Dead Europe

by Christos Tsiolkas

From the acclaimed author of The Slap comes an unsettling novel about the truths and lies of mythology and history. The basis for a major motion picture.

 

Isaac is a photographer in his mid-30s, traveling through Europe. It is the post-Cold War Europe of a united currency, illegal immigration, and of a globalized homogenous culture. In his mother's mountain village he encounters a Balkan vampire. Subsequently, as his journey continues across Italy, Eastern Europe, and Britain, he discovers that ghosts keep appearing in the photographs he takes, providing clues to a family secret and tragedy. Parallel to Isaac's story, we are in the Greece of World War II. A peasant family is asked to provide protection to a Jewish boy fleeing the Germans. It is this boy who will become the vampire. From the mountains of Greece to the inner-city streets of 1960s Melbourne, we trace the journey of this malevolent force as it feeds on generation after generation of Isaac's family, seeking revenge and justice.

Genres: Fiction, Horror, Historical Fiction, Australia, Fantasy, Literary Fiction, Novels

411 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2005

About the author

Christos Tsiolkas is the author of nine novels: Loaded, which was made into the feature film Head-On, The Jesus Man and Dead Europe,which won the 2006 Age Fiction Prize and the 2006 Melbourne Best Writing Award. He won Overall Best Book in the Commonwealth Writers' Prize 2009, was shortlisted for the 2009 Miles Franklin Literary Award, long listed for the 2010 Man Booker Prize and won the Australian Literary Society Gold Medal for The Slap, which was also announced as the 2009 Australian Booksellers Association and Australian Book Industry Awards Books of the Year.
Barracuda is his fifth novel. Merciless Gods (2014) and Damascus (2019) followed.
He is also a playwright, essayist and screen writer. He lives in Melbourne.

Reviews

[Sean Kennedy · Rating 1 out of 5]

This is the third book I've read of Tsiolkas', and it will most likely be my last. His books are so unremittingly bleak, but also done in such a way that they come across like a sophomoric I-hate-the-world-and-everybody-sucks mentality. Like he shuts himself in his room and screams "YOU JUST DON'T UNDERSTAND ME, OKAY?"

In his worlds, there is no good. And as a gay author and inclusive of gay characters in his text it often comes across like self-hatred - and even more so in this book populated by sociopathic arseholes whose depravity is beyond difficult to read. I know it's all meant to be some metaphor for the horrors of WWII and the Holocaust, but there's only so much over the top sex, drugs, vampirism and violence you can take. And then there's the good old child raping, because you know that gay men are all pedophiles.

Even the one 'likable' character turns out to be an ex-Stormfront member who refuses to get rid of his Swastika tattoo.

I'm not saying that gay characters have to be saints, but Tsiolkas doesn't have any 'good' characters at all. They all seem to be irredeemable, and although this is carried over in his other books like "The Slap" with heterosexual characters as well, and he needs to start experimenting with new themes.

Oh, and lose the self-loathing homophobia and depicting every gay character as a predatory shit.

[Kirsty Leishman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Spit and shit, blood and urine, vomit and semen: there are an awful lot of bodily fluids in Dead Europe. Here Europe is not the contained and refrigerated anatomical specimen of the morgue, but a fetid, rotting corpse, dumped in a ditch, seething with larvae, oozing with saprophytes. It's pretty disgusting. And, as with Tsiolkas's other books, it puts many readers off. Is the detail Tsiolkas affords our everyday bodily functions necessary, or simply a vile mode of expression that betrays an ugly world view?

I'm disposed to interpret Tsiolkas's writing generously. I did my Honour's thesis on Australian Grunge Literature and Loaded was one of the books I wrote about. I read that through the lens of Julia Kristeva's notion of the abject; so, all of these bodily fluids are necessary because they are unsettling; they are everything that is part of ourselves that we try to deny and repress, but that will insist on seeping into our consciousness and messing up our lives.

To this end then, the metaphor of bodily fluids in Dead Europe can be read as an exploration of what non-indigenous Australians have sought to forget about the origins of our migration. Isaac's tour through Europe is an exploration and a reminder of the centuries old displacements of war, exploitation, poverty and prejudice that motivated--forced--migration to Australia. It is a history that contemporary debates about refugees and asylum seekers in Australia often, assiduously, ignore.

Christos Tsiolkas will not allow non-indigenous Australians to ignore this wretched history, this wretched present. He unmasks the complacent Australian tourist as a bystander, as a vampire feeding off the misery of Europe and elsewhere, in order to enjoy our comfortable, unreflective, self-congratulatory existence. As squeam-inducing as this book can be at times, it is one of the few pieces of writing I have found that adequately articulates my rage at the inhumanity of many Australians and our successive governments in the face of people forced to flee their homelands for fear of their very existence. For this I thank Tsiolkas. For those who dismiss his approach to writing, I say, be thankful that you only ever have to read on nice clean pages about the whole sordid mess.

