A group of friends are gathered for a relaxing afternoon barbeque at the suburban home of Hektor and Aisha. At some point, one of the guests slaps the young child of another couple. The party quickly ends, but the repercussions of that action continue into the near future in the aptly named The Slap by Australian author Christos Tsiolkas. Although the party is attended by an extensive group of people (almost too extensive to introduce in the opening pages), Tsiolkas narrows the personal stories to eight characters, some directly involved in the incident, and some only secondarily affected.

I found The Slap to be a gripping, compelling book, although I can't say I like the writer's crudeness (some parts I found uncomfortably so, particularly when he was speaking for the female characters). I also found the characters' personal morals almost non-existent; while many wear the sheen of being good, going beneath the surface reveals that they are far from it. I think I would have liked the book better if the characters' storylines had been intertwined rather than told in blocks of chapters.

What I did like was the result in their personal lives of this one quick act: everyone has an opinion about it. Some couples are able to support each other, some are violently opposed in opinion. Some are able to forgive and move on; others are mired in bitterness and revenge. Some agree that the child required discipline which his parents were not providing; others feel that an adult hitting a child is unjustified in all circumstances.

It was also interesting to find where my sympathies were directed in regards to the incident. In that respect, the book was an eye-opener. In other respects, it's a good, quick read with a meatier topic than my usual summer choices.