The Slap by Christos Tsiolkas

‘This, finally, was love. This was its shape and essence, once the lust and ecstasy and danger and adventure had gone. Love, at its core, was negotiation, the surrender of two individuals to the messy, banal, domestic realities of sharing life together. In this way, she could secure a familiar happiness. She had to forego the risk of an unknown, most likely impossible, most probably unobtainable, alternative happiness. She couldn’t take the risk. She was too tired. And anyway, she scolded herself, the moon is hanging low and gigantic and golden over Amed, I am with my handsome husband who loves me and encourages me, who makes me feel safe. I am safe and that’s all the world wants, only the young and the deluded would want anything else, believe that there is anything more to love than that.’

There are too many words in this passage. This overblown guy could learn that less is more. And I am betting that he neither likes nor understands women.

I really don’t know about this book. It’s had such huge press and I had to wait half a year to get it from the library. But it’s like a Greek male macho version of a Danielle Steel novel, full of sex (his personal fantasies I am thinking!) and a soap-opera-intensity focus on the gritty details of people’s private lives. The premise is interesting enough – a bloke at a BBQ slaps a brat of a kid, the parents press charges and that polarises the family and friends who are at the event. The emotion surrounding their responses creates fallout for their relationships. Marriages come under pressure, friendships strengthen or fail, individuals tell lies and create mayhem in other people’s lives.

I didn’t like the characters or the characterisation, which I thought relied on shallow stereotypes. I could almost see the writer lining up a whole bunch of people he’d met in the working class Greek community and popping them into the story. I didn’t like the gratuitous language, which I still believe acts like speedhumps in the story, and I didn’t like the explicit detail of the sexual encounters – I really don’t need to know where anyone sticks their fingers, not even if it’s only in their ears. I just thought it was trashy.

But then I did think he had a handle on some of life’s experiences. The relationship between the old Greek parents rang true as did the way that some of the characters struggled with concepts like love and fidelity. Like the curate’s egg, this book was good in parts. 3 stars.