The Degenerates is about the grotty, gritty and grotesque. It seeks to disrupt conventional narratives and expose the underbelly of contemporary urban life.
Our tale opens in Bombay with Somnath, a shoeshiner and handyman intent on making ‘first a fortune and then a family’. However, like all the characters in this story, luck and circumstance are not on his side.
The officials in Bombay have set about a citywide beautification project and, as ‘untouchables’, Somnath and his adopted baby Maha are swept up and out to the shores of Melbourne. Their lives become entwined with teenage Titch, who lost his best friend to suicide, and Ginny, who dreams of something more than her retail job in a mega shopping centre. Titch and Ginny and other voiceless city-dwellers want their stories to be heard. They find their solace in Maha who performs that exact service for people living on the margins.
Richardson’s use of language is extraordinary, and he wields words expertly to enhance the absurd. Yet at the same time, I found his characters largely charmless, sometimes so ironically written they felt unidimensional. I wanted to care about them, but there was something in the writing style or their ascribed motivations that kept them at a distance. Without an emotional connection to the characters, I struggled to remain engaged in the narrative.
The Degenerates will resonate with readers who enjoy complex novels and writing that strains against norms, and who can also forge connections with this story in ways that might evade others.
Reviewed by Louise Falconer
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Raeden was raised in Melbourne and has lived in Singapore and New York City. He is a graduate of the Iowa Writers’ Workshop.
His work has been supported by the Australia Council for the Arts, the Elizabeth George Foundation, the American Australian Association, the Ian Potter Cultural Trust and the Kittredge Fund. He has been an artist-in-residence at La Napoule Art Foundation and Yaddo.
His writing has appeared in Griffith Review, Kill Your Darlings, The Masters Review, The Age, Strangely Enough and New Australian Fiction.
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