The Slap / by Christos Tsiolkas

An Australian author of Greek extraction, Christos Tsiolkas is a lifelong resident of Melbourne. He was the editor of his student newspaper in both high school and college and penned his first novel, Loaded, in 1995 at the

 age of 30. The novel was later made into the film Head On, a piece which won several AFI (Australian Film Institute) awards and gained international notoriety for both its controversial subject matter and riveting performances. In addition to his six full-length novels, Tsiolkas has written a number of plays and screenplays, many of which, like his fiction, have held worldwide acclaim. The Slap, his latest novel published in 2008, examines the conflict-driven sequence of events following a publicly controversial incident at a neighborhood barbecue.

"He bloody broke it. He should be punished."

At a family get together, an obnoxious three-year-old named Hugo acts aggressively toward another child without intervention. When the father of the victimized child sees nothing being done by the parents of the perpetrator, he slaps the kid across the face. Everyone is so horrified by the incident that, after a brief pause, the families disperse. A day later, the parents of the slapped child have the slapper arrested. The event is conflicted and complicated enough but their are deeper issues among the adult party-goers themselves. Hosts Hector and Aisha, a childless interracial couple, have their own private secrets just as they feel conflicted, caught in the middle as they are, about the incident. The slapper is Hector's hot-headed cousin, Harry, their original family having immigrated from Greece a generation previous. Harry defends his actions, feeling he was justified to discipline another couple's unruly offspring, and is defensive about the whole thing along along with Hector's mother and father who also witnessed the event. Hugo's parents are Rosie and Gary, a hippie-ish Anglo-saxon couple who say they never intervened because they believe in a more "naturalistic" resolution to matters of this sort, preferring to stand back and let any repercussions develop without a third party. Both Rosie and Gary--but especially Rosie--are simply outraged at Harry's act and are planning to press charges in full despite the uproar from the other side. As the trial approaches, furious Rosie and defensive Harry put more and more pressure on Aisha and Hector to testify on their behalf.

This book isn't really about child abuse or proper modes of discipline or anything like that. The slapping incident is really just a way to examine the dynamics of family and friendship connections, originally at the barbecue to look at how people of different backgrounds come together and then into a more privatized world of individual families and relationships. It's not an easy book to summarize. Tsiolkas uses his premise, a not uncommon everyday incident, to stabilize his larger structure. But his real talent is for exploring the inner lives of his eight primary characters, four women and four men, ranging in age from 18 to 70, all from different perspectives, family situations and ethnic origins. There are no stock characters in Tsiolkas' story. Each individual is a sharp observer with a particular personality, a personalized opinion. As things happen in the lives of the characters that have nothing to do with the case and are far more interesting, the audience is introduced to the truly idiosyncratic stations of all involved. No one is necessarily evil, no one deserves to be hit, or even judged negatively though all are distinctly flawed. Everyone means well, and everyone is doing the best he or she can; but then again, everyone is awfully angry. (FIC TSIOLKAS)

Rachel Simon has been writing since she was a child, and presently makes a living from her writing and public speaking. This is her second memoir. The first was “Riding the Bus with my Sister”, which is about her mentally challenged sister, Beth. That book relates how Rachel built a relationship with Beth by giving up her own life (temporarily) to share her sister’s total commitment to riding busses as a way of life. It was made into a “Hallmark Hall of Fame” television movie in 2005.
Ms. Simon is a “chatty writer”, and is not hesitant to “spill the beans” at any moment, which means she describes what’s going on but at the same time is directing your attention to her personal gut reaction to events. The memoir relates how she and her husband “build” a home together. They actually “renovate” the home her husband bought some years ago when they were in the midst of a split, but the renovation is so extensive it amounts to a “rebuilding” of the inside. Her husband is an architect, and his design is perfect in mirroring their individual and communal spirits (although a lot has to be given up to stay in the projected budget.) By the time the renovation is over, you know all about Ms. Simon’s relationships with all of her family, and all of her friends (at least the meaningful ones). Ms. Simon is Jewish but not a believer, and her husband is a Zen enthusiast. Both of their spiritual resources come up dry on occasion, but sober yet positive realism helps them get through conflict, along with healthy doses of humility. There’s a lot of detail in the emotionally inventory-taking, but the narrative manages to carry the weight without becoming maudlin or moribund. What’s important in the end is to notice things enough so you can stop and experience an art installation (Detroit airport’s lighted tunnel) and say hello to a stranger who’s special (How the author met her husband).