[JJ Marsh · Rating 4 out of 5]

I finished this book ages back, but needed to think for a long time about what it meant. For me, Dead Europe is both a fable, and an exorcism. There are so many layers of meaning here, it takes a while to digest. I find an anger in Tsiolkas's writing which echoes the anger of a teenager, slamming his bedroom door. It's a bellow of independence and a scream against influence, which cannot quite hide a familial affection. The dual narrative of Isaac and the magic realism storytelling of long ago reflects the furious tension between now and then.
Even in the casual sexual encounters, Isaac is trying to discover and erase simultaneously, sloughing off the penitent attitudes of his ancestors yet finding ever new reasons to feel guilty. The image of the strange vampiric child who appears to possess the narrator is a rich and potent symbol of Europe's history and Australia's past.
Essentially, I found this a disturbing and intelligent take on identity. It's a brave, powerful book, certainly not easy reading. Tsiolkas is an incredible writer who makes you think.

[Manos Tzorakis · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ο Ισαάκ, Ελληνοαυστραλός μετανάστης δεύτερης γενιάς, προσκαλείται από το ελληνικό Υπουργείο Πολιτισμού για να παρουσιάσει το φωτογραφικό του έργο. Το ταξίδι του, που θα συνεχιστεί ως άσκοπη περιπλάνηση στην Ευρώπη, μετατρέπεται σε roadtrip προς την κόλαση, καθώς έρχεται αντιμέτωπος με παλιά οικογενειακά φαντάσματα αλλά και τη σύγχρονη παρακμή της Γηραιάς Ηπείρου.

Απεμπολώντας κάθε τουριστική διάσταση, ο Tsiolkas εντυπωσιάζει με τον τρόπο που βλέπει την πατρίδα των γονιών του (αχάριστη, νεόπλουτη επαρχιώτισσα χωρίς δράμι αρχαιοελληνικού κλέους) αλλά και την πάλαι ποτέ Ευρώπη του πολιτισμού και της τέχνης. Διαβλέπει καθαρά την επέλαση του νεοφιλελευθερισμού της επόμενης δεκαετίας (το μυθιστόρημα γράφτηκε αρχές ‘00s) και προφητεύει τη νέα ευρωπαϊκή κοινωνία του ρατσισμού, της προσφυγιάς, του τράφικιν και των ναρκωτικών. Αργά και μεθοδικά, σαν να ξεφλουδίζει κρεμμύδι, οδηγεί τον ήρωά του στην ευρωπαϊκή καρδιά όπου βρίσκονται φυλαγμένα σαν ακριβά κειμήλια αντισημιτισμός και αίμα. Κυριολεκτικά αίμα. Και με μια γκόθικ επιλογή που φτάνει την πλοκή στα όριά της, σκιαγραφεί μια ήπειρο όχι απλώς σκοτεινή, αλλά επικίνδυνη σαν βαμπίρ.

Η αφήγηση είναι συναρπαστική, οι εικόνες καταιγιστικές, το παράλληλο flash back συνταρακτικό, όμως, το φινάλε έρχεται κάπως βεβιασμένο και μάλλον αδύναμο να κλείσει όλα τα ανοιχτά μέτωπα της πλοκής.

[Anna · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a magnificent book. It made me weep. It also made me want to drop it half way through. It filled me with disgust, but then I realised was the book any less confronting (like these Hollywood movies that are made for PG rating to earn better bucks and thus failing to leave any mark in the history of cinema), would not deliver the message it was meant to. So, confronting, brutal, but also deep, touching so many levels that I need to read it again, because I feel that this first shock of the reading blinded me to its true depth. Perhaps I find it so good because it touches something in me. I am also, like the characters in this book, a migrant to Australia. I also, few years ago went back to the place of my birth for the first time since leaving more than 30 years ago, to face some of my demons. My demons, compared to these in the book are small, tame, domestic. But more than once I whispered to myself, reading, "yes, yes..."

I have listened to audiobook. A very different experience from reading a hard copy. On one hand - not much choice but to listen to every word. On another - it is hard to stop and think, to read again a fragment that needs closer attention. I will get a hard copy. To read again. To put on my shelf. To keep.

[Kalika · Rating 3 out of 5]

I don't know how to rate this book. Did I enjoy it? No. Am I glad that I read it? Yes. I found the book profoundly disturbing. It's nihilistic description of the narrator's journey through Europe in contemporary times is interspersed with an almost mythical account of history, the two hurtling towards each other and merging at the end. I felt repulsed to the point of feeling nauseated but still could not stop reading. The shockingly stark view of racism, revenge, and (literal) bloodthirstiness makes for a traumatic reading of western (european) society and there is no redemption in the end. It paints the hopelessness of the human condition in deeper shades of darkness. I will not read it again but would definitely recommend it as an exceptional piece of writing.

