Christos Tsiolkas

Crikey! This was one of the most engaging books I’ve read in a long time. "At a suburban barbeque, a man slaps a child who is not his own." The novel is divided into eight sections, each covering the point of view of one of the characters who was at the barbeque. But it is soon clear that there are many, many issues besides the slap. I thought about giving up after the first page because the introductory character is so despicable. I continued on and soon found myself swept up in the show more story. About ¾ of the way through, it really tanked, but got more interesting again with the final section.

What I liked: the best thing about this book is that it is a compelling a read. The almost 500 pgs flew by. I also liked the strong hit of Australian culture. Finally, I liked how the story was structured around eight different characters and their various points of view.

What I didn’t like: Although the judges that awarded this book the Commonwealth Writers’ Prize obviously disagree with me, I thought this book needs a ton of editing. The Slap should not have gone a page over 300. They could have saved trees and trimmed out 50 pages just by deleting all references to smoking cigarettes. Next, the language used by every single character was ridiculous. Adults really say the F-and C-words in front of children? Really? Also, everything the author knows about sex was apparently learned from watching porn. There are too many characters in this book, and I disliked all of them (except perhaps Anouk—not sure about her. And maybe Richie). The rest of them have to be the most despicable citizens of Australia.

Recommended for: Book clubs. This is NOT a typical book club, but is definitely great for sparking discussion.

Not recommended for: readers who dislike gratuitous swearing, sex and drug use and books with nasty characters.

Rating: 4/5 stars ... at times I thought his might go up to 5 stars, at other times I thought it was more like 2. show less

At a suburban picnic, some theoretically adult person loses control and slaps someone else's bratty little kid in the face. Lots of people then have opinions about this.

The basic premise of this one seemed like it could be a setup for something good. One shocking incident whose consequences ripple out across different people's lives in different ways, in eight sections each told from the point of view of a different person who witnessed it... that's got potential, right?

The problem is these show more people are all unbelievably awful and I resent having just spent nearly 500 pages in their company. It's not even that they're unlikable, as such. Unlikable characters can be fine. But if you're going to write them, by god, there needs to be something about them to make them worth reading about. They can be compelling in a train wreck kind of way, or provocative in their terribleness, or disturbingly sympathetic even when you don't want them to be, or at the absolute least they can get up to some entertainingly horrific things. But these folks? Nope, nothing of the sort. Their unlikability is entirely of the petty, banal, profoundly dull kind. And, hey, even that can work, if you're saying something interesting and resonant about the petty banality of people. I'm pretty sure that's what this one is trying to do. And there are moments where that almost works, little fleeting glimpses of some kind of possibly worthwhile commentary. But mostly it's just deeply tedious, with neither the characters nor the author feeling like they have anything actually insightful to say, despite their constant droning on about men and women and kids and relationships and The State of the World Today and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.

I spent a few days once in Melbourne, Australia, where this is set. I thought it was a lovely city, possibly one of the nicest I've ever been to. But I swear, less than a hundred pages in I was fantasizing about someone dropping a nuke on the place just to rid the world of these people. It would be a great shame, yes, but quite possibly worth it.

Rating: 2/5, and that's actually being super generous. show less

I appreciate Tsiolkas' ability to take the reader into a character's head and I thoroughly enjoy the ride once I'm there. While I was occasionally I felt the authenticity lacking (just a little bit), I was impressed by the variety of points of view centring around the plot's premise of an incredibly badly-behaved child being slapped by an adult other than his own parents. It's a contentious subject, but ultimately not the the point of the novel--it's just a device to give us a series of show more wonderful character studies.
I was particularly taken with Tsiolkas' handling of the deep-seated racism, sexism and sexuality. None of it is shied away from and all of it is handled honestly. There is no proselytizing, just a wonderfully woven story around these themes.

If you think the book is actually about the slap, then you're missing out. Still, excellent title to sell some books, eh? ;) show less

Having sat on my to-read shelf for years, I took this on a plane trip recently. I expected to leave it abandoned in my seat pocket for another person. Instead I found it hard to put down.

The premise of the story would never happen in reality – at a party of adult friends and their children, Hugo, a four year old, goes to wack another child with a cricket bat and the father of the target stops this happening by slapping Hugo on the face. The parents of Hugo insist on police involvement and show more the police take it to court. Because there is so little crime in Australia, that this stands out as a good use of police time and court resources. Not. It just wouldn’t happen.

But let’s pretend it could, because it makes for a great story, as the relations between the various adults are tested by the way in which Hugo’s parents behave and expectations by all concerned. A story gripping enough that not only was an Australian TV series made, but the US made its own – I’m almost curious to see what they did to it. Every main character in the story is ghastly. I’m truly impressed with the author’s ability to make such a readable story out of such shits as they all are. Young and old, they are all materialists whose high points are buying clothes, getting haircuts, drinking and drugging, getting bikini waxes and making entrances. The women are ghastly, the men, the Australians, the Indians, the Greeks, the young, the old. But having said that, the fact is that they are all utterly ordinary. People muddling through life in a self-centered – I, closely followed by my family, are what matters – way.

rest here: https://alittleteaalittlechat.wordpress.com/2018/07/27/the-slap-by-christos-tsio... show less