Items related to The Laments: A Novel
Secretly switched at birth and then adopted into the Laments family, Will journeys through three continents with his parents and fractious twin brothers while struggling with multiple relationships and a faltering sense of identity. A first novel. 100,000 first printing.
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The Laments
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A novel which is, like George Hagen’s The Laments, about a continent-hopping family might seem like yesterday’s news when an international upbringing now seems almost de rigueur amongst writers. Yet this is no self-aggrandising romp round the world. Howard Lament’s grand plans for a better life and career lead his family from colonial Rhodesia to a bigoted, hypocritical 1970s New Jersey, via Bahrain’s blinkered ex-pat community and a violent small town in England.
The novel spans the eighteen years from Will’s birth and the secret of his adoption by the Laments to his graduation from high school. The first years in Africa provide a solid foundation to the story. It is when Will is a little older, and the family have left the obviously unjust colony that Hagen’s skill at peppering the story with culture shocks and mischievous details really enlivens the Laments’ travels and Will’s friendships and loves.
Luckily the reader is kept chuckling, because Hagen takes us unflinchingly into the depression of Howard’s spectacularly failed career, his wife Julia’s loneliness and the reality of family poverty. Tragedy never turns to bitterness though, and the characters’ final, tempered hopefulness is a well-earned haven for this long-adrift family.--Stefan Tobler
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- PublisherRandom House Inc
- Publication date2004
- ISBN 10 1400062217
- ISBN 13 9781400062218
- BindingHardcover
- Number of pages370
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The Laments: A Novel
Published by
Random House
(2004)
ISBN 10: 1400062217
ISBN 13: 9781400062218
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Book Description hardcover. Condition: New. Seller Inventory # 1400062217-11-31085983
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The Laments: A Novel
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Random House, New York, NY, U.S.A.
(2004)
ISBN 10: 1400062217
ISBN 13: 9781400062218
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Book Description Hardcover. Condition: New. Dust Jacket Condition: New. 1st Edition. First Edition stated, with correct number line sequence, no writing, marks, underlining, or bookplates. No remainder marks. Spine is tight and crisp. Boards are flat and true and the corners are square. Dust jacket is not price-clipped. This collectible, " NEW" condition first edition/first printing copy is protected with a polyester archival dust jacket cover. Beautiful collectible copy. GIFT QUALITY. Seller Inventory # 002233
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The Laments
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Random House Inc, Westminster, Maryland, U.S.A.
(2004)
ISBN 10: 1400062217
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Book Description Soft cover. Condition: New. Dust Jacket Condition: New. 1st Edition. RARE "Advance Reader's Edition." 1st Printing. 1st Edition. Trade paperback. New Copy. Never Read. Front cover has 4 tiny scratches/ marks. Hardly visible. Still a beautiful unread copy cover & book. Collectors Copy. Seller Inventory # 000444
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THE LAMENTS: A NOVEL
Published by
Random House
(2004)
ISBN 10: 1400062217
ISBN 13: 9781400062218
New
Hardcover
Quantity: 1
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Book Description Condition: New. New. In shrink wrap. Looks like an interesting title! 1.4. Seller Inventory # Q-1400062217
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