[A.T. · Rating 4 out of 5]

I try to get my hands on books that step outside of mainstream likeability and hopefully lead me down the path of discovery about new Authors. This book was no exception. Christos Tsiolkas is totally new to me, and his Book "Dead Europe", while not wrapped in pretty bows, is a good enough read if you wish to see people, and Europe, from a different perspective; there were times where my mouth hung open as I read, and other times I shook my head in disbelief. Some books in my life have covered topics in such a manner that it surprised me they were published, but no matter the gutter-topics playing themselves out along the ancient cobblestone paths of Europe, I am glad it was available for me to discover.

[Fiona · Rating 1 out of 5]

I felt like I wanted to take a shower after reading this book. I have no problem with depiction of sex, be it hetero or homosexual. But this was gratuitous and taken to the extreme as a plot device, perhaps in the absence of being able to finish the story any other way. The final few chapters apparently the protagonist turned into a pansexual vampire, which wasn't necessarily presaged by the fact that his mother may have had some supernatural powers in a previous existence in Greece, before she emigrated to Australia, or by his own gay history. Generally speaking, Tsiolkas made a total hash of drawing together some interesting historical and political story lines and blurred them with sex sex sex sex. I cannot imagine that this book was merely directed at the gay market (that would be an insult) as I think that Tsiolkas fancies himself as an author of note more broadly than just the gay genre, and I agree, on the basis of The Slap. On the basis of Dead Europe, however, he writes really icky pap. NB if you find the idea of cunnilingus with a menstruating woman in an overflowing toilet on a train off-putting, please don't read this book.

[Gerhard · Rating 4 out of 5]

The theme of the book is nicely summed up by Isaac when he comments: "... when we are tourists, we ony see that part of a city which has given itself over to the trade of travel."

Tsiolkas sends his protagonist on a meandering tour of Europe that attempts to embrace its ugliness, violence, hatred and bigotry.

Isaac is gay, and his moral denigration is symbolised by a descent into physical debauchery across the fleshpots of Europe that makes for very, very difficult reading.

Tsiolkas goes out of his way to be as in-your-face as is possible, and he often seems to wallow in the sheer nastiness of his story and his fucked-up characters.

Isaac's family is of Greek descent, and the book is interspersed with chapters about his home life, as well as its myths and folklores. Isaac, as a Greek Australian -- or is it an Australian Greek? -- is essentially a nomad due to the machinations of history, and his expat nature has marked his soul. This is complicated by a thread of Jewish blood in his heritage, and a truly dark stain upon his family story. Told in a grim, fairy tale like way, these parts of the novel are dark and savage.

This is a difficult and complex theme, and Tsiolkas tries to be as controversial as possible in looking at Jewish and Islamic fundalentalism. One of the characters says: "I was glad to see those Jews jumping from those burning buildings. They deserve their towers to burn."

As much as one is outraged, and saddened, by such a view [of a fictional character, not Tsiolkas, of course], one has to realise there are people out there who think like that. And the US is predicated upon freedom of speech and tolerance.

I think part of Tsiolkas's aim with this ambitious, but flawed, masterpiece is nothing less than to explain the nature of evil, and why religious fundamentalism, racism and general ignorance and bigotry are still so prevalent today.

I was amazed at how topical this book is today, given it was first published in 2005. The ending is a bit of a cop-out, but this is still a very challenging and disturbing book.

[Stuart · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was an unexpected page turner, and while it left me feeling somewhat unsatisfied (the bleak ending feels cynical, rather than justified), and the author's use of symbolism is occasionally heavy to the point of pendantic, I would definitely recommend it to anyone looking for an unusual marriage of the social novel and the vampire novel. Telling twin, but ultimately conjoined narratives about a Greek woman's pact with the devil and her grandson's backpacking trip through Europe, this novel is a horrific collage of anecdotes and gothic stage pieces. Young Isaac, the main character, undergoes a throughly believable descent into vampirism, at first symbolic and eventually real, though what exactly he does or does not experience in Europe is later subtly undermined to imply a great deal of the relentless carousel of addicts, whores and thieves he encounters may be a reflection of his own progressively diseased psyche. By the time the plot-lines meet, you're totally sucked in and Tsiolkas' characters and prose are both fantastically rendered. In the final chapters I found myself feeling both anxious and exhuasted, and I have to say, I slept really well the night I finished this book, almost like it had helped me purge my own demons. But the after taste is mildly troubling, perhaps because the world Tsiolkas shows us is too bleak- and too real.

[Caroline]

This not a book for the faint hearted and while the "intellectual" may consider this an exciting work, for me it is profoundly disturbing. Anti-Semitism and graphic sex linked with superstition are intertwined with history and the present and the whole narrative strikes me as an autobiographical search for identity in a world where nothing is certain anymore.

