The wacky Laments ramble around Rhodesia in a series of adventures and misadventures. Disturbing and humorous at the same time.

This is by far one of the best books I have read, ever. Funny, sad, shocking. George Hagen has captured it all. Don't miss his second book, "Tom Bedlam". Another outstanding read. I just hope Hollywood doesn't get their hands on either one!

What this book needed was an experienced and heavy handed editor who could argue with an excellent first time author about one unsettling plot point very late in the novel. While that plot point and tragedy did not entirely spoil the fun -- it was only because I edited it out in my mind.

Until then there are a lot of funny set pieces, and the most hilarious set of twins in a long time in literature.

I have lived on all the continents the Laments do as a child and in almost the exact countries -- so perhaps I recognized many of the issues facing the son, Will -- such as always being the new kid, and leaving girlfriends every time a move occurs.

I recommend this book, and yes, it's a bit like Garp, although John Irving's book is a classic by a major author and The Laments is an excellent first effort that won't let you down and will have you laughing along at and with the Laments.

I tend to quite enjoy picaresque stories, so it was with anticipation that I picked up this continent-hopping debut novel. If not outright autobiographical (hopefully not!), Hagen has certainly drawn heavily on his own mobile childhood in telling the story of the moderately eccentric titular South African family. Over the course of the 1950s-70s, engineer Howard, housewife Julia, and son Will move from apartheid South Africa to an expat enclave in Bahrain to a colonial enclave in Rhodesia to gloomy England to suburban New Jersey -- with the addition of incorrigible havoc wreaking twins along the way.

Howard and Julia start their marriage with grand notions, he's got big engineering dreams, and she's got an artistic side to nurture. Their story starts with a tragicomic baby swapping episode that sets the tone for all to follow. The book follows them over the next eighteen years as their family dynamics are contorted. Howard's career slowly derails until he ends up deeply mired in depression. Meanwhile, Julia is stuck in a lonely housewife role until she is suddenly forced to become the breadwinner in America. And poor Will is forever struggling to adjust and fit in, only to have to leave everything (and usually a girl) behind every few years. It is primarily through Julia and Will that the reader experiences the culture shock of the moves and the peculiarities of each place. Fortunately, Hagen balances these personal disappointments and difficulties by poking lots of fun at the expense of the Laments' various cartoonish neighbors. Of course the satire is pretty easy given the racism and imperialism laden locales -- kind of like shooting fish in a barrel. The Lament twins also provide plenty of Dennis the Menace type shenanigans to liven things up and inevitably wind up stealing every scene they appear in.

The book is slightly schizophrenic in the sense that it displays a great deal of heart and humor for the Laments, combined with a light touch and highly readable prose, but quite a lot of bad things happen to them. The final chapters actually went too far for me and broke the tone completely. What had been tragicomedy throughout suddenly swerves into true tragedy and it's feels like a betrayal of the story. The book's one other fault is that it's ultimately rather insubstantial -- despite a plethora of domestic adventures and themes of identity, secrecy, family, etc., it doesn't actually have much to say. Still, it's a fine debut and it's definitely good enough to make me keep an eye out for Hagen's next book.

NOTE: I've never read John Irving, but many many readers and reviews say this book has heavy tones of "The World According To Garp".

'The Laments' is one of the best books I've read in a long time, and I read voraciously. George Hagen mixes humor and sadness into a compelling, heartrenching novel. His prose is clean, and the pages fly. I normally don't recommend novels because people's taste in books is so relative, but I can't imagine anyone not liking this novel. Highy recommended.