Summary: At a barbecue in suburban Melbourne, a man slaps a three year old boy across the face. The child, Hugo, has been misbehaving without any intervention by his parents, "the steely-eyed Rosie and the wimpish Gary". The slapper is Harry, cousin of the barbecue host and adulterous businessman whose slightly older son, Rocco, is being threatened by Hugo. This event sends the other characters "into a spiral, agonising and arguing over the notion that striking a child can ever be justified. Some believe a naughty boy should be taught some discipline, others maintain the police ought to be brought in to investigate a common assault" with a range of positions in between.
What I thought: I really loved this book and really hated the characters. They were all horrible! I did find it a hard slog though to get through it all. I sort of went in spurts of 100 pages here, then another 100 pages a few weeks later... But it did lead for great bookgroup discussions. I just felt that the majority of characters were not in suburbia (well certainly not the one I love in). But maybe I lead a sheltered life... I don't know if I will read any of his other books but I am still pleased I read this considering all the hype about it. I've got the TV series to watch now (but no time to watch it)!
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