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, first published in 1994 by The Yellow Press. 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 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 ten-year 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. Paul Dawson calls this a grunge lit book.
Synopsis
While the book is not written in a linear fashion the order of houses John lives in is as follows: 1st Place - The Boulevade
Martin the paranoid wargames enthusiast. Lasted three weeks and was replaced by
Taylor the taxi driver
3rd Place - King Street
PJ
Milo
PJ moved out, replaced by
The 7 ft nurse, replaced by
Ray, replaced by
Malcolm and his Charlie Brown-themed bowls, replaced by
Victor the Rastafarian, replaced by
McGann the American in his mid 40s with a fondness for prostitutes, replaced by
Taylor the taxi driver.
Taylor at the time was having personal issues. He ambushed his fellow housemates with a toy gun after hiding for an hour. He told them if it was a real gun they would all be dead. John saw this as good reason to move out. 4th Place - Duke Street
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
Yoko San moved in and last three weeks, replaced by
Jeffrey the "junkie"
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.
