具体描述
Meet the Laments—the affably dysfunctional globetrotting family at the center of George Hagen’s exuberant debut novel.
Howard is an engineer who dreams of irrigating the Sahara and lives by the motto “Laments move!” His wife Julia is a fiery spirit who must balance her husband’s oddly peripatetic nature with unexpected aspirations of her own. And Will is the “waif with a paper-thin heart” who is given to Howard and Julia in return for their own child who has been lost in a bizarre maternity ward mishap. As Will makes his way from infancy to manhood in a family that careens from continent to continent, one wonders where the Laments will ever belong.
In Bahrain, Howard takes a job with an oil company and young Will makes his first friend. But in short order he is wrenched off to another land, his mother’s complicated friendship with the American siren Trixie Howitzer causing the family to bolt. In Northern Rhodesia, during its last days as a white colony, the twin enfants terribles Marcus and Julius are born, and Will falls for the gardener’s daughter, a girl so vain that she admires her image in the lid of a biscuit tin. But soon the family’s life is upturned again, thie time by their neighbor Major Buck Quinn, with his suburban tirades against black self-rule. Envisioning a more civilized life on “the sceptered isle,” the Laments board an ocean liner bound for England. Alas, poor Will is greeted by the tribal ferocity of his schoolmates and a society fixated on the Blitz. No sooner has he succumbed to British pop culture in the guise of mop-top Sally Byrd and her stacks of 45s, than the Laments uproot themselves once again, and it’s off to New Jersey, where life deals crisis and opportunity in equal measure.
Undeniably eccentric, the Laments are also universal. Every family moves on in life. Children grow up, things are left behind; there is always something to lament. Through the Lament’s restlessness, responses to adversity, and especially their unwieldy love for one another, George Hagen gives us a portrait of every family that is funny, tragic, and improbably true.
From the Hardcover edition.
作者简介
目录信息
读后感
Some books are meant to be forgotten , but not this one . You can't always judge a book by its author . Instead , judge it by how much you are influenced by it and how unforgettable it can be after you read it only once . compared to Paulo Coelho, George H...
评分Some books are meant to be forgotten , but not this one . You can't always judge a book by its author . Instead , judge it by how much you are influenced by it and how unforgettable it can be after you read it only once . compared to Paulo Coelho, George H...
评分Some books are meant to be forgotten , but not this one . You can't always judge a book by its author . Instead , judge it by how much you are influenced by it and how unforgettable it can be after you read it only once . compared to Paulo Coelho, George H...
评分Some books are meant to be forgotten , but not this one . You can't always judge a book by its author . Instead , judge it by how much you are influenced by it and how unforgettable it can be after you read it only once . compared to Paulo Coelho, George H...
评分Some books are meant to be forgotten , but not this one . You can't always judge a book by its author . Instead , judge it by how much you are influenced by it and how unforgettable it can be after you read it only once . compared to Paulo Coelho, George H...
