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.
"The Slap is a disturbing book but it is also funny and endearing,
presenting the diversity of the Australian experience with a big, warm
heart in the middle." --The Independent Weekly
"Tsiolkas has written an absolute ripper." --The Age
WARNING: Features strong language.
