More Books Alive!

One of the books chosen for this year’s “Books Alive 50 books you can’t put down” is “The Slap” by Christos Tsiolkas. This book begins at a suburban barbecue, where a man slaps a misbehaving child who is not his own. This event has a shocking ricochet effect on a group of people, mostly friends, who are directly or indirectly influenced by the event. It divides this group of friends, with some supporting the outraged parents of the slapped child, and others supporting the man.

“The Slap” is told from the points of view of eight people who were present at the barbecue, with each given a chapter. How they each react to the incident draws the inherent conflict between their various personalities and beliefs to the surface. The characters are not all likeable, but it is fascinating to watch the story unfold, as the incident causes them to question how their own families work and what their beliefs are. I found this book very hard to put down, though I couldn’t easily identify why. It is set in Melbourne middle class suburbia, with many of the main characters being the children of post war migrants from various countries. There are age and cultural differences between the friends and yawning gaps between them in their core beliefs, which becomes divisive for the first time when they react so differently to the slap. I think the source of my fascination with this book was that the characters are so vividly drawn that it felt as though I was taking a walk in their shoes.

Another of the “50 books” is “The true story of Butterfish” by Nick Earls. It is the story of Curtis Holland, keyboard player in the famous band, Butterfish. Butterfish has imploded, and now Curtis is in his new Brisbane home, with a studio, set up to produce other people’s music. He plans to be reclusive, to avoid recognition, but he finds his single neighbour and her two teenage children have other ideas. He becomes involved, but then the former lead singer of Butterfish turns up, glamorous and fascinating.

This book was reviewed by Thornton McCamish on July 20 on the website www.watoday.com.au. He said “Earls' characters are superb, and the conversations in which they make furtive, toe-stubbing attempts to connect with each another are hilariously rich in the unsaid and the unintended. And while Curtis' low-key style can sometimes be unaffected to the point of homespun, the prose is also capable of artful shades of feeling, especially in the passages about the missing parents who haunt this story, and in some memorable descriptions of songs and singers, and the reasons we need music in the first place.”
Happy reading!