The Slap

Wow. Just wow.

That said, this is a book that is bound to make a lot of people uncomfortable. I winced at a lot of the casual sexual attitudes/behavior, the drugs, the racist/sexist comments -- and then I realized that this is fiction and also that very few of the things that made me uncomfortable were actually untrue of real people in real life. (I have to admit that a few of these things I'm guilty of in some way -- like Anouk's flashes of furious temper.) And that's the authors genius (yes, you got that word right...): he has been able to capture the ugly aspects of human nature, as well as the good stuff about families and friends, good stuff that rarely comes in nice neat tidy packages. It's as if the lid has been lifted off an ant show more farm, and we see all the secret thoughts of the eight characters through whom Tsiolkas spins his tale.

The story starts with a slap, as everyone who is considering reading this book probably is aware -- the slap lands on the cheek of a misbehaving three-year-old at a suburban BBQ. That blow has consequences that richochet throughout the circle of friends and family, but the events that follow in the lives of those affected aren't always tied directly to the slap -- the slap forces them, indirectly, to re-evaluate many other things in their lives. The characters range from a teenage girl and her close friend, a teenage boy, all the way up to an aging Greek patriarch, and include the mother of the slapped child and the wife of the "slapper".

Every one of those is pitch perfect. The author is a man, and yet he writes more compelling and real female characters -- subtle, nuanced -- than I can recall reading before in a novel by a male author. He writes equally vividly about Aisha's views of Anouk (a married woman's views of her single friend's supposed attitude to children) and of Anouk's reaction to those ideas -- forcing the reader to understand there are no easy answers in life's most pressing questions.

This is not a book to read if you need to identify with a character, or need comforting stories. None of these individuals are altogether admirable; many make choices that someone will disagree with. And yet at the same time, they all emerge as real and vivid, and perhaps more sympathetic because of their flaws. (And yes, this will force you to think about child-rearing these days, but that is just the tip of a very large iceberg.) There are great, vivid characters, living ordinary lives and reaching the kind of routine epiphanies that we all experience.

In short -- read this book. show less

Hector and Aisha are a successful fortysomething married couple with two children living in suburban Melbourne, who are hosting a weekend barbecue for friends, colleagues and family. They are typical, yet unique; Hector is a successful manager born to Greek immigrants to Australia, and Aisha is a veterinarian of Indian descent. Both are stunningly attractive, and are quite proud and aware of their physical appearance. On the surface, Hector and Aisha appear to be a model and staid middle class couple.

Friends and family come over; all are middle class, and represent the diversity of cultures that populate this international city. The adults talk amiably and the kids play nicely — at first. The men and women begin to bicker, and so do show more the kids. One of the boys, a three year old who is still breast fed by his dippy Aussie mother and allowed to express himself without fear of punishment, begins to fight with the other kids and destroy the toys that they are playing with. His behavior spirals out of control, and one of the adults, who is not related to him, slaps him in a pique of anger. The boy isn't seriously hurt, but his parents are incensed, and threaten to sue the "assailant". The party abruptly ends, as the inebriated adults bicker and take sides with each other.

The novel explores the reactions of several of the adults and one teenager who attended the party to the slap. Each chapter is told from the viewpoint of one of the characters, and we learn about their dissatisfied lives, motivations, and secret desires. Each is selfish, unfaithful and untrustworthy, terribly flawed and dislikable, but 'human, all too human'.

It is all too easy for the reader to reject and dismiss these characters, with their foul language, use of drugs and alcohol, and the abysmal way in which they raise their children. We're not like that, and we would never associate with people like this. However, these are real people, and their desires are not that much different from the rest of us, except that they act on them whereas we might — might — restrain ourselves. Like us, they bemoan the selfishness and boorish behavior of the current generation of children and teenagers, while ignoring the reality that our own self-absorbed attitudes are the main cause of this.

The Slap is an unblinking look into the lives of real people, which will make the average reader squirm with discomfort and disbelief. However, Tsiolkas effectively removes the veneer of middle class life, and his indictment of the failings of our consumer driven, me first Western societies is a worthwhile contribution that should be widely read and heeded. show less

The front cover and the back flap set you up for a shock: A man at a barbecue slaps a child…not his own, or somesuch. How can you be shocked when you already know it’s going to happen? Well, that’s a problem with the marketing not the writing or the story, which were pretty good.

