My review of 'The Slap' by Christos Tsiolkas

Hi there.

I have no idea how I'm supposed to start these things as I am a total virgin to the whole blogging experience. Anyhow, I have recently got into writing and have therefore got back into reading books after a long absence. One of the books I have read recently is 'The Slap' and below I will give my thoughts.

The slap in question is dished out by a male guest at a suburban Aussie barbecue to one unruly child. Around half of the guests believe he deserved it, while the rest think that there is never an excuse to hit a child, especially if you're not one of the parents. The book follows eight different stories of the central characters and follows them as they continue with their lives in the months following the slapping incident, each sparing time to give their own opinion. If I had to sum this book up in a few words it would be 'Think Skins meets Trisha'.

What did I think of the book? I'll start with the negatives. It's too long, it could have been wrapped up in half the time and left me to move on to the far more rewarding 'Room' a whole lot quicker. The slapping debate covers about a tenth of the entire book at most and is barely mentioned once the ensuing court case is over, which is in the first half of the book. After that it just feels like a collection of different stories which have no relevance to the story as a whole. There are far too many sex scenes, and I am no prude but they seem to come from nowhere and I found them a bit boring and there just to fill up the pages.

Now the positives. It's an enjoyable, easy read, despite its length. The author is very good at giving over eight different points of view and you get a real feel for their very different lifestyles. I found myself initially thinking that the child deserved the slap, then you hear more about the man who dished it out and you realise that he's actually quite violent to his wife too, after that I was constantly changing my view and this made the book more interesting, although I wished that the author had used up more pages on the whole debate as I felt it was a good subject to explore. I really liked the characters of Anouk, Connie and Richie. Overall I would give this book 7/10.