[Ilinca · Rating 2 out of 5]

Christos Tsiolkas, hear this: Jeffrey Eugenides you are not.
I'm glad I read the Slap before this, or else I'd have never read anything by this guy again. Not that The Slap was great; but it was a decent read, good enough to keep me connected to the end. Not this one.
This book is all practice and no perfect. He tries too hard and there's very little substance behind it all. It's all been done before, and much much better. By, you know, Jeffrey Eudgenides, for instance. Or a gazillion other contemporary novels mixing present day accounts with semi-fantastical magic-realism bits of ethnic history.
None of the stories is convincing or interesting, and he seriously had to brush up his writing to produce The Slap; because this thing here is merely mimicking great literature. The words sound empty, the cutting knife is blunt, and the feeling is mere form and no content.

[Alex Doenau · Rating 1 out of 5]

Worse than The Slap, this novel is Tsiolkas' attempt at something like magical realism. Again all of his characters are drug snorting, racist mouthpieces who express sentiments that you'd never likely hear from the mouth of a real person. As the protagonist tours Europe and describes the penises of its citizens, he gradually breaks down into nothingness, rendering the novel pointless and the legacy of the past toothless.

Tsiolkas displays a nonsensical hang up on Judaism that is handled clumsily and didactically and without contributing anything to any canon. Dead Europe is the opposite of worthy, and most chapters describe something that is, if not morally dubious, outright illegal. I have no idea how or why this has been turned into a film, but looks like I have to find out.

[Tanya · Rating 3 out of 5]

Thank god that's over with. While I'm sure it's very well-written- many people smarter than me have said so & I hold them responsible for me not just tossing it aside- I found it a test of endurance. There were so many grotesque scenes in this book that I would rather expunge from my memory. I believe that it's full of metaphors for the past sins of Europe- wars, genocide and the like, but in my ignorance, I found I was none the wiser. I did think there were some interesting comments on Greek society which proved prescient, but that comes rather early in the book, so if you want to chuck it before the character travels to Prague, I would recommend you do- unless you have a strong stomach and a high threshold for PTSD (ok possible hyperbole alert here).

[Nick Sweeney · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed Tsiolkas’s The Slap very much. I liked its targeting of both the middle classes in general, and people who are precious about their dreadfully-behaved children. The Slap has an honesty about it that was very refreshing. Whatever else Tsiolkas may be, he is not a poseur of a writer – no self-aggrandisement, no self-conscious style-over-content – and writes things if not as they are, then as he sees them. And of course, the honesty is not enough on its own, and Tsiolkas is a very fine writer, and a great storyteller.

This was no different in Dead Europe. Isaac is a thirty-something Australian photographer – arty rather than commercial – on a journey through a Europe he has never known, though he has some pointers to it from the background of his Greek parents, who had their own love-hate relationship with the often brutal old world they came from. Twentieth-centurty Greece was not a healthy place to be: there were the Balkan Wars, the ill-advised war with the Turks, the Second World War and its occupation by the Nazis, then the so-called Civil War between Greek communists and right-wing governments, and, by the 1960s, the extreme right wing autocracy of the generals. Add to this poverty, superstition, petty jealousies and revenge, and it is clear why Isaac’s parents wanted to escape that world for a society painted as blandly as Australia is in this story.

There are stories galore in Dead Europe, Isaac’s present journey, away from his lover, family and friends, interrupted by the story of his parents, by stories told by his parents and, in some cases, stories that are hearsay, superstition and folklore.

Isaac goes to Greece and finds his mother’s village, and is not exactly shocked but disappointed by the poverty still there, by its lack of young people, the sure sign that it may well have been there for more than 2000 years, but will certainly die. Isaac is aided in this kind of thinking by his Greek cousin, cynical about a country in which everybody wears Prada but is still somehow poor, in which there is also a poverty of intellect and aspiration, but, to be fair, he doesn’t need much prompting. Nearly all of the characters in the book have a strain of nihilism a mile wide in their thinking, whether that is of their homes, other people’s countries, other people, and of themselves. Post-1989 gets similar short shrift. By the time Isaac gets to Prague, and wanders into examples of how society is plainly not working – junkies, prostitutes, drug deals, more ugly poverty – I was beginning to weary of the tone of the book a little. Just a little. By the time I was three quarters of the way through, its general mood was making mine a little less willing to read on. The writing is so good, however, that I was hooked.

Prague’s gay porn underground is examined particularly closely, and it is obvious that Tsiolkas knows his way around this scene, and similar scenes. I wanted something – anything – redeeming from it, and from the book in general, but was constantly disappointed in this respect. Paris’s trade in people smuggling also gets an examination, and Tsiolkas brings in the plight of refugees everywhere in the new Europe (and continues this theme once Isaac gets to Cambridge). At times it is a book that deals with the immigrant experience, the movement of desperate people who are constantly maligned, whether this is officially – as in the practice of putting people without status into camps – or unofficially, in the way Isaac’s parents were treated when they first came to Australia, the casual name-calling and violence of children directed at them – all learned from parents, of course.

