The Slap by Christos Tsiolkas Finally Out in U.S.

Indie film lovers know Christos Tsiolkas through the surprise hit Head On, an explicit movie about a restless gay Greek guy living in Melbourne. Adventurous readers know him for his autobiographical novel upon which that movie was based, Loaded, and for 2005's award winning novel Dead Europe.

Last week, Penguin published as a paperback original Tsiolkas's 2008 novel, The Slap, one of Australia's most lauded books of recent years. It won the Commonwealth Prize, the Australian Literature Society Gold Medal, the Nielsen Booksellers' Choice Award, the Vance Palmer Prize for Fiction, and was a finalist for last year's Miles Franklin Award (won by Tim Winton's Breath).

Exploring the reverberations of a man's hitting someone else's ill-behaved child who was threatening his own son at a neighborhood barbecue, the book shifts third-person points of view through eight witnesses, four women and four men, ranging from a gay high school student to the slapper's 71 year-old uncle. According to PW, the many viewpoints show "generational and philosophical differences regarding family life and the complex political, social, and ethnic milieu of contemporary Australia."

As you can see on the jacket, Colm Toibin praises the novel's "immense power and scope" comparing it to The Corrections and Underworld. Critics too have loved the book if not all of the rough edged Aussie characters.

The Washington Post: "But finally the novel transcends both suburban Melbourne and the Australian continent, leaving us exhausted but gasping with admiration."

Library Journal: "While there is not a lot to admire about most of the players in this exceptionally well-written story, their intertwined lives and slowly revealed connections make for a singular reading experience."

Booklist: "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 fairly radiates with vitality as it depicts the messy complications of family life."

Buy The Slap.

Comments

[wench costume]

Can't wait to get a copy.. :)

[chaussures air max]

L'objet de ce livre est très gras , très réaliste , je serai préoccupé ,
l'auteur est un sujet pratique de réalisme . Bien que je ne peux pas accepter l'homosexualité , mais l'amour n'est pas la distance .

[magasin new era]

Comme sur votre blog, continuera d'accorder une attention, j'espère que vous écrivez des articles plus bonnes..

[abercrombie españa]

A pesar de que no puede aceptar la homosexualidad, pero el amor no es la distancia...