Very amusing, supposedly true, possibly slightly exaggerated tales of renting and cohabitation in Australia. ( )

This book is definitely in my top-5 favourites, and would perhaps vie for top spot. John Birmingham, in his sometimes convoluted but always entertaining prose, has captured a number of moments beautifully: share-housing in your late teens and 20s; a particular social milieu of the late 1980s and early 1990s; and inner city Brisbane and its student life as it then was (as well as chunks of Sydney and Melbourne).

As one who was there, albeit sometimes on the fringe, for all of these monents, the book has a real resonance for me. It certainly let me see the funny side of my own 11 years of share-housing, which was nowhere near as bohemian, chaotic, or on the fringes of the law. Quite possibly no-one has had as chaotic an experience. But I only had to turn to Felafel to glimpse the darker side.

The book is a connected narrative held together, not by chronology (although it is book-ended by the deceased felafel muncher), but by successively-narrated experiences. Along with Birmingham’s main text, he has included text boxes of experiences collected from friends, hilarious in themselves. And, despite another reviewer, the fake lifestyle ads work for me. I have seen the live adaptation and the film. Neither caught the superior chaotic zaniness of the book.

Curiously, as a narrator, Birmingham maintains a detached involvement in all that transpires. He is there as a participant, gives us a glimpse into some of his inner workings, but is never too introspective. There is an almost naïve enthusiasm about all that transpires. That is a good thing. He does more introspection in the Tasmanian Babes Fiasco, and it doesn’t work.

I bought it when it was first published in 1994, and laughed at loud several times during my first reading. Birmingham is not for everyone, especially the easily shocked. His style reflects Hemmingway, Kerouac and Hunter S. Thompson, among others. If your sense of humour is reasonably robust, you should love this book. ( )

I saw the film a few months ago, and I had heard that the book was much more entertaining. It was. I am grateful that never in my flat sharing experience did I encounter anyone even resistering on the scale of looniness described here. I sniggered loudly at sevreal stories.

I found the magazine-style insets annoying and distracting. ( )

http://verniciousknids.blogspot.com/2... ( )