The whole thing is a bleak view of people, from which nobody escapes.

There is a movement in the story that reminded me of Michel Houllebecq, and I won’t spoil that here.

I’d like it to have been a little more concise, at times, but all in all – in case you think my negative points overrode the positive ones – I enjoyed reading the book, but find it hard to recommend.

[oguz kaan · Rating 2 out of 5]

*Ölü Avrupa, Tsiolkas'ın insanlığın son kıtası olan Avustralya'dan gelen misafirin kökleri olan Avrupa'ya dönüşünü korku ögeleri sayılamayacak kadar belirsiz, dengesiz ve anlamsızca hikayeyi yetişkin seviyesine çekmeye çalışmasından dolayı harcanmış bir potansiyel olarak gördüğüm bir kitap oldu.

**Sadık olduğunu söylediği eşine sadık olamayan, kitap boyunca pasif ve önüne gelen her erkekle yatan, seks, uyuşturucu ve daha nice anlamsız iğrençliğin olduğu ve bunun hikayeye kattığı hiçbir artı değer olmadığından dolayı yazık olmuş demeliyim.

***Bakın, toplumun gözden uzak olan, dışlanmış, itilmiş, aşağılanan, öldürülen, genel ahlak normlarına uymadıkları için ötekileştirilen, X kişisinin Y dinine uygun bir hayat sürmediği için yaşama hakkı olmadığını olanca ciddiyetiyle düşündüğü o yalnız insanları bu şekilde anlatırsanız yaptığınızın aslında onların saygınlığı azaltmakta daha da ileriye gittiğinin farkında olmanız gerekir.

[Randall Longmire · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ok, if you like your writing raw and confronting Tsiolkas is your man. A haunting return to Europe, a stalking demon and blood lust (the toilet scene on the train almost made me lose my breakfast) weave their way through your senses, strangle your sensibility, test your stamina and spit you out feverish and hungry for more.
Tsiolkas writes beautifully and I ask myself how much of this is biographical. Regardless it's an excellent novel that interestingly seems to draw some inspiration from Bram Stoker's Dracula.
I haven't read The Slap yet but Dead Europe makes me want to experience more of Tsiolkas.

[Joel · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is like a stinking odor - it demands your attention and provokes a response, even if you find much of it offensive.

Tsiolkas draws together many different strands - the relationship between migrants and their children with their ancestral lands, commentary on 21st century Europe, anti-semitism, political ideology, the nature of religion and the decadence of contemporary sexuality - in a way that seems even more relevant today in the age of Brexit, the Greek economic crisis and Syrian refugees than it would have ten years ago.

Overall, this was a hard book to read but if you can stomach the smell it will give you much to think about it.

[Vincent Gulotta · Rating 2 out of 5]

God is dead, Marx is dead, Greece and Europe are dead and Australia doesn't feel quite good either.

So, why is the book title Dead Europe? While the book doesn't lack of some narrative quality, its title implies analytical skills that Mr Tsiolkas really doesn't possess. He looks at an entire continent in in 400 pages and his glares are rushed and superficial.
There is a wide spread attitude in the Anglo-Saxon media that blights and belittles every positive thing done on the continent, an attitude that the “un-liberated” wog Tsiolkas seems to have thoroughly assimilated. Brainwashed and blinded by these biases, Mr Tsiolkas can journey through Europe with a disparaging look not only at the European cultural heritage but also at the material and spiritual progress of the continent. He can concentrate on the dark ugly spot that, as he himself affirms, could be easily found also in his native Australia. According to Tsiolkas, poverty, marginalization of minorities, racism and genocide aren't foreigner to his homeland, so what’s the point of travelling through five countries and two continents? The novel’s plot could be easily twisted to the legends and superstitions of Tsiolkas native Australia; a setting that would have saved him the embarrassment of becoming the very first traveler ever to spot a “row of apartment blocks” in Venice. Or the even bigger embarrassment of lightly writing that he was “fascinated by the banal modernity of Berlin”. (Mr Tsiolkas, if you really must write something so stupid at least don’t do that casually!) Magically and predictably, beauty reappears in this world as soon as we land in dear old England… utterly preposterous!
It is quite a shame that his smoky political agenda clouds his narrative. Tsiolkas style shines when he describes things that he knows well. When he talks about his parents, his partners, his growing up in the suburbs, his eye becomes sharper and his narrative captivating. I can understand Tsiolkas desire to escape from the trite and rote post-modernist autobiography but he clearly cannot. In the end, he is a much better writer if he plays by his strengths.

Ah, one last thing. Please Mr Tsiolkas, please, stop comparing Australians to Americans (you did that in the Slap as well). Or rather, stop obsessing with nationalities and national stereotypes altogether, it’s what makes you so depressingly provincial!