What I liked is that the book is about filters: the filters through which individuals see themselves, each other and shared events. Tsiolkas takes on a large task: to get inside the heads of several very different Melbourners(?), Melbournians(?), Melbourwegians(?) (who almost could have been urban and suburban Americans) in order to shine a spotlight on the culture in which they live. He attempts, and succeeds I think, to illuminate the jarring culture show more clash between those of disparate backgrounds—gender, ethnicity, and age, of course, but also the clash between value systems. Each chapter is from the sequential third-person p-o-v of a person at the barbecue who witnessed The Slap, and what is really cool about that mechanism is that you can look at certain characters through their own eyes and through the eyes of those around them. Ergo, Filters.

Each starring character seems to represent an archetype, which is not a criticism, but you are able to figure out his “type” pretty easily. Each story is interesting, mostly, and The Slap is a minor event to most of them, but through each personal reaction to what happened, a value system is revealed. One character is a Sex and the City type who resents the changes that motherhood has made in her best friends. Another is an elderly Greek immigrant baffled and enraged by the attitudes of the women around him. Another is the, I imagine controversial, mother of the 3-year-old who got slapped. And, also the man who slapped the child, who has some, umm...interesting attitudes himself. Some characters feel the undisciplined child deserved what he got, even if they don’t admit it. Some feel fiercely protective of the boy. Several are disgusted by the child’s parents and their lack of discipline and failure to move themselves up society’s ladder. A few are apathetic. Not a few are intensely self-involved to the point of narcissism.

If The Slap itself is not shocking, what may be are the lives of the characters as they gradually revealed. You become privy to the secrets that the characters hold, to their pride and insecurity, to the lies they believe, to rage that they dare not express, the shameful ways they demean themselves, the dreams they’ve abandoned.

If I do have a criticism, it is that the book at times seems superficial, but the picture it paints is vivid. I myself had a strong reaction to most of the characters, and a very definite opinion on The Slap as it occurred, but I’m not going to give myself away show less

Before I waste the time of all those who consider themselves sensitive readers, let me delineate some of the reasons this book may not be for you:

1. If you are easily offended by crude language, steer clear of this one. (And by crude language I mean very, very crude and offensive; the eff word was on just about every page and I have to wonder if Australians really use a certain “c” word to describe people of both sexes with regularity.)
2. If the denigration of women is something you can’t stomach, you may do well to choose another literary effort.
3. If the idea of characters who thumb their nose at morality and monogamy isn’t your cup of tea, leave this book on the shelf.
4. This book was just this side of porn. I had to fly show more through certain descriptions that were just too graphic for my taste.

That said, the book was an interesting study of characters. If you haven’t heard about the premise of this book, it is right there on the cover: “At a suburban barbecue, a man slaps a child who is not his own…” Every chapter in the book is devoted to one character that was at the barbecue and witnessed the incident and provides a glimpse into that character’s life, feelings, reaction to the incident and sex life.

It was a book of great possibilities and you get an inkling of how talented a writer Tsiolkas is, but he badly needed an editor and the first 200 pages were deadly boring, mostly because he gave us, for the most part, dialogue with very little narrative. I don’t appreciate that kind of writing. This will give you an idea (the characters are talking about the difference between seeing a movie in a theater and downloading it onto a jegundus TV at home):

“Van snorted and lit a cigarette. ‘Right, so I pay #**#!!# thirty bucks for me and Jia to see a film, another !!#**#&! thirty bucks for popcorn and drinks, and then have some doped-out kid usher me to a seat that some sweaty-**##!! mf has been sitting in for hours so I can watch a movie that I could have downloaded for myself for free.’ Van shook his head in disbelief. ‘I hate the *#!!#** movies.’ He stared at Hector combatively.” (Page 119)

I wanted to drop this book so many times, but I persevered, thinking there was going to be a pay-off, somewhere along the way. I wasn’t bored after those first 200 pages, just waiting for something to happen. But, alas, much anticipation but no real reward. What exactly did the Booker judges see in this one? I’ve decide that they saw a characterization of everyday Australian lives at different income and status levels within the middle class. The seediness and lack of morals of the characters just didn’t do it for me. I did not come to love, admire or even like any of them. Maybe I’m just a naïve reader, unable to appreciate a raw, honest interpretation of everyday life on the streets of Australia. Anyway, I can’t really recommend this one. show less

I’d been looking forward to reading this one for quite sometime. What with all the hype as it came out, and not to mention the fact that it left a classmate of mine with no words to describe it (and she was quite a talker so that was a feat in itself). So naturally, I had high hopes for this one when it came time for me to read it.

