I think the little shit deserved it!!!

I finally got to read The Slap, Christos Tsiolkas's latest book. I love Christos and have been reading him religiously since Loaded and am so glad he's finally getting the recognition he deserves. (just like to point out that I got him put on the HBL standing order list just before this book came out!!!) He's also a friend of a friend so that helps too! This is definitely his best work since Loaded and I love the different perspectives of the eight different characters he focuses on, though it could have done with a little closer editing, there seemed to be a few too many tiny little details (particuly sexual) which I didn't find important, or maybe I'm just missing something!!! Also didn't like his description of Altona as something along the lines of 'Flat, grey suburbia' (I cant remember the exact words as I have taken it back to the library so I cant check... but they wern't very nice!) None of the characters are particuly likable, which can make for some hard going, but they are all very real and Christos is really good at bringing out the ugly side of human nature! Anyways, read it, it's a great book and I love reading anything Melbourne based where I can really picture everything being described.