[Emily · Rating 3 out of 5]

Θυμάμαι ότι βρισκόμουν στο αεροδρόμιο της Φρανκφούρτης όταν είδα στο βιβλιοπωλείο μια μεγάλη στοίβα με το πρόσφατο βιβλίο του Τσιόλκα. Γέμισα υπερηφάνεια για τον Έλληνα που κατέκτησε το βιβλιοπωλείο του αεροδρομίου αλλά από την άλλη αναρωτήθηκα γεμάτη ντροπή ποιος ήταν και πώς μου είχε ξεφύγει.
Ο λογοτεχνικός μου μέντορας, όταν του είπα τον πόνο μου, με καθησύχασε και μου έδωσε τη "Νεκρή Ευρώπη" για να διορθώσω αυτή την ανεπίτρεπτη παράλειψη.
Έκανα το λάθος να κρατήσω το βιβλίο για το καλοκαίρι ενώ θα του ταίριαζε ο χειμώνας με βροχή, ο μουντός ουρανός και η συναισθηματική κατάσταση πριν ακριβώς την απόφαση να κόψεις τις φλέβες σου και να αποδημήσεις από τον μάταιο τούτο κόσμο.
Να' μαι στην παραλία της πάνας, ντάλα Ιούλιος, γύρω μου παιδάκια να ουρλιάζουν, fashion victims να περιφέρονται και πολλές κυρίες της προσφάτως αναπτυχθείσας ελληνικής γυναικείας λογοτεχνίας ακουμπισμένες σε ξαπλώστρες, ψάθες και τραπεζάκια να επιμορφώνουν ένα κατ' εξοχήν θηλυκό κοινό.
Αν έβλεπε το σκηνικό ο ίδιος ο Τσιόλκας νομίζω ότι θα αυτομολούσε σε μοναστήρι.
Το βιβλίο ήταν πολύ απλά μια γροθιά στο στομάχι. Στην αρχή η έκπληξη μου ήταν μεγαλύτερη από την αποστροφή μου. Στη συνέχεια κατάφερα να χαλιναγωγήσω με επιτυχία την τάση για εμετό και να στρέψω το μυαλό μου σε όλα όσα υπαινισσόταν ο συγγραφέας πίσω από τις γραμμές.
Ελληνο-αυστραλός μεν αλλά ουσιαστικά Αυστραλός, χρησιμοποιεί το ταξίδι του ήρωα του στην Ευρώπη, από τη μια για να κάνει σαφές πόσο πολύ διαφορετική είναι η μία ήπειρος από την άλλη αλλά και το πόσο "τελειωμένη" είναι ουσιαστικά η γηραιά ήπειρος. Χρησιμοποιώντας απίστευτα σκληρή και κυνική γλώσσα, παραστάσεις που ανακατεύουν το στομάχι, εφιαλτικά σενάρια και σε κάποια σημεία μεταφυσικές εικόνες, σκιαγραφεί μια Ευρώπη που σαπίζει μέρα με τη μέρα, βυθισμένη στην υποκρισία και στο comme il faut φέρεσθαι ενώ παράλληλα σπρώχνει τα σκουπίδια κάτω από το χαλάκι.
Ο ήρωας του Τσιόλκα μετασχηματίζεται σιγά σιγά στο ταξίδι του από ηδονιστή του δρόμου και βαμπίρ απολαύσεων σε πραγματικό βαμπίρ οξυμένης διαίσθησης και κρίσης, για να καταλήξει στο τέλος, (ένα τέλος εντελώς αντισυμβατικό) στο δρόμο του Θεού.
Πορνεία, ρατσισμός, ναρκωτικά, εκμετάλλευση ανθρώπου από άνθρωπο, παιδεραστία με ωμές περιγραφές, σε μεγάλες ευρωπαϊκές πόλεις με προσόψεις που καταρρέουν. Ακόμα και έτσι όμως, ακόμα και αν έκλεινα το βιβλίο για λίγο προκειμένου να συνέλθω από το σοκ της γραφής, προτιμούσα να διαβάζω Τσιόλκα από τα σκουπίδια που έβλεπα απλωμένα γύρω μου.

[Panagiotis · Rating 4 out of 5]

