The Slapping Man (Andrew Lindsay, read by Peter Hosking, Bolinda, $49.95 cd, ISBN 1740947827) ***

When I read The Slapping Man liked it a lot as an example of inversion-the world we know turned not just upside down, but sideways and slantways too-it attracted me and revolted me. And it was funny. But I didn't remember it as being particularly confronting. This changed while listening to this audio version. The text seems much more graphic, in both content and language, being read aloud than it did when I read the book. I was quite squeamish listening to it and often I had to turn it off, or down, particularly when anyone under the age of 18 walked into the room. This is not to say that I didn't like the audio of The Slapping Man, rather that I didn't quite recognise it. What was likable about the recording was Peter Hosking's sane and sober treatment of it. I was thinking, considering the kooky nature of the content, that there would be lots of voice characterisation, dotty renditions of the surreal characters of the novel. Initially I was a disappointed at how his reading resisted this, but eventually I was impressed by it because the content is already so frenetic. I liked this presentation of The Slapping Man but I would warn listeners that the content and language is explicit.

Annelise Balsamo is the assistant editor of Labour and Industry

This review from Australian Bookseller & Publisher magazine is reproduced by kind permission of Thorpe-Bowker, a division of R R Bowker LLC. © Copyright 2004, Thorpe-Bowker