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The title may need a little explaining for US readers (apologies if it does not and I am being patronising). Or at least for US readers who have not watched Austin Powers. Ostensibly it refers to the bird, the Shag, which is to be found alone on a rock, indifferent to the world around it. It is used in the text by another character to criticise Tom’s behaviour but, of course, there is a slightly childish joke at play. Shag in Britain is a common verb meaning to have sex, used as a less offensive, softer version of the f word. In the biological context only. Although there may be regional exceptions I have never heard the expression “shag off”, for instance. The joke might be a little childish, but it is an immature joke with a serious literary pedigree. I am sure Christopher Isherwood was being similarly provocative when he employed it in his famous poem The Common Cormorant.
And, to be honest, it made me smile. It is funny. As, indeed, is the rest of the book. It would be an exaggeration to say that it provoked convulsive laughter at any stage, but there are plenty of wry smiles to be had. Perhaps even the occasional chuckle. That is just one of the many praiseworthy things about the book.
The three main housemates are from Australia, New Zealand and South Africa and the expatriate experience is dealt with engagingly and thoughtfully. It is set in Oxford and the evocation of that city is very good, clearly written with knowledge and not a little affection. The numerous pop culture references invariably work. The characters and the dialogue are naturalistic, with the possible exception of Janice who is a little too much of a caricatured nightmare girlfriend. This may have led to worries about the gender politics of the novel, were it not for the skill with which Humphries disassociates himself from the characters through whose perspective we witness all the action. As when Tom is either congratulating or bemoaning his own financial prudence, and Humphries sends up both his miserliness and his inconsistency (squandering money on a gym membership he uses to take a shower. Once.)
The book does have flaws. At the beginning it is slightly overwritten in places. After the first sentence (“Just as sure as Earth hurtles through space in its inexorable orbit around the sun at 67,000 miles per hour while simultaneously rotating on an axial tilt that is perpendicular to its orbital plane, Thomas Benjamin Harding retched with an alarming velocity into the glistening porcelain in front of him, his knees perpendicular to the floor beneath his feet”) I was a little worried. I need not have been. The author seems to relax and, thereafter, it is mostly well-written.
It can be a little Pooterish at times. Generously, you might say that it is satirising the mundanities of existence. In reality, the author is crowbarring in a rant about, for instance, self-service tills that is more akin to a generic observational stand-up routine. A similar problem comes when the three housemates hold a barbecue and Humphries describes the food on offer. He does so very well (I was quite hungry reading), but at great length and I was unsure how necessary it was.
To do the reader advisory bit, as might be inferred from the title, the book can be a little rude at times; characters and author both swear liberally but appropriately. You would hear far worse in any pub or playground, and most workplaces. Likewise the occasional drugs and frequent sex references stay within most peoples’ frame of reference. For me, I would have no problem if my parents said they were reading it, I might struggle if a grandparent did.
The positives far outweigh the negatives in this well-constructed, humourous novel, which is realistic, funny and, without wishing to give anything away, resolves all of its loose ends. It is also very well-paced. Many of the books encountered through this site can be a little on the short side, this takes exactly as much time as it needs to say what it wants to say. As such it comfortably receives 3 out of 4 stars.
***
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