用户评价
这本小说简直是把人生的沉重与优雅编织在一起的杰作。作者的笔触细腻得像能触摸到纸张的纹理，每一个句子都仿佛经过了精心的打磨。我读到某些段落时，会情不自禁地停下来，反复咀嚼那些蕴含着深刻哲思的表达。故事的核心冲突极其引人入胜，它不仅仅是情节上的跌宕起伏，更是角色内心世界的缓慢崩塌与重建。我尤其欣赏作者对于“哀叹”这一主题的处理方式，它不是廉价的伤感，而是一种对生命本质的深刻理解和接纳，充满了古典悲剧的美感。主人公的困境是如此真实，让人仿佛能感同身受那种被命运之网层层束缚的无力感，但即便在最深的绝望中，作者也总能巧妙地埋下一丝微弱却坚韧的光亮，那是人性中最宝贵的部分。整本书读下来，感觉像经历了一场漫长而深刻的冥想，它迫使我直面自身经验中那些不愿触碰的角落，读完后，世界观似乎被拓宽了一层，更具层次感。那种被文字的重量压实的感觉，久久不能散去。
评分说实话，我一开始对这本书的期望值并不高，毕竟近些年太多文学作品只是空有其表，辞藻堆砌，内容空洞。但《The Laments》彻底颠覆了我的认知。它的叙事结构非常大胆，非线性的时间推进非但没有造成阅读障碍，反而像解开一个复杂的机械表，每当我们以为掌握了某个片段的含义时，作者又会立刻引入新的视角，将我们带入一个更深邃的迷宫。我特别佩服作者对环境氛围的营造，那种挥之不去的阴郁、潮湿，甚至带有某种腐朽气息的场景描写，简直是身临其境。你仿佛能闻到旧书页发霉的味道，听到远方传来的模糊钟声。这种强烈的感官体验，使得那些关于失落、怀旧和时间流逝的主题，不再是抽象的概念，而是具象化的存在。更难得的是，角色的对话充满了张力，他们很少直白地表达情感，大量的留白和潜台词，让读者必须全神贯注地去解读字里行间隐藏的秘密和未竟的对话。
评分老实讲，这部作品的阅读门槛不低，它要求读者投入大量的时间和心力去跟进那些复杂的人物关系网和错综复杂的回忆碎片。有些读者可能会觉得它过于晦涩或者节奏缓慢，但我恰恰享受这种“慢工出细活”的阅读过程。它拒绝提供即时满足感，而是像一位耐心的导师，一步步引导你进入它构建的那个独特世界。我最欣赏的一点是，作者没有试图去“美化”痛苦。那些人物的挣扎是赤裸裸的，他们的“哀悼”不是为了博取同据，而是他们生命本身的一种存在方式。这种毫不妥协的真实感，让作品拥有了一种近乎冷峻的力量。它不哄骗你，不保证一个圆满的结局，它只是呈现了一种深刻的生命状态。读完后，你会有一种既疲惫又充实的感觉，仿佛刚刚跑完了一场马拉松，虽然筋疲力尽，但完成了对自我的又一次极限挑战。
评分如果用一个词来形容这本书，那一定是“回响”。它不是那种读完就扔在一边的娱乐读物，它像一颗投入湖面的石子，产生的涟漪会持续很久。作者的文字节奏掌握得炉火纯青，时而如急促的鼓点，推动着情节向前猛冲；时而又像低沉的大提琴独奏，将读者的情绪慢慢拉入沉思的深渊。我特别喜欢书中对“记忆”的探讨。记忆在书中不是被动的回放，而是一种主动的、充满欺骗性的重塑过程。不同的人物对同一事件的描述存在着巨大的差异，这让读者不得不质疑，我们所认为的“过去”究竟有多少是真实的，又有多少是我们为了生存而精心编织的谎言。这种对叙事可靠性的挑战，让整部作品充满了后现代的智慧光芒。它不仅是一部关于哀悼与遗忘的故事，更是一次关于“何为真实”的精彩思辨。
评分这本书的文学性毋庸置疑，但更让我震撼的是它对社会历史背景的精妙融入。它并非一部简单的年代小说，而是将时代背景下的集体无意识和个体命运的悲剧性交织在一起，形成了一张密不透风的网。我注意到作者对特定历史时期的一些符号和隐喻的运用极其精准，没有刻板的说教，而是通过角色的日常行为、他们对某些事物的态度，不动声色地揭示出那个时代的压抑和变形。例如，书中对某个特定仪式的描绘，初看似乎是无关紧要的细节，但细细品味后，才明白那是对某种社会规范和压抑的极致讽刺。阅读体验是断断续续但又连绵不绝的，我经常需要停下来查阅一些背景资料，以更好地理解某些典故，这反而增强了阅读的参与感和探索的乐趣。它成功地在宏大叙事和微观个体的情感挣扎之间找到了一个完美的平衡点。
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