Helpful Score: 4
I didn't finish this book. I didn't like the characters, didn't care what happened to them, and didn't want to waste any more time on the book.
Helpful Score: 3
It wasn't anything like I thought it would be, the actual slap is kind of a minor part. I felt like the premise was buried most of the time. It's mostly a bunch of character studies and a couple of them I really didn't like. There was one woman that I hated with a passion and couldn't wait for her chapter to end. It wasn't horrible but it wasn't great either, the people don't really have all that much to do with each other and their intersections are mostly minor. I had a little trouble with the Aussie slang because it seems as if each character is a different ethnicity and he uses a lot of slang terms (which may or may not be rude, I don't know) and it can be hard to know what he's actually referring to. For instance there's an Aborigine married to Muslim, an Indian married to a Greek, an Aussie married to a transplanted Brit, and he'll say things like "The wog said..." when they're all together. Well, which one is the wog?
It is fairly crude, with bold language and sex. A definite R rating.
It is fairly crude, with bold language and sex. A definite R rating.
Helpful Score: 3
Very strange book. Not at all what I expected. I disliked the characters immediately and this did not make it an easy ready. Don't waste your time.
Helpful Score: 1
Liked the way the book was written by viewpoint of different characters. Did not like how the characters never came together.
Also if you are offended by language this book is not for you!
Also if you are offended by language this book is not for you!
Helpful Score: 1
Very disappointing! I heard the author on NPR's Diane Rehm Show reading from and talking about the book. It sounded interesting at the time, but I wish I had read the reader's reviews first. I won't finish this book, the language is offensive and crude, the characters are unlikeable, the story is weak. Life is too short to waste time reading this type of trash.
Helpful Score: 1
I despised this book - I made it halfway and finally gave up. I get the point that the author is making. I get that he is using the spoiled little boy who gets slapped as a metaphor for the spoiled middle class characters in the book (and presumably a statement on society as a whole). But every single character in this book is over-the-top and detestable. It's a boring and unpleasant read, and I have better things to do than slog through it any more.
I liked the premise of the book, and it started off
really good, didn't like the ending
really good, didn't like the ending
Helpful Score: 1
The premise of this book was very intriguing and part of the reason I didnt stop reading it. The story starts with a BBQ and a bratty child who is hit by someone who is not his parent. The rest of the story continues in the voice of various characters and how that moment became a part of each of their lives.
The characters in the story were completely unlikable. They were all selfish, indecisive, weak willed, and worst of all immoral. The books seems to have been written from the perspective of a man who wants women to engage in one-sided sex and who believes that love a woman will continue to love her man solely because he looks good. The author use of profanity throughout the book seems as if the author wanted to use vulgar words for no other reason than just because I can. His description of a womans emotions and a womans sexual thoughts are completely inaccurate. As an American, I did not know what a lot of the slang terms used throughout the book meant.
Surprisingly for all of its vulgarity and for being anticlimactic, I didnt hate the book, but I definitely didnt like it.
The characters in the story were completely unlikable. They were all selfish, indecisive, weak willed, and worst of all immoral. The books seems to have been written from the perspective of a man who wants women to engage in one-sided sex and who believes that love a woman will continue to love her man solely because he looks good. The author use of profanity throughout the book seems as if the author wanted to use vulgar words for no other reason than just because I can. His description of a womans emotions and a womans sexual thoughts are completely inaccurate. As an American, I did not know what a lot of the slang terms used throughout the book meant.
Surprisingly for all of its vulgarity and for being anticlimactic, I didnt hate the book, but I definitely didnt like it.
I did not finish this book - it was not engaging, rather it was disappointing.
A book about rude, crude Aussies written by an Aussie. The premise is very good and the viewpoints expressed are realistic but the characters are not very likeable.
I liked how the story progressed through each person involved
I'm still trying to make up my mind about this one. I finished it - that's about all I can say.
