One day, at a suburban barbeque for family and friends, a man loses his temper and slaps a child. The child in question isn’t his.

And so begins the groundbreaking international bestseller, The Slap, by Christos Tsiolkas. What begins as a normal, laid-back get-together between friends turns into a confrontation that will dramatically alter their lives and affect every person who is there to bear witness. Because The Slap is so much more than it first appears. What seems like a simple focus on what is acceptable in today’s society when it comes to other people’s children turns into an in-depth exploration of what life is like in modern day Australia when race, religion, culture, gender, and sexuality comes into play.

Some of the most interesting dynamics in the story are those between Harry, the perpetrator, and Gary and Rosie, the parents of the slapped child. While Gary and Rosie bounce between feeling a mixture of upset and fury, the only remorse that Harry seems to feel is for the backlash he’s caused. Furthermore, it’s interesting that most of the characters don’t seem to fall into the expected route and rush to defend Gary and Rosie. While the majority of them remain silent and diplomatic, while dipping into their thoughts we can see that a part of them agrees with what Harry did.

When we look at the backgrounds and identities of Harry, Gary, and Rosie, we can’t help but notice that this isn’t down to chance. While Harry comes from a well-respected, rich family living in a big house, Gary and Rosie live on the poorer side of town and are privately scorned and mocked about Gary’s drinking habit and Rosie’s ‘mother earth’ approach to parenting, allowing her son to throw public tantrums and get away with whatever he wants. The barbeque is an environment filled with Harry’s ‘kind of people’ and, as a result, Gary and Rosie can find no real allies.

This unexpected perception of events is to be expected in The Slap. Any preconceptions you may have about the reactions of the characters are turned on their head. Culture, identity and background play an enormous part in this story. All stereotypes of the laid-back, sun-kissed, bleach-blonde surfer-types that we’ve come to expect from Australians are shattered as Tsiolkas teaches us about how close to the surface each ancestor’s nationality is in this new country.

We see this in Hector, Harry’s cousin. While his wife, Aisha, is quick to stick by her friend, Rosie, Hector works hard to defend his cousin. Both Hector and Harry look up to the older generation in their Greek family and know that honour plays an important role in their eyes in spite of whether the incident was right or wrong. This causes conflict between Hector and his wife, an Anglo-Indian veterinarian, who refuses to take sides “just for the family.”

It’s hard to sum up what makes The Slap so enjoyable and even harder to try and convey how superb and well-written the story is. It could be that each chapter is told through a different character’s voice. It could be that Tsiolkas not only opens our minds to the multicultural society we forget Australia is but tackles quite a lot of controversial subjects in one go. Each narrative he provides – while told in third person – is gripping from the start and, unlike a lot of authors, each of his wide range of characters have layers and a personality, rather than just being thrown into the mix as a cheap stereotype.

Out of all the books I’ve read so far in 2010, this is definitely one of my favourites. Books of this calibre only come along once in a blue moon. I want the excitement for The Slap that I have to be infectious, so I’m urging everyone to get their hands on a copy as soon as possible. It’s been a long time since I’ve held a page-turner like this in my hands. The story is gripping, the characters are dynamic and realistic, and the writing is a pleasure to read. I will definitely be on the lookout for further work by Tsiolkas.

Reviewed by Ceri Padley

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