The Slap

The novel The Slap, by Christos Tsiolkas has been strongly recommended by reviewers, which phrases such as 'the must read novel of the summer. Well I've tried and just given up in despair after 200 pages. The basic premise of a split second act which polarises a community and tests friendships got my interest, but what a load of badly written tripe it turned out to be.  I haven't found one character to be at all believable, and just haven't got the energy to go on. All the the characters are nasty caricatures, and seem to based on a strangely skewed view of the world. I remember a quote from John Irving which said all good novels need narrative momentum and an emotional engagement with the characters. The Slap has neither.