Μερικές φορές πέφτουν στα χέρια σου βιβλία τόσο δυνατά που δε μπορείς να τα αγνοήσεις. Που σου γεννούν αισθήματα λατρείας ή αποστροφης , μέση λύση δεν υπάρχει. Το βιβλίο το ξεκίνησα πριν από δύο χρόνια και το μίσησα από τις πρώτες σελίδες του. Όχι γιατί είναι τόσο gay αλλά διαβάζοντας το πρώτο κεφάλαιο είπα boring boring boring . Ένας gay που ήρθε στο Ελλάντα να βγάλει τα μάτια του, έτσι το παράτησα και το ξανάπιασα φέτος και έγινε η απόκάλυψη. Το βιβλίο διαβάστηκε σε μιάμιση μερα και είναι στο top 3 των φετινών και σίγουρα στο top 10 της δεκαετίας. Είναι βαθιά πολιτικό με την ευρύτερη έννοια, μιλάει για το ρατσισμό σε όλες του τις μορφές αγγίζει θέματα φριχτά όπως η παιδοφιλία , το traffiking και η ξενοφοβία με μια κοφτερή ματιά και μια γλώσσα σκληρή σαν ατσάλι,οι σκηνές του είναι ανείπωτα σκληρές και για γερά στομάχια. Παράλληλα με την Οδύσσεια του ήρωα στην Ευρώπη, παρακολουθούμε και την ιστορία της οικογένειας του ήρωα από το 1940 και μετά καθώς και το γεγονός που στοιχειώνει την οικογένεια και καθορίζει την τύχη του ήρωα μέχρι τώρα έστω και εν αγνοία του. Ένα γεγονός που δε σε αφήνει να κοιμάσαι ήσυχος τα βράδια. Ένας θρύλος αντάξιος του Πόε.

Το βιβλίο το διάβασαν και δύο κολλητοί μου που δέχθηκαν να γράψουν κριτική και σας τις παραθέτω παρακάτω.

Λίλα

Γνωστός μου από το Loaded (κατά μέτωπο) ο Tsiolkas συνεχίζει ακάθεκτος. Γλώσσα άμεση, δυνατή, σκληρή, ρεαλιστική. σκηνές ολοζώντανες, πέρα από την αντοχή σε στιγμές. Η παιδοφιλία επιβάλλεται από τη σκοπιά του παιδιού. Ο ρατσισμός ως ένστικτο φυσικός. Ο ρατσισμός ως μέθοδος κοινωνική κατάπτιστος. Η ομοφιλοφιλία παντού απλά. Και μέσα και πάνω απ' όλα αυτά ένας ελληνικός θρύλος με μάγισσες και φαντάσματα. Το alter ego. Καθηλωτικό.
7/10

Αλέξης

Ένα παραληρηματικό ταξίδι στην Ελλάδα και στην Ευρώπη, σε ένα περίεργο κόσμο ειδωμένο με τη ματιά ενός gay που δεν ενδιαφέρει κανένα straight. Περιστασιακές σχέσεις, αρπαχτές και ψωνιστήρια, σ' ένα κόσμο τόσο μπερδεμένο από την όχι και τόσο ταλαντούχα γραφή του συγγραφέα, με έκανε να αποφασίσω ότι είναι απλά χάσιμο χρόνου. Το ''μεταφυσικό'' που προσπάθησε να περάσει ήταν τόσο μπερδεμένο που δε πέρασε.
2/10

[Scott · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was wavering between three stars and four then realised that this is not a book that calls for a moderate response. When I thought about it in the context of the time during which it was published I felt more generous. There is a juvenile melodrama to the book that can be a bit eye-rolling, but when I think about my own state of mind in those first years after the World Trade Centre attacks, when the Western world was cowering in fear under the righteous reign of Dubya, I realise I too felt that way. It's a novel easy to find fault with - it's provocative for the sake of it shit-blood-semen phantasmagoria is overblown, as are the characters who are full of hate, are in a state of shock, are screaming or aroused - but it's also bracingly brave. I'm not sure its analysis of xenophobia, religion, politics and identity is especially acute - I'm neither learned enough in those areas nor especially interested - but it's certainly brazen and admirable for at least discussing the taboo. I felt unclean whilst reading Dead Europe but as the book so clearly points out, the business of being human is a messy one. It's probably inaccurate to say I "really liked" this book as the four stars indicates, but I'm an admirer and I'm glad it exists.

[Barbara · Rating 3 out of 5]

This outrageous sleazy and at times confronting book fascinated me, but it was not enjoyable to read. I think perhaps I didn't understand it really.
The alternating stories of different generations of a family, was ok at first. The tale of life in the rural Greek village,from the early 20th century, was engaging.The story of the migrant descendants of the Greek peasants, in Australia post WWII began really well, but just disintegrated for me once the the young man Isaac,now an adult in the early 21st century, arrives in Europe. I guess it was about cultural and family beliefs being still strangely and secretly entrenched in the current group; but it just lost me. The stark, lurid stories of some events in Europe, made me feel uneasy, a bit grimy for having been there in the reading.
However, the writing was quite gripping and really evoked the sense of garish, tarnished, decaying people and places. The discussion of religions, American-Jewish co-dependency, and world politics was really thought provoking and lifted the book for me. Those characters were also more likeable than any others.

[Benito · Rating 4 out of 5]

Imagine if Nick Giannopoulos and the team at Wogs Out Of Work decided to rewrite William Burrough's Naked Lunch. Well, this would be it. Tsiolkas shows us the Europe tourists rarely see - the dark, old, dead Europe behind the cheesy piazzas and museums.

