From the publisher's page...

'At a suburban barbecue, a man slaps a child who is not his own.
This event has a shocking ricochet effect on a group of people, mostly friends, who are directly or indirectly influenced by the event.
In this remarkable novel, Christos Tsiolkas turns his unflinching and all-seeing eye onto that which connects us all: the modern family and domestic life in the twenty-first century. The Slap is told from the points of view of eight people who were present at the barbecue. The slap and its consequences force them all to question their own families and the way they live, their expectations, beliefs and desires.
What unfolds is a powerful, haunting novel about love, sex and marriage, parenting and children, and the fury and intensity - all the passions and conflicting beliefs - that family can arouse. In its clear-eyed and forensic dissection of the ever-growing middle class and its aspirations and fears, The Slap is also a poignant, provocative novel about the nature of loyalty and happiness, compromise and truth.'

An extraordinary novel by one of the Australia's finest, and most controversial, novelists. This one was a selection by my 'real life' book group - and I'm very glad I got to read it.

Tsiolkas's book revolves around the characters at a 'typical' Aussie back yard barbecue - and, using the titular slap, explores the lives of all the major, and minor, players in this suburban melodrama. I think the reviewer from the Sydney Morning Herald expresses my feelings best about this novel when he wrote...."In the first 37 pages of The Slap we're introduced to 31 active characters. In Tolstoy we'd have the chamberlain announcing 'Prince and Princess Oblonsky, Miss Natasha Rostov' and so on as they arrive at the ball. Christos Tsiolkas has his characters swarming through an open front door to a suburban Melbourne barbecue. This loading up is a bit of a scramble, a bit confusing, even a bit flat but once everyone's on board the novel's voyage is a great trip...Tsiolkas made his name as a wild man of Australian fiction but, for all its swearing and bad behaviour, The Slap is a strikingly tender book. No character, not even the brat, is written off. Rapprochement and forgiveness are the abiding subjects of the novel and you might say the author is an exemplar to all his characters. His psychological acumen and sympathy extend liberally across the range of his cast, over women as generously as men."

At times the writing becomes confusing - and there's certainly a lot of characters to keep track of - but, Tsiolkas managed to maintain my attention and emotionally engage me with all of them. This was one of my 'top books' of the year in 2009.....

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Picked up from the swap table.

An enjoyable read. Very thought provoking.

In the Qantas Club.

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