The Slap : A Novel

From Booklist Although this is Australian author Tsiolkas� fourth novel, it is the first to be published in the U.S. With its raw style, liberal use of profanity and racial epithets, and laserlike focus on the travails of suburban life, it is a down-and-dirty version of Tom Perrotta�s best-selling Little Children (2004). At a barbecue in a Melbourne suburb, a man loses his temper and slaps the child of the host�s friends. This incident unleashes a slew of divisive opinions, pitting friends and families against each other as the child�s parents take the man to court. Told from eight different viewpoints, the novel also deftly fills in disparate backstories encompassing young and old, single and married, gay and straight, as well as depicting how multiculturalism is increasingly impacting the traditional Aussie ethos. For good measure, the author also throws in male vanity, infidelity, and homophobia. Tsiolkas� in-your-face style is sure to alienate some readers�the child�s parents, for example, are among the book�s most unlikable characters�but his novel, which won the 2009 Commonwealth Prize, fairly radiates with vitality as it depicts the messy complications of family life. --Joanne Wilkinson Review "A layered, briskly paced story about complex people. Think Tom Wolfe meets Philip Roth. Or 'The Sopranos' meets 'The Real Housewives of Orange County." -Oscar Villalon, Los Angeles Times "Brilliant, beautiful, shockingly lucid and real, this is a novel as big as life built from small, secret, closely observed beats of the human heart. A cool, calm, irresistible masterpiece." -Chris Cleave, author of Little Bee " The Slap is nothing short of a tour de force, and it confirms Christos Tsiolkas's reputation as one of the most significant contemporary storytellers at work today. In his new book, Tsiolkas puts a microscope to family life and presents us with a vision both of unflinching honesty and great tenderness. The luminosity of his prose and the brilliance of his characterisation render the ordinary quite extraordinary. Here is a novel of immense power and scope, reminiscent of Jonathan Franzen's The Corrections and Don De Lillo's Underworld ." -Colm Toibin, author of Brooklyn and The Master "Like all Tsiolkas' work, it is wildly energetic and fearless, thrillingly about our lives now." - Helen Garner, author of The Spare Room "This is a rich and engrossing novel, full of vivid incidents and intricate patterns...Tsiolkas's subtle character drawing, fast-moving narrative, and above all, fierce moral commitment make The Slap a worthy winner of the 2009 Commonwealth Writers' Prize." - The Telegraph "Riveting from start to finish." -Jane Smiley, author of A Thousand Acres and Private Life "Radiates with vitality as it depicts the messy complications of family life." - Booklist "Complex and multilayered. ...intertwined lives and slowly revealed connections make for a singular reading experience." - Library Journal "With The Slap , Christos Tsiolkas secures his place as one of Australia's most important novelists...It is thrilling to have our life reflected back at us so accurately...Tsiolkas has written an absolute ripper." - The Age "The best politicians are those who can instinctively divine the zeitgeist of their country's centre. For the ones who can't, I would place The Slap as mandatory bedside table reading. It's a perfect social document... More importantly, it's also a hell of a read." - The Australian "Strikingly tender...it claws into you with its freshness and truth." - Sydney Morning Herald "A controversial and daring novel, The Slap uses the iconic scene of a suburban Australian barbecue to examine identities and personal relationships in a multicultural society. Offering points of view from eight different characters, it taps into universal tensions and dilemmas around family life and child-rearing. This book is sure to challenge readers and provoke debate." -Committee for The Commonwealth Writers Prize 2009 At a suburban barbecue one afternoon, a man slaps an unruly three-year-old boy. The boy is not his son. Christos Tsiolkas records what happens next.It is a single act of violence, but the slap reverberates through the lives of everyone who witnesses it. In his remarkable novel, Christos Tsiolkas presents the impact of this apparently minor domestic incident through the eyes of eight characters. The result is an unflinching interrogation of the modern family, a deeply thought-provoking novel of boundaries and their limits."The slap that I wanted to deliver with that book was to a culture in Australia that had literally made me sick, sick to the stomach. A middle class culture that struck me as incredibly selfish and ungenerous ... I wanted to try and write a book ... that represented that culture. And to do that, honestly, I had to put myself in the middle of it. I also had to put my Greekness in the middle of that book. Because I didn’t feel separate from the things that were disgusting me." - Christos Tsiolkas, Journal of Intercultural Studies 2013"[Tsiolkas] holds to a discipline of sympathy with his characters, no matter how repellent they may be, and restricts his own verbal range to the limits of their vocabularies." - Susan Lever, author of Merciless GodsChristos Tsiolkas When he first told his mother he