Sydney Morning Herald has compiled a list naming the 25 best Australian novels of the last 25 years.
Part of the list is Christos Tsiolkas’ 2008 novel The Slap.
The Slap is told from the points of view of eight people who were present at a suburban barbeque in which a man slaps a child who is not his own. The slap and its consequences force them all to question their own families and the way they live alongside their expectations and desires.
What unfolds is a powerful and haunting story about love, marriage, parenting and children, and all the passions and conflicting beliefs that family can arouse.
SMH’s Melanie Kembrey writes: “It’s a masterful examination of family, suburbia and cultural identity, and well deserves its status as one of Australia’s best-loved books.”
The novel won the Commonwealth Writer’s Prize in 2009 and was adapted into two miniseries – one in Australia starring Alex Dimitriades and another in the United States starring Uma Thurman and Zachary Quinto.
