Ari is nineteen, Greek, gay, unemployed, looking for something - anything - to take him away from his aimless existence in suburban Melbourne. Torn between the traditional Greek world of his parents and friends and the alluring, destructive world of clubs and drugs and anonymous sex, all Ari can do is ease his pain in the only way he knows how. Christos Tsiolkas' The Slap became an international bestseller and was longlisted for the Booker Prize in 2009. This is his sensational first novel.