The novel begins with bizarre circumstances, involving an accidental baby-swap, leading to the Laments' adoption of a fragile baby that they name Will. Julia Lament has to come to terms with the loss of her real son, while keeping Will's identity a secret from everyone except her husband. Or so she thinks.The story begins in 1954 and spans two decades, giving nostalgic clues to the date of the action in references to pop songs, US presidents, and the age of the Lament twins. It extensively examines the variety of racist and sexist attitudes one would expect of the times. Amidst all of this, the Laments seem to be seeking some kind of democratic peaceful paradise that doesn't exist. Racism is everywhere and it is the Laments' liberality that makes them aliens wherever they go.This is the story of a family who leave their privileged life as whites in segregated Southern Rhodesia because of their liberal ideas and desire to avoid potential war. But trying to escape war doesn't stop Marcus from losing his hand in The States. They discover that beyond apartheid, life isn't as easy for whites, liberal or not, and after a series of amusing disasters, find themselves struggling and challenged to find their real identities in the world. Finally poverty forces them to stay where they are and confront the things that are troubling them, that are causing interpersonal strain.Howard Lament literally "Loses heart". He drags his family around the world because of his own wanderlust, and has to learn that home is with those you love, and love is not dependent on money. He has spent his life wishing he could have saved his father from a heart attack, designing a mechanical heart and living with regret. An expert in valves, he had dreams of irrigating the Sahara, but needs to learn how to open the valves of his heart to his family.Julia Lament, who has had to sacrifice her carer as an art teacher and her painting to have children and be a wife, feels she has a point to prove to her proud, misogynistic husband. When she becomes the breadwinner, he loses his confidence and sense of traditional identity.Will struggles to leave behind his friends and loves each time the Laments move, and to make the right sort of friends among racist children. He discovers there are some groups it is better not to feel a part of.Throughout his childhood, Will always feels like an outsider. He doesn't know he is adopted but can see that he doesn't look like the others in his family. Moving from place to place, he doesn't adapt as quickly as his twin brothers with their flexible accents. In America, he is known as "English" although he spent the early years of his life in Africa. However there is the sense, right from the beginning, that Will does know, on some level, that he is adopted, that he has internalised this. Hagan is excellent at getting inside a child's psyche and describing the formation of a young personality. Much of the story is from a child's perspective and shows the growth in Will's character and beliefs with each person he gets to know, and each belief system he encounters.It is hard to know what to make of the imagery throughout the book of the "Midnight Chinaman", a dream figure that haunts Will. Sometimes like death, sometimes seeming like an object of desire, it could represent the fear of 'the other', or a sense of home. At one point, the Midnight Chinaman seems to become real in the figure of Will's friend Roy, an 'urple' coloured black boy with supposedly Asian eyes.The novel has so many comic scenes that are also wincingly awful slow motion accidents, that even the horrible bits are strangely pleasant to read. It's laugh out loud funny. Moving from segregation to integration, racists get their comeuppance, and love provides a sense of belonging.
For a long time I didn't think I liked this book. It seemed too light, no real substance. I kept waiting for some major, tragic event to occur. (That shows what kind of books I've been reading lately!) Eventually the characters and the story grew on me, especially the main character, Will, who is a quiet, serious boy who was switched at birth and doesn't know it. Throughout the book the Lament family travels, always in search of a fresh start, a better job, and a better life. Each new home brings its own challenges, and the mother is convinced that something is lost every time they move. Eventually I realized that this book wasn't the light, nothing story I had first thought it was (It does have its share of tragedy). By the end I was really enjoying it, and I was sad when it ended. It was a pretty easy read. I'd recommend it as a break between heavier books.
What do You think about The Laments (2005)?
Will belongs to a family that moves. A lot. It is what the Laments do. They have moved from South Africa to Bahrain to Southern Rhodesia to England and then to New Jersey. His father is talking about moving on to Australia or maybe New Zealand, always looking for that perfect place where he will be able to realize his dreams. But for Will, it means he never feels like he belongs anywhere. And sometimes he wonders if he really belongs in this family, with his wild twin brothers, his permanently distracted father, and his harried mother. He doesn't know what the reader learns very early in the book: he is a Lament in name, but not by birth. What the reader also sees is that Will is the heart and soul of his family. This is a beautiful, sometimes funny, often heartbreaking coming of age story. I read it first when it was newly published, and I relished the re-read.
—Sharon Watkins
The writing really makes these characters come alive and feel so real, so human. Each leg of their journey draws you into their new world and every nuance of their experiences feel completely authentic. These characters and their lives are far from perfect which is refreshing in a way. But the events of their story are sometimes so outrageously tragic that this book wasn't always to read and I found myself needing an emotional break from it from time to time. I love this author's voice and style though and hope to see more novels from him in the future.
—Holly
I liked the Laments, book and family; their travels, adventures and relationships. The South-African family are always on the move, in search for the perfect place and the perfect people. Refusing to accept bigotry and amorality is always their reason to move, and although they come across as righteous in a semi-prophetic way this righteousness always entertains the reader with humourous conversations and exciting explorations of new places. The book is very different in its plot and unusual in its style of narration, the author preferring to revert back to the good old omnipotent voice. Nevertheless it is very entertaining.
—Haythem Bastawy
