings, so I should have been more into this. Too uneven I guess, with sections that were very compelling and others that I forced myself not to skim through (too much). Regardless, it took me a week and a half to get through this and that is way too long.

*Upon typing this sentence I realized that I've become my mother. ( )

The Slap wasn't really anything like I was expected. From the title and the description, I expected the plot to be focused around the aftermath of Harry slapping his friends' child. Instead, it really just focused around the relationships of all the acquaintances and their personal lives. The Slap was mentioned a few times throughout the book but it really felt like it was in the background. I found it very hard to like any of the character as they were all incredibly selfish and hate-filled but at the same time, I did find them interesting to read about. They were all living double lives basically and all secretly disliked each other. The book wasn't what I thought it would be and it wasn't amazing but it was still interesting and I was not bored at any point. ( )

If I hadn't committed to reading this for a book club, I wouldn't have read past page 1. Coarse and unpleasant, to say the least. I wanted to slap every character in it. ( )