was going to be a writer, she said: ‘You are going to die poor and on the streets’. To date, that outcome looks unlikely. He has written ten books as well as nine works for stage and screen, and The Slap was turned into a successful television series. Tsiolkas acknowledges the importance of his Greek heritage but sees fiction as a way of freeing himself from it. ‘If I can’t write as a woman, a black person, an old man or a young girl, what the hell am I doing writing at all?’ he asks. Read Christos Tsiolkas's blogs on the Penguin Community. Read a review of The Slap on WorldNews.tk. Read a review of The Slap on Timesonline.co.uk. In this powerful and riveting novel, literary phenomenon Christos Tsiolkas unflinchingly exposes the inner- workings of domestic life, friendship and parenthood in the twenty-first century, and reminds us of the passions and malice that family loyalty can provoke. When a man slaps another couple's child at a neighborhood barbecue, the event send unforeseeable shockwaves through the lives of all who are witness to it. Told from the points of view of eight people who were present, The Slap shows how a single action can change the way people think about how they live, what they want, and what they believe forever. "Tsiolkas is a hard-edged, powerful writer. The novel transcends both suburban Melbourne and the Australian continent, leaving us exhausted but gasping with admiration." 'Washington Post "This astute exploration of suburban aspirations and failings ... vividly demonstrates the wide-ranging effects of a single moment's rash decision. ... Beyond simply igniting the plot, the fateful slap draws attention to generational and philosophical differences regarding family life and the complex political, social, and ethnic milieu of contemporary Australia." 'Publishers Weekly "Radiates with vitality as it depicts the messy complications of family life." 'Booklist "Complex and multilayered. intertwined lives and slowly revealed connections make for a singular reading experience." 'Library Journal "Wildly energetic and fearless, thrillingly about our lives now." ' Helen Garner, author of The Spare Room "A gripping suburban fable." ' Men's Style "Strikingly tender ... it claws into you with its freshness and truth."'Sydney Morning Herald To smack or not to smack is the question that reverberates through the interconnected lives dissected in Christos Tsiolkas'award-winning novel.At a suburban barbecue, a man slaps a child who is not his own.It is a single act, but the slap reverberates through the lives of everyone who witnesses it.Told through the eyes of eight of those present at the barbecue, this acclaimed bestseller is an unflinching interrogation of the life of the modern family. Poignant and provocative, THE SLAP makes us question the nature of commitment and happiness, compromise and truth. Whose side are you on?'Once in a while a novel comes along that reminds me why I love to read: The Slap is such a book... Tsiolkas throws open a window on society, picks apart its flaws, embraces its contradictions and recognises its beauty, all the time asking the reader, Who side are you on? Honestly, one of the three or four truly great novels of the new millennium.'JOHN BOYNE, author of The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas'The Slap is nothing short of a tour de force, and it confirms Christos Tsiolkas's reputation as one of the most significant contemporary storytellers at work today... Here is a novel of immense power and scope.'COLM TOIBIN, author of Brooklyn'Brilliant, beautiful, shockingly lucid and real, this is a novel as big as life built from small, secret, closely observed beats of the human heart. A cool, calm, irresistible masterpiece.'CHRIS CLEAVE, author of Little Bee "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 on to 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."--Publisher description. The basis for the NBC event series directed by Lisa Cholodenko and starring Uma Thurman, Peter Sarsgaard, and Zachary Quinto. In this powerful and riveting novel reminiscent of Liane Moriarty's Truly, Madly, Guilty , literary phenomenon Christos Tsiolkas unflinchingly exposes the inner workings of domestic life, friendship, and parenthood in the twenty-first century, and reminds us of the passions and malice that family loyalty can provoke. When a man slaps another couple’s child at a neighborhood barbecue, the event send unforeseeable shock waves through the lives of all who are witness to it. Told from the points of view of eight people who were present, The Slap shows how a single action can change the way people think about how they live, what they want, and what they believe forever. To smack or not to smack is the question that reverberates through the interconnected lives dissected in Christos Tsiolkas' award-winning novel, now in paperback. At a suburban barbecue, a man slaps a child who is not his own. It is a single act, but the slap reverberates through the lives of everyone who witnesses it. Told through the eyes of eight of those present at the barbecue, this acclaimed bestseller is an unflinching interrogation of the life of the modern family. Poignant and provocative, THE SLAP makes us question the nature of commitment and happiness, compromise and truth. Whose side are you on?