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The Slap |  | Author: Christos Tsiolkas
Publisher: Tuskar Rock
Category: Book
List Price: £12.99
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Rating:  71 reviews
Sales Rank: 27
Media: Paperback
Pages: 496
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.2
Dimensions (in): 8.4 x 5.4 x 1.5
ISBN: 1848873557
EAN: 9781848873551
ASIN: 1848873557
Publication Date: May 1, 2010
Availability: Usually dispatched within 24 hours
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Product Description
At a suburban barbecue one afternoon, a man slaps an unruly 3-year-old boy. The boy is not his son. It is a single act of violence, but this one slap reverberates through the lives of everyone who witnesses it happen.
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Showing reviews 1-5 of 71
 Aussie society warts and all June 9, 2010
Sukie (South Coast)
17 out of 21 found this review helpful
WOW - I thought this book was fantastic. It is a sweeping, raw look at Australian life, written from the perspective of very different characters - men, women and teenagers from all corners of society, experiencing different problems and challenges as they interact.
The scene is set in the opening chapter, written from Hector's point of view, where all the characters are brought together for a barbecue. As another reviewer has said, there are a lot of characters in this scene and it is hard to keep track of who is who (I did find myself flicking back at a later point to remind myself who Shamira was, for example). Hector has a lot on his mind - he feels guilty for not being a better father and husband (we discover early on he is cheating on his wife Aisha), he is mediating between his mother and Aisha, trying to be the good host although Aisha's friends annoy him, as well as drinking beer and taking speed. Then comes the 'slap' of the title (although there is another significant slap later on in the book which mirrors this) - where his cousin Harry slaps another couple's child, Hugo, and a scene of chaos ensues, with the recriminations reverberating throughout the book.
Tsiolkas uses the device of giving different characters their own viewpoint for each chapter which I found effective. We see the slap from Hector's side, then later on, read what his wife and her friends think of it, how Harry is dealing with it, and Rosie's feelings (Hugo's mother). I loved how a character is set up in one particular chapter as good or bad, only for our perspective of them to completely change when we read a later chapter. For example, Rosie is described as cold and unsympathetic, but later on, she is revealed as much more vulnerable and likeable than these early depictions. My opinion of her swung right around once I'd read her side of the story. I also liked that no single character was presented as completely 'good' or innocent - everyone had flaws and showed weakness at some point.
Tsiolkas uses a wide range of narrators and is good at giving distinctive voices to such a variety of people and personality types. They all felt very real, even if I didn't like all of them. (One character in particular I absolutely loathed.) I especially loved the closing chapter, and the way that the book ends, with the storylines tying up perfectly, and the resounding message of optimism.
Other reviewers have commented on the language, the drug-taking and the casual racism of the book, and it did jar at times, particularly the endless racist remarks and aggressive sexism from characters like Harry. But there is an honesty about the book, and a rawness which I found both compelling and refreshing. It is a big, sprawling book which covers big issues like race, immigration, family, relationship dynamics, ambition and betrayal, and I for one, was gripped.
geez Louise June 17, 2010
Green Book Addict Librarian (bookaddictsbookgroup.com)
6 out of 8 found this review helpful
This book contains strong language and some really unlikeable characters so if you have problems reading books with "colourful" language and characters that at times you would like to "slap" yourself, and men with some truly appalling attitudes towards women, then this book might not be for you. It's a challenging read but I really enjoyed this book on a controversial subject - what happens when someone slaps someone else's child at a backyard BBQ and the fallout from that event. I really enjoyed how the story unfolded and we heard from just about everyone who was at the BBQ that day. I found myself switching sides repeatedly once you got to see inside the heads of the characters, liking them and then disliking them accordingly.
I should point out that I am from Melbourne (but not that side) so this book I think captured that society perfectly whilst at the same time, managed to make me homesick! Others have commented that perhaps you need to understand the society to appreciate the book and that might explain some of the more negative reviews, but I don't believe that to be the case. I think the book travels well like a good bottle of Australian red. If nothing else it's a glimpse into a society that you may never experience personally and I find the subject matter very interesting as people have very different views on punishing children and I wonder how I would react to someone punishing mine even if they were behaving as badly as the child in this book. But I have come to the conclusion that the boy definitely needed a good slap and his mother a good shake or perhaps vice versa. Long after I had finished reading this book I found I was still thinking about the characters and the story and wondering if the author might revisit them some time in the future and see what they are up to. I think that is a sign of a good book, that the story and the characters stay with you long after you have closed the book and put it back on the shelf.
