He Died with a Felafel in His Hand is a purportedly non-fiction autobiographical novel by Australian author John Birmingham about his experiences as a share housing tenant,[1] first published in 1994 by The Yellow Press (ISBN1-875989-21-8). The story consists of a collection of colourful anecdotes about living in share houses in Brisbane and other cities in Australia with variously dubious housemates. The title refers to a deceased heroin addict found in one such house. The book was subsequently adapted into the longest running stage play in Australian history[2] and, in 2001, was made into a film by Richard Lowenstein, starring Noah Taylor, Emily Hamilton and Sophie Lee. A sequel, The Tasmanian Babes Fiasco, was published in 1998.
In 2004, to celebrate the book's tenth anniversary, Birmingham approached comic artist Ryan Vella to produce a graphic novel of the book. The pair met in April of that year at Artspace Mackay, for the opening of the Headspace exhibition. The comic was published in September 2004 by Duffy & Snellgrove (ISBN1-876631-95-3). Paul Dawson calls this a grunge lit book.
Synopsis
While the book is not written in a linear fashion, the order of houses (and housemates) John lives in is as follows:
1st Place – The Boulevade
Tom lives in the garage
Mel lives upstairs. Her boyfriend Warren moves in some time later. When they move out, replaced by
Andy the med student (nicknamed "Dr Death")
Tom moves out and is replaced by:
Derek the bank clerk
2nd Place
Tom and John got a new place
Derek the bank clerk (lived in a tent). Replaced by
Martin the paranoid wargames enthusiast. He lasts three weeks and is replaced by
Taylor the taxi driver
3rd Place – King Street
PJ
Milo
PJ moves out, replaced by
The 7 foot nurse, replaced by
Ray, replaced by
Malcolm and his Charlie Brown-themed bowls, replaced by
McGann the American, in his mid 40s, with a fondness for prostitutes, replaced by
Taylor the taxi driver.
Taylor is having personal problems. He ambushes his fellow housemates with a toy gun after hiding for an hour. He tells them if it had been a real gun they would all be dead. John sees that as a good reason to move out.
4th Place – Duke Street (Brisbane)
"Thunderbird Ron"
Macgyver the mushroom farmer
Neal the albino moontanner
Howie (Neal's friend)
Satomi Tiger (via Tim the invisible flatmate)
"Brainthrust" Leonard
Jabba the Hutt
Mick the English backpacker
Colin and Stepan
John moves out for reasons not made clear.
5th Place – Melbourne
Stacey the Who Weekly fan
John moves out when her loud sex sessions become too much to bear.
6th Place – Fitzroy
Brain the electrician
Greg the gay school teacher
AJ
Satvia who starts going out with John
Nigel moves into the house and moves in with Satvia
As a result of the fallout from this new relationship, Greg moves out and John follows suit.
7th Place – Carlton
Ernie
Martin the Canadian PhD student
Dave the smoker moves in with his washerwoman girlfriend
Four other Daves move in
After trying to freeze out the Daves from the house by cutting off the gas and electricity, John gives in and moves to a loft in Fitzroy.
8th Place – Fitzroy
Wendell the Londoner
After Wendell's threats to kill him, John moves out and sleeps around at friends' places.
9th Place – Auchenflower in Brisbane
Wayne the Satanic vet
Danny (the decoy)
Margot
10th Place – Brisbane goth house (not clear how this move came about)
All the goths run away after the bailiff comes round to collect unpaid rent. John keeps the house on and in moves:
Dirk
Em the banker (at the start of the book it is stated that Emma moves in when Nina moves out)
"Crazy Nina"
Nina moves out to live with her friend Tanya
Tanya then moves in after Nina sleeps with her boyfriend. The whole house moves:
11th Place
Dirk
Em the banker
Tanya (possibly)
New woman moves in to replace Nina but leaves because she is "diagnosed as schizo"
Taylor the taxi driver moves in
The book then segues to
12th Place – band house in Darlinghurst, Sydney
Hooper
Tammy
Jeremy moves in to escape his former psychotic housemate
Keith the drummer moves in downstairs
13th Place – Kippax street
Gina
Harry the doctor, replaced by
Kim the vet, replaced by
"Melissa the junkie" (aka Rowan Corcoran), replaced by
Duffy the computer programmer, replaced by
The Dutch guy who lasted two weeks, replaced by
Giovanna who lasted less than a week, replaced by
Mosman who no one ever saw, replaced by
Jimbo who moved in with one of the girls leaving his room free for
Veronica the proto hippy who was replaced by
Jonathan, replaced by
"Downstairs Ivan"
"Uptight Martin" moves in at the same time
Downstairs Ivan and Uptight Martin move out within three days of each other and are replaced by
Paul the quiet journalist and
Homer the air traffic controller
Yoko San moves in and lasts three weeks, replaced by
Jeffrey the "junkie" (drug addict)
Birmingham's narrative is interspersed with humorous testimonials from other veterans of the Australian share house lifestyle, and descriptions of common share house paraphernalia, such as the bucket bong, the ubiquitous "brown couch", and milk crates serving as makeshift furniture.
Reception
In Review called it part of "Brisbane’s Holy Trinity of Gen X Lit... a knockabout comedy, but with serious bits that people always forget are in there, and was required reading for anyone who lived in a share house or who just wanted to read a funny book."[3]