The Slap begins with a typical Australian barbecue – family, friends, and numerous children of varying sizes and ages, talking, drinking, and playing in the yard. Drink abounds, as does a few amphetamines (perhaps not so typical?). The kids begin a game of backyard cricket while the adults look on, and all goes well until three year old Hugo, the picture of innocence with his blonde curly hair and blue show more eyes, breaks the leg-before-wicket rule and is told to leave the pitch. Adamant that he keep playing, the screams erupt. Ignoring the consolatory words of his father, Hugo lifts the bat to threaten his cousin, Rocco. Hell breaks loose as the men rush forward to contain the situation, and Harry, cousin to host Hector, is first to reach the boy. As sound of the slap across the child’s face resonates through the party, Hugo’s shocked parents Gary and Rosie looking on, the world shifts for all involved.

Told from the point of view of eight of the party guests who witness the incident, The Slap makes for compulsive reading. The writing is coarse and confronting, and gathers momentum throughout the book. I devoured each sentence with relish, hooked from the first page:

‘His eyes still shut, a dream dissolving and already impossible to recall, Hector’s hand sluggishly reached across the bed. Good. Aisha was up. He let out a victorious fart, burying his face deep into the pillow to escape the clammy methane stink . . . Through the years he had learned to rein his body in, to allow himself to only let go in solitude; farting and pissing in the shower, burping alone in the car, not washing and brushing his teeth all weekend when she was away on conferences.’

Whilst I found the characters were compelling, I didn’t empathise with them – the more I read, the more exaggerated they seemed to be – almost too corrupt, in some ways, too imperfect, what with all the alcohol, drugs, and adultery. I loathed many of them – Hector was almost overwhelming chauvinistic, whilst Connie was by turns naïve and yet conniving. As the book progress, the eight narrative voices began to blur and become indistinct, as they all seemed to use similar language, ‘cunt’, being one of the more obvious examples. And with such a huge cast of main supporting characters, some of which had similar names – such as Hector, Harry and Hugo, Aisha, Anouk and Adele, and Rocco, Rosie and Richie – I sometimes struggled with their roles and relationships, disrupting the narrative flow. I also think the ending could have been conclusive. I think the effect of the book’s structure meant that the narrative tended to trickle down before coming to a halt – with such an explosive opening, I feel the story deserved a stronger ending.

What’s good about The Slap though is its ability to make you think. Really think, for days after you’ve finished reading it. Tsiolkas has accurately captured racial undertones to Australian lifestyle in an honest and realistic way, and the way in which violence, in its varying forms, pervades modern society. Other societal problems such as the correct way to raise children, as well as ideas concerning sexuality, class and religion are discussed throughout the book. Tsiolkas’ skill with the narrative form means that while you are made privy to discussions of these issues, at no time does it feel like you’re being lectured to.

If you’re looking for a gripping read and don’t mind a bit of language, I would definitely recommend The Slap. Tsiolkas is refreshingly modern in his approach and if the review quotes of his other novels are anything to go buy – Head-On, The Jesus Man and Dead Europe – Tsiolkas is creating a great literary tradition and I’d love to get a hold of his earlier work. show less

What a big fat damn hefty novel to spend a few snowy days with! I read this because there's a movie version coming out that sounded good. This novel is set in Australia and is written from the viewpoints of eight attendees at a suburban cookout. There's a few married couples, a grandfather, an employee, and a teenage babysitter. Sounds like a recipe for a nice Sunday afternoon - but when one father slaps a misbehaving child (not his), the repercussions are magnificently recounted by a master of getting into the heads of both genders. There is so much to appreciate here - especially the fact that this could have been all or any of us at this age and place in time. Completely absorbing, with some very frank sexual scenes and overflowing show more insight into the worst impulses and selfishness that we all, sadly enough, share. It's the ultimate domestic thriller - no murders but many little deaths of honor and honesty along the way. show less

What a vitriolic novel! I've never read a novel where all the characters were so superficial and lacking in empathy. Supposedly divided into eight unique voices, it's just a repetitive cacophony of self-indulgent, self-centered horrible people. It's also lacking in the voices that I think would have been more interesting: Bilal and Shamira, Gary, even one of the kids Hugo or Adam. Instead, again and again, eight chapters of awful people.

Moreover, I felt manipulated throughout the whole piece, like the author was trying to make us pick a side. Didn't work for me. I disliked everyone equally. What a horrible portrayal of Australians. I'm embarrassed for my Aussie friends that this book got all the press it did.

I think I'll probably show more remember the book for awhile. But I don't think there's really much else to recommend it other than it being memorable for being so antagonistic to the reader. show less