I also saw an interview with the author talking about this book recently which was why I was interested in it in the first place and I can also recommend the audio book version read by Alex Dimitriades. I'm giving the book an extra star for that, as it was brilliantly narrated and added an extra something to the story. (Ladies, if you can find it on DVD,watch him in Heartbreak High with Claudia Karvan, you won't be disappointed!)
Smacks of Reality August 29, 2010
Leyla Sanai (glasgow)
5 out of 7 found this review helpful
To say that Christos Tsiolkas's novel The Slap has created a ripple since it was first published in 2008 in his native Australia would be an understatement. The reverberations have been more akin to the slap that forms the basis of the novel, gaining momentum as time goes on. The book has been published worldwide and, as well as gathering fans and critical praise, it has managed to make it onto this year's Man Booker longlist - a considerable feat for a wildly successful and commercially accessible novel.
When I briefly met Tsiolkas at the Edinburgh Book Festival book signing, I asked him how he felt about the phenomenal success of his fourth book. He shook his head with dazed disbelief. 'I still can't absorb it,' he said.
The Slap is a rollicking soap opera set in a middle class area of Melbourne and involves a cast of colourful - and, it has to be said, mostly deeply dislikeable - characters. The catalyst for the action is the resounding slap imparted by a man on a small child who is not his, at a barbecue given by his cousin. The effects on the close-knit community are profound.
Each chapter is related in third person from the point of view of a different character. Tsiolkas allows the reader to briefly glance most of the characters at the barbecue but in-depth knowledge about them is revealed gradually in subsequent chapters, either their own or those of people close to them. There is Hector, lean and attractive son of Greek immigrants, lover of women, father of two, married to the beautiful vet Aisha. Aisha is a regal woman born of Indian parents and has never been accepted by Hector's mother who still spittingly refers to her as 'The Indian'. Then there is Hector's cousin Harry, devoted husband - or is he? - and father, who imparts the slap that propels the story into action. And Rosie, earth mother who spoils and coddles her three year-old son Hugo into bratdom. Rosie's husband is Gary, a loser alcoholic unable to hide his resentment of those who have done better than him. Connie is a receptionist at the vet clinic in which Aisha works. We find out early on that she's been sexually involved with Hector. Anouk, a TV scriptwriter with a younger actor boyfriend, is friends with Aisha and Rosie despite unspoken tensions with Rosie. And so on.
The beauty of The Slap is that as each chapter unrolls, the reader gains multiple insights into the characters. Many are not what they seem. Most are deeply flawed. Casual misogyny, racism and homophobia pepper their dialogue and actions. But, through entirely natural means, Tsiolkas reveals the background of each character, their roots, their parents, their upbringing. We find out, for example, that although Rosie comes across as an over-protective mother, there is much more to her. Her mother was a purse-lipped puritan Calvinist, her father an alcoholic. Rosie had a wild adolescence, seeking escape through reckless casual sex, and despite her appearance as a doting mother, it took her weeks to take to her new role as mother. After an initial period of being unable to bear her baby, she made a descision to throw out her old persona, that of the beautiful girl, and embrace the new, hence the wholeheartedness with which she pursues her earth mother role.
Tsiolkas manages to make the characters believable and fascinating. None of them are angels, but by the same token, none of them are complete ogres either. Here is humanity in the shades of grey with which it appears in the real world. Harry, for example, revealed as a racist man with a streak of deeply suppressed violence at his core, is capable of long-term infidelity. Yet most of the time - when calm - he reveres his wife Sandi, and he is also capable of spontaneous kind deeds like allowing a junior employee time off at short notice. It's a relief to read a novel where characters are not completely black and white, even if their faults outweigh their virtues considerably.
