The Slap - Christos Tsiolkas

I had been recommended this book by several people, so I went in to reading this with pretty high expectations, and I was not disappointed.    

At a barbecue in a Melbourne suburb, a man loses his temper and slaps the child of the host’s friends. This incident unleashes a slew of divisive opinions, pitting friends and families against each other as the child’s parents take the man to court. Told from eight different viewpoints, the novel also deftly fills in disparate backstories encompassing young and old, single and married, gay and straight, as well as depicting how multiculturalism is increasingly impacting the traditional Aussie ethos. For good measure, the author also throws in male vanity, infidelity, and homophobia.

From the first page I was hooked. It was refreshing to read a book that strayed away from the usual "beginning: middle: twist: end" structure. It also offers a lot of depth with the characters in a subtle way, although some of the main characters are not very likeable, even when you see different sides of them.

This book has been praised for depicting a real-life modern family with real-life issues. While I don't have many (actually ANY) people in my family or close circle of friends who remind me of the characters in the book, they were well written and became more real the further in  to the story you went.

This is definitely a book I would recommend so you can loks at the issus for yourself and decide where you stand. A word of warning though before you pick this book up...it frequently uses colourful language and drug use, so this may not be for you if you are sensitive to these.

Black Mamba Boy - Nadifa Mohamed

Black Mamba Boy is a novel set in 1930s Somalia spanning a decade of war and upheaval, all seen through the eyes of a small boy alone in the world. Aden,1935; a city vibrant, alive, and full of hidden dangers. And home to Jama, a ten year-old boy. But then his mother dies unexpectedly and he finds himself alone in the world. Jama is forced home to his native Somalia, the land of his nomadic ancestors. War is on the horizon and the fascist Italian forces who control parts of east Africa are preparing for battle. Yet Jama cannot rest until he discovers whether his father, who has been absent from his life since he was a baby, is alive somewhere. And so begins an epic journey which will take Jama north through Djibouti, war-torn Eritrea and Sudan, to Egypt and beyond. This story of one boy's long walk to freedom is also the story of how the Second World War affected Africa and its people; a story of displacement and family.

From the description on the back cover, this book sounds like it promises rich tale full of adventure and excitement. While the story definitely has the foundation for a book that can't be put down, for some reason I found I couldn't quite get into the story. 

Parts of the book are so well described that I can imagine I am a 10 year old sitting in Aden in 1935. At the beginning of the book the main characters are vivid and well written, but I find that once I get halfway through the book I feel like the later part of Jama's life has been rushed past.

This book has all the elements needed for a gripping story: love, grief, humour, war and history. I still recommend this story but would have preferred the first half of the book to be as well written as the first.