Some people might find the prose style, and subject matter, confronting. Good. The darkness of people and places the protagonist encounters on his journey to discover his ancestral roots is balanced by the lyrically beautiful scenes of oral sex and sodomy.

It is always interesting to see Australia from a distance, and the protagonist does this while trekking across Europe - unsentimentaly dealing with the issues of isolation and racism that silently underlay much of the migrant experience in Australia.

[Claire Melanie · Rating 2 out of 5]

this book started off pretty well but towards the end it was so OTT with the gore and "reality" that it just got depressing. also the main character's total inability to deal with his obvious health/mental issues got frustrating as he chose simply to continually vomit everywhere, drink blood and fuck everyone he met. not much there to identify/empathise with. have read other christos tsiolkas books where i didn't like any of the main characters (the slap as case in point) but issac really annoyed/alienated me and i didn't really care about him at the end, except in terms of being returned to colin. was worn out by his "adventures" and the profound message about Europe the reader was supposed to learn a couple of hundred pages ago but gritted my teeth and finished it anyway

[Jillwilson]

Let me just advance a theory that Christos Tsiolkas went to Europe and came away a bit disturbed. His disturbance plays out in the novel, which has just been made into a film. The subject matter of the novel (racism, decadence, the shackles of tradition and myth) is pretty horrible and he (the writer) has not been able to manage this stuff at all well. This book is like roadkill. Horrible. No stars.

[Sophie · Rating 3 out of 5]

still contemplating this one, far too much for my poor little brain
graphic, confronting, dark - wow, extremely
themes of our time, our world - lots and huge
supernatural - in there too
hatred, tenderness, love, murder, evil, demons, depravity, grossness, blood, soil, anti-semitism, superstition
wow
no rating - i hated it and loved it
this is no simple book, this book continues to be in my head, not for its 'graphicness' but for its ideas

[itsthetrees · Rating 4 out of 5]

11/2024 update: Τα είπε όλα η φίλη εδώ


gagged me, in both ways . . .

I draw sharply on the oily squalid air. It is thick with layers of sediment. Layers and layers of shit. History, manure, blood and bone under my feet. The dust of death, life, death, life, endless death and life, repeating repeating, this is what my body is propelling itself through, this is what life on this dirty soil means.

[Margarita · Rating 5 out of 5]

Šitą knygą pirkau už eurą septyniasdešimt kaziuko mugėj ir tai yra geriausiai išleistas euras septyniasdešimt mano gyvenime. Pirkau nieko nesitikėdama, nes labai išgirta Christos Tsiolkas knyga „Antausis” visiškai nesužavėjo. Užtat „Dead Europe” atpirko viską. Vos įpusėjus jau norėjau skaityt iš naujo ir vėl viską patirt.

[Sam · Rating 3 out of 5]

I had looked forward to reading this book ever since my first year of university when all of the lecturers were raving about the literary genius that was Christos Tsiolkas and his new book The Slap. I wasn't interested in The Slap, but had heard of other people saying how amazing his previous book Dead Europe was and that it was truly scary.

I was disappointed firstly by the lack of horror in the book and secondly by how depraved a lot of the content is. And personally I felt that it didn't add anything positive to the story, why does his character Isaac having sex with a child in Greece have any bearing on a magical realist story of politics, religion, superstition and history?

It seems as though Tsiolkas likes to include graphic sex scenes just for the shock value. Yes I realise that things like what Tsiolkas speaks of in his books happen everyday all over the world and in particular in eastern Europe but i certainly didn't appreciate being bombarded by sex where it wasn't appropriate. A typical scene might go: kiss hello, cigarette, glass of wine, a little cocaine, sex, coffee, sex, cigarette. This would occur at least once every chapter, with chapters being tiringly long.

One particular scene in which the magic realist element becomes more apparent is when Isaac travels on a train from Berlin and performs the act of cunnilingus on a menstruating Brazilian stranger. This scene even served to churn the stomach of my raised-and-desensitised-by-the-internets boyfriend who went from interested to I'll in one short paragraph.

The politics and drugs were lost on me and I found myself swimming in the confusion of the politics of not only Australia but also various European countries and the now dismantled Eastern bloc.

This was not a bad book. It was just needlessly perverse and not for me. Reading it in haste of the movie release probably also took away from what I feel could become a cult text in 20 years or so. I applaud Tsiolkas for being able to write the topics he discusses with such abandon. He is a great writer but this book fell flat for me and I'll be waiting for the DVD. There were also a lot of unanswered questions and sudden unexplained deaths that irked the crap out of me.

I loved the historical magic realism and feel that it would have made a better book, a more unique book had Tsiolkas used only those chapters, discarded the contemporary aspects and given a more whole picture of how the family came to be cursed.

Basically, this is a book that you will finish and wonder what the fuck you have just read.