This 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 strength of the novel is the way Tsiolkas manages to get into the voice of each character; spanning age groups (from seventeen to seventy) and across ethnicities and class divides.

I definitely recommend it.

Family and community in all its permutations are the bones on which this story of contemporary Australian life hangs. A large cast of Melbournites - first and second generation Greek Australians and a variety of other ethnic heritages (Indian, English, Aboriginal, even a hint of Burmese), with barely a "skip" to be seen - gather for a barbecue at the home of Hector and Aisha. When burly Harry slaps 4yo Hugo, a brat of a child growing up with no sense of discipline or control, still breastfeeding, and who precipitates the action by threatening Harry's son with a cricket bat, it gives Tsiolkas a chance to examine reactions from various contexts - cultural, gender, socio-economic. Each chapter carries the story along from a different person's point of view. Much of it is coarse and crude, explicitly sexual, but authentically so. Tsiolkas seems very angry in this book, angry with his own people on the political left who've worked their way up from poor roots to middle class apathy and materialism. He also seems to be contrasting the extended family "it takes a village to raise a child" concept of many European, Asian, even indigenous Australian cultures with modern white Australia, which comes off looking very bad. Private school educations were mauled, as were parents who left their children to party without supervision, and the only "colonial" in the book was a weak-willed alcoholic. Perhaps most disconcerting was the amount of racism in the book, the Greek scorn for the Australian way of life generally. "Aish and herself, they had real pasts, real histories. Jewish, Indian, migrant; it all meant something, they had no need to make things up, to assume disguises." I might disagree with much that is said in this book but I have no doubt that it is a genuine picture and therefore important to consider its message. I won't be sad if it wins the Miles Franklin.

Gratuitous swearing has never been my thing but putting that aside the story is riveting. Tsiolkas has a firm grasp on the intricacies of relationships on various levels. His flawed characters are uncomfortably believable. Any number of times I asked myself, what would I have done in that situation. An exceptionally good read.

A storyline focusing on the repercussions of when a man slaps a spoiled brat of a child, who is not his own, at a friend's backyard bbq. Explores the intimate relationships between girlfriends, husband & wife and teenagers.

Don't bother reading unless you like dark, harsh, vile characters and can put up with with excessive coarse language and the appalling focus on explicitly described sex acts. The f-word and c-word was used by almost everyone, in front of everyone relentlessly. There were so many times I was struck by Tiolkas perception, or excellent character development, and then disappointed when the dialogue began. Are there really people who speak like this on a consistent basis? If yes, then how soul-destroying.

Loved this book. Can't understand why people have been offended by the language, as although I don't employ the same level of expletives, a lot of people do and we have all heard them before.

I loved the points of view from so many couples regarding the slap incident. The handling of the teenage issues was very thorough and timely. The book is quintessentially Australian in the number of Australian characters with different heritages and how that may have influenced them - I loved that representation. Australia is not always shown as such. Very real. Very readable. Highly recommended.

Interesting that it's won the commonwealth writers' prize.
I read a lot of unpublished manuscripts and this book seemed to make all the same basic errors: too many characters in the first chapter, no-one to really follow or admire, poorly developed storyline, numerous lengthy digressions, characters who failed to evolve or change, unremarkable ending, ultimately just a collection of snapshots with the same bleak governing philosophy. I don't get it.

Great concept. Controversial topic however by about half way it failed to hold my interest. I found I had very little empathy for any of the characters and became quite disiullusioned with Australian suburban life if this is to be taken as a reflection of society today.

Like the fact that it was written from 8 people's perspectives and did feel that the author captured the essence of the various characters irrespective of gender or age.

Worth reading but did struggle towards the end.

Third person, 'over the shoulder' narration style. Average reading. I can't understand why all the critics rave on and on about how great an Australian author Tsiolkas is. I bought and read this book as part of my current English topic at uni. Even after the two lectures on this text I still could not understand why Tsiolkas is supposedly so great.

started slowly but quickly picked up pace capturing the reader in the lives of the many characters in the story that are effected by the slap. a clever plot provides the tension that keeps the reader wondering. set in melbourne we roam familiar streets and landscapes while being introduced and seduced by the different cultural backgrounds that inform each character. a great read!

A very long winded tale, all because of one "slap"