Eucalyptus Goth

by Brian Craddock

A full decade after Jello Biafra declared Brisbane a heavy junta police state, Dante Halloran navigates its streets aided only by his wits and a debilitating mental illness that he has nicknamed The Inferno. Australia has just ushered in a change of Government, and is still reeling from the recession that it “had to have”, but for Dante these are hardly events that concern him: his is the pursuit of love, of somewhere to lay his head at night, of friendships that won’t wane with the passing of the seasons.

With him on this journey are his so-called friends, equally lost: Twix, whose jealousies threaten to undermine their brotherhood; Alex, slowly spiralling out of control with the onset of her own condition; and Pixie, determined to find her individual, potentially fatal, way in life.

EUCALYPTUS GOTH explores a city now lost to time, where skinheads and punks clashed on the streets and a night at the Normanby Hotel was considered a rite of passage for the babybat goths.

Genres: Goth

693 pages, Paperback

Published October 9, 2017

Reviews

[Fiona Nichols · Rating 4 out of 5]

Eucalyptus Goth – A Novel, Brian Craddock

Eucalyptus Goth is a novel of epic proportion and is not for the faint hearted or romance reader. It encapsulates Craddock’s autobiographical story in a novel based in the year 1996 where politics was changing, a time when the Port Arthur shooting happened in Tasmania. This mention of the Port Arthur shooting referred to many times within the novel, was a good juxtaposition to talk about the life of mental illness.

The book is centred around the protagonist Dante whose adventures lead him into trouble at times and even though life within the psychiatric wards is mentioned, it is not the main setting for Craddock’s story which involves a lot more about life in the community. Unlike Susana Kaysen’s Girl, Interrupted, the focus on the book is not about the incarceration of the mental ill which is enlightening.

I would refer to this book as an Autofiction whereby fiction and autobiography are blurred to create effect. There is no doubt that Craddock has mastered stories from several characters set in the first person. Although Dante is loosely based on himself the points of view of other characters forgive Dante for his actions or demonise him. In particular the character Bernie, seems to have a strange obligation to Dante and almost an affection which is hinted at by other characters’ viewpoints.

This Epic story will get you thinking again about your own sanity and make you wonder if the “normals” outlined by the gothic subculture are in fact the alternative lifestyle. Dante moves through life getting diagnosed with Borderline Personality Disorder or BPD which is particularly common in females, yet Dante is a male so this makes for an interesting life experience often not known to the public.

Though in BPD people tend towards substance abuse, petty crime, self-destructive behaviour and identity crisis, Dante is rather interesting as he despises “junkies” and their lifestyle yet get pulled up by the law for minor crimes. The strongest facet of Dante’s mental illness is identity crisis which he struggles with daily and calls the Inferno. The Inferno refers to all the negative destructive emotion within him and ends up leaving him with the question of “Who am I?” in a way.

Craddock’s depiction of Dante leaves us questioning who we are as we judge him through other characters eyes. Raven has a fondness and compassion for Dante and Alex too. Somehow, Dante looks for the most destructive relationship he can have or even turn on so called friends because of the Inferno.

Each chapter of the book is like a short story told from one particular character’s perspective. The book is enlightening and touching yet frightening and scary all in one mix. However, I believe that this book best suits people who like mental stimulation. It is not an escapist love story and nor should it be unashamedly. If you want to become versed on mental illness and homeless life all in one book then this book is the one for you. If you enjoy twists and turns then you will find that there are plenty of these too with drama to offset the mix. I think that it is worth a read and give a four star rating and am eagerly wondering whether there will be a sequel.

[Rowan · Rating 4 out of 5]

So I'm going to come clean about this book in a way which MIGHT cause some people to simply not read my review. That being a bias towards this book. Namely, I was actually at Brian's book launch for this. I know him personally (I wouldn't say we're friends but we have met a couple of times and got on, though it has been a few years) and back then I was a more active part of the Brisbane Gothic scene and actually had a completely different name. So if you feel that kind of connection to the book clouds my judgement to favouritism, by all means take what I say with a pinch of salt.

Now a lot of this book has it's roots in Brisbane of the 1990s. Locations mentioned, how characters behave, hell the Port Arthur massacre is an "event in the background" where characters feel the political change of what that massacre did to Australia. The reason all this is necessary to explain is that the book clearly wants to preserve that lived experience through fiction. I'm not saying this as a positive or a negative (I mean my first review on this site was for Let The Right One In by John Ajvide Lindqvist and that was written to preserve his experience of being a child in 1980s Stockholm - with a vampire), just a statement of what the reader is in for.

The book also doesn't really have a narrative, preferring to focus on multiple characters as each one grows and develops. The idea of "Goths trying to get by in spite of our deliberate anachronistic feeling towards the world" is all over it and this impression is what I personally held onto for interest in the book. Honestly, as someone who didn't get into Goth in that city until way later, I really liked the "more things change" feel to it. I mean sometimes you get the druggies, sometimes you get the people who're too handsy, sometimes you get teens who want to try the Trans thing, sometimes you get those with severe mental health issues. With the exception of the #2 though, we're all trying our best. We know we don't fit in and don't want to but that usually means finding our own way. That impression also gets tragic when you get to the points in the book where characters do end up dying.

Now you are also going to get dated references and a couple examples of bigotry from that period (the 90s - one of the characters has a best friend who, in modern speak, "falls down the skinhead rabbit hole"). I actually prefer it when a book set in a time with different social attitudes actually takes those social attitudes into account, however, again, this is just a "be prepared for what you're in for" statement.

I also want to just say something as a "for the record" thing and this is where my knowledge of who Brian is overtakes the review. In 1999 Brian directed a documentary on the local Goth scene of that day called Everyday Devils & Angels. It DOES feature some of the standard teething issues of a young filmmaker trying to figure it all out but I do recommend it if you're interested as it's on YouTube.

So this might sound like it's a very niche book but if you're into "young adults find themselves" stories, I actually recommend this.