Much of the enjoyment of this novel comes from the creeping nature of revelations about the characters and their complexity. We reel in shock as we see the other side of the benevolent husband Harry. Relationships that seem stable and ordinary from the outside are revealed to be riddled with hidden faultlines. It's a realistic and engaging touch. How many of us on seeing an elderly couple together think 'How sweet', or other such patronising thoughts. It's absorbing and revealing to be privy to the complex interior of such relationships, to see that people of any age are capable of rage, jealousy, hatred, love, regret and so on. And, just as in life, people are driven to say and do things on impulse, things which may have far-reaching effects. A lie told in a moment of anger, an action taken in an instant of guilt, these are the ostensibly small events that dictate the direction in which lives travel. It may not be a flattering portrait of humankind but you only have to watch the news to see that many people are not altruistic and benevolent.
But despite the ugliness of much of the behaviour, love, loyalty and friendship are as prominent as infidelity, bigoted views and deceit. And Tsiolkas has cleverly ensured that the younger generation, as represented by Connie and Richie, have rejected many of the viler aspects of the older characters.
The one section that didn't ring true for me was the resolution of the explosion that occurs at the end of the novel from a lie Connie has told earlier. There was a touch of the unfeasibly swift forgiving and lack of consequences about it, something that sat at odds with Tsiolkas's relentlessly realistic pursuit of results of impulsive actions in the rest of the book. It smacks of a neat and tidy tying up of ends with an implausible absence of ill-feeling from those you'd expect to react. It would have been more credible if the person the lie was pinned on had his relationship with an couple of other characters severed or cooled as a result. But this is only a tiny part of the whole so didn't detract from my great enjoyment of the novel.
I loved The Slap. Accessible, gripping, addictive and insightful, it's a journey through the lives of others; salacious in some parts, touching in others. To those who say it's stuffed full of sex and profanities, I say that life is too. If you baulk at frequent use of the f and c words you might be better to hold off. For those of a less delicate disposition, The Slap is a meditation on the human condition wrapped up as a tacky bauble.
Haven't even finished yet and it gets 5 stars July 16, 2010
Mr. S. N. Barton (London UK)
3 out of 8 found this review helpful
I'm close to the end of this wonderful book.
I'm reading this having recently been reading Rabbit Run, and was not expecting this Australian book to compliment Updike quite so well. In a similar way Tsiolkas captures the existential-funk of the modern middle classes. In this case what really makes it stand apart from the crowd is the authors mastery of character - taking the perspective of each of the disparate main characters in turn he shows real aplomb as he succeeds to communicate the thoughts of a teenage girl in one chapter and a geriatric grandfather in another.
I cannot reccomend this book enough - a real novel for today.
 A Melbourne book for Melbourne people May 17, 2010
Mister Hobgoblin (Melbourne)
36 out of 43 found this review helpful
Christos Tsiolkas is a Melbourne writer and The Slap is a Melbourne book. It delivers a number of portraits of Melbourne types - the Greek car dealer; the Indian vet; the soap opera world; the gay teenager; the bogan mother and more. The portraits are all loosely linked to one another, deriving from a barbecue at which the horrid bogan toddler is slapped by the Greek car dealer. But the novel is not plot driven, it is 100% character focused. There is no great ending to draw it all together; the novel might as well be seen as a set of short essays.
The demographics, the reported movement of families around the northern and eastern suburbs was revealing. Melbourne is undergoing great social change right now - as it has probably done since its foundation. There is a reference to the soaring real estate prices, with a knowing assertion that a million dollar shoe box is still a shoe box - although more colourful language was used to make the point. The implication, clearly, was that the people living in it might have become millionaires but they are still what they ever were.
The Slap also charts the changing social attitudes in Melbourne. There are three distinct generations in the piece - teenagers; forty-somethings; and the grandparents. Each generation had thought they were the rebels; the trailblazers but then get swept aside by the next generation. It's all a matter of perception, and after reading old man Manolis's section one can't help but think that today's young rebels, rude, brash and arrogant have a somewhat easier life than their ancestors.
The Slap does a great job in giving life and expression to ordinary Melburnians. It offers a convincing vision and conveys a strong sense of place. It is long, involved and very much a slow burner. It probably isn't going to appeal to those looking for a strong story - which is a pity because that's what the cover promises. It may not seem relevant to people who don't know Melbourne; people who might not understand the social and racial interplay that is going on. And it certainly isn't Neighbours with its short, twee plotlines, weekly cliffhangers and easy resolutions. This is serious literature, weighty in both paper and meaning. But it may not travel well.
Showing reviews 1-5 of 71
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