I wish I had put more effort into the first half of The Slap by Christos Tsiolkas. I didn’t begin to enjoy the novel until about 250 pages in (just past the halfway mark!) and by then I had lost track of the many characters.
Each chapter gives a different perspective of the same event (the slapping of a child) and of the aftermath, and these can be read and enjoyed individually as well as over the whole novel.
The novel is good on relationships in a multicultural, Melbourne / Australian society. Many of the characters are not very nice and there’s a lot of racist, sexual and crude language, so some might find this a difficult read. On finishing, I felt I would like to re-read it at some time.
Recommended, for some.
Waiting for the TV series in Britain – may be better as a visual. I get confused a lot with names too. Sometimes I have to do spider diagrams of who’s who as I real along. Did a “Poem from Found Print” from some Trivia review about it on my arty blog https://artsoprovident.wordpress.com/2016/03/20/poem-from-found-print-5-sma-ck/
There’s a 2011 Australian series (available on DVD) which was shown on BBC4 back in 2011. A US series is currently showing on the Lifetime channel on Sky.
We don’t get the Lifetime channel but it is due on the Virgin network soon. Did you see either of the series? What did you think of them?
I came across the book in a charity (thrift) shop today and have started reading it.
Haven’t come across either series…
Oops – Haven’t come across either series…