Lessons
The bestselling novel from the author of Atonement
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4.1 • 67 Ratings
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- $15.99
Publisher Description
The story of a life. The story of the year.
'Lessons shows [McEwan] at the very peak of his powers. He has written his masterpiece' Daily Telegraph
When the world is still counting the cost of the Second World War and the Iron Curtain has descended, young Roland Baines's life is turned upside down. Stranded at boarding school, his vulnerability attracts his piano teacher, Miriam Cornell, leaving scars as well as a memory of love that will never fade.
Twenty-five years later Roland's wife mysteriously vanishes, and he is left alone with their baby son. Her disappearance sparks of journey of discovery that will continue for decades, as Roland confronts the reality of his rootless existence and attempts to embrace the uncertainty - and freedom - of his future.
'Ian McEwan is a masterful storyteller' Elif Shafak
'A beautiful book about love, loss and regret' Observer
'Luminous, beautifully written... about lives imperfectly lived' Vogue
'A whole, unruly life between the covers of a single book: a literary feat' Spectator
'A tour de force... A single life is silhouetted against global happenings' Sunday Times
* A Book of the Year for The Times, Sunday Times, Financial Times, Spectator, New Statesman, Washington Post, Vogue and New Yorker *
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
McEwan returns with his best work since the Booker- and NBCC-winning Atonement, a sprawling narrative that stretches from the commencement of the Cold War to the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic. Protagonist Roland Baines, "another inky boy in a boarding school," is 11 when his piano teacher, Miriam Cornell, begins to groom him for abuse. A sexual relationship ensues, and Roland never recovers from the experience. He grows into a distant underachiever, eventually finding work as a lounge pianist in London and, occasionally, as a journalist. He marries Alissa and has a son, Lawrence, but Alissa disappears when Lawrence is an infant. With help from the police, he tracks her movement to Paris, prompting bittersweet memories of their courtship. In 1986, three-year-old Lawrence obsesses over such events as the Chernobyl disaster while Roland confronts the lingering impact of Miriam's abuse and Alissa's sudden reappearance. Alissa then publishes a bestselling (and specious) memoir, which isn't so nice on Roland. Throughout, McEwan poignantly shows how the characters contend with major historical moments while dealing with the ravages of daily life, which is what makes this so affecting. He also employs lyrical but pared-down prose to great effect, such as the scene of Roland's father's funeral: "A thin teenage girl in a tight black trouser suit opened the door of the undertakers and made a formal nod as he entered." Once more, the masterly McEwan delights.
Customer Reviews
Old man, look at my life
The author is a widely acclaimed, multi-award winning British novelist. I first read McEwan when he was one of Granta’s best young British writers. He’s now 74. How did that happen? (Rhetorical question.)
Having dabbled with various literary styles through his career, the great man succumbs here to the vogue for autobiographical fiction. We follow protagonist Ronald Baines from childhood in the 1950s through to the present day with a series of cameo appearances by great events of the period: the shadow of World War II, the Suez Canal crisis, the Cuban Missile Crisis, Chernobyl, the fall of the Berlin Wall, yada, yada until the Covid pandemic. During this time our boy bonks his school piano teacher, his wife leaves him and becomes a successful writer he raises his son alone, and numerous other snippets drawn, at least in part, from the author’s own life.
McEwan’s longstanding tendency to be prolix, held in check by the limited page counts of his recent novels, comes to the fore. The style, while polished and elegant, feels somewhat dated at times, the paragraphs insufferable long. For want of a better comparator, they read a bit like an old Ian McEwan novel, which could be a good thing or a bad thing depending win which novel you’re talking about. This does not rank among his best work IMO, although individual mileage may vary.