Only picky because I care

I finished The Laments by George Hagen yesterday. I'd rescued it from a discount bin in a notoriously mercenary book chain because I loved the cover. And it is both very pretty and an extremely accurate reflection of the book's insides. (Good work, book designers!)

Curiously, even though I'd read the blurb, the title subconsciously reminded me of The Commitments and I half expected it to be about a Celtic musical group rather than a family with Lament as a surname.

According to Howard Lament, Laments have always travelled. That's his reasoning for uprooting the family at the first sign of problems where they're living at various times in South Africa, Rhodesia, Bahrain, England and the US. And they do have problems: from baby swapping and family tragedies to unpleasant neighbours and disappearing bosses.

But, despite their misfortunes, there's a lot of joy in the Laments' lives and Hagen has a charmingly light touch that never strays into mawkishness. I was very teary at the ending but glad at the same time. I also reaaly loved the way Hagen described the ups and downs of a marriage over a couple of decades as the partners grew and changed.

I did have two quibbles: a newborn is described as smiling delightedly at people which is high;y unlikely if not impossible (Winnie didn't do this for four weeks) and a boat is found abandoned "in the Coral Sea twentyt miles east of Brisbane" which I think would probably be a bayside subrban backyard. But these are tiny things realy.

The other day, before reading the Laments, I almost bought Hagen's next book Tom Bedlam which is all about long lost sublings and trying to create a family in the nineteenth and early twentieth century England and South Africa but I wasn't sure how the touchy-feely stuff would be overwhelmed by the grand historical themes. Now I think it'll be great.