"The Slap" centers around a single event at a small Australian picnic... a man slaps a child who is not his own. The novel then explores the outcome of this event for a variety of characters, ranging from the child's mother to the man who slapped to child to the teenage boy who babysat the child. While it was an interesting concept, indeed, it just got tiring and a bit slow as the chapters progressed. Nothing is really accomplished.. outside of a lot of drugs.