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.
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