I tweeted that I couldn't stop reading it, yet didn't actually know if I liked it or not. After it was recommended to me by some, but not praised very highly by others I had both high and low expectations. Here's my short and sweet review.
What's it all about? The Slap
is a much talked about and award winning novel by Australian author Christos Tsiolkas
, which revolves around an extended network of characters who are linked by friendships, family and work, but all witness and react differently to a single incident when a grown man slaps an unruly four year old he is not related to at a BBQ.What's so good about it? I liked many things about this story - the way it was told through eight very different characters, its pace, the issues it raised, how it took me back to Melbourne, a city I loved, where ironically I was staying and had many BBQs with a lovely Greek-Australian family - however, there were other parts I didn't really like; a tendency to ramble about seemingly unrelated events, and an over reliance on sex, drugs and bad language to shock.
Who, me? I would say this book is for anyone who likes both Tony Parsons and the c-word. Tsolkias clearly has a knack for character and relationship assassination; there are characters you will love to hate and plot twists you will hate to love, but after considerable hype I couldn't help but feel it was missing something or rather missing nothing. Perhaps that's it, sometimes I like for just a little bit to be left to my imagination.
Read my other short and sweet book reviews here.
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