Lessons

By: Ian McEwan

Narrated by: Simon McBurney

Length: 17 hrs and 33 mins

Publisher's summary

Both epic and intimate, the story of one man’s life across generations and historical upheavals: a deeply affecting novel about love, loss, ambition, and resolution from the best-selling author of Atonement.

When the world is still counting the cost of the Second World War and the Iron Curtain has closed, eleven-year-old Roland Baines's life is turned upside down. 2,000 miles from his mother's protective love, stranded at an unusual boarding school, his vulnerability attracts piano teacher Miss Miriam Cornell, leaving scars as well as a memory of love that will never fade.

Now, when his wife vanishes, leaving him alone with his tiny son, Roland is forced to confront the reality of his restless existence. As the radiation from Chernobyl spreads across Europe, he begins a search for answers that looks deep into his family history and will last for the rest of his life.

From the Suez Crisis to the Cuban Missile Crisis, the fall of the Berlin Wall to the current pandemic and climate change, Roland sometimes rides with the tide of history, but more often struggles against it. Haunted by lost opportunities, he seeks solace through every possible means—music, literature, friends, sex, politics and, finally, love cut tragically short, then love ultimately redeemed. His journey raises important questions for us all. Can we take full charge of the course of our lives without damage to others? How do global events beyond our control shape our lives and our memories? And what can we really learn from the traumas of the past?

Epic, mesmerizing and deeply humane, Lessons is a chronicle for our times—a powerful meditation on history and humanity through the prism of one man's lifetime.

©2022 Ian McEwan (P)2022 Penguin Audio

Heading

This narrative of a life time, roughly 75 years, hit home with me as I begin to understand how everything has brought me exactly to where I am and that it all has a place in my life.

Beautiful

Ian and the narrator turns this work into poetry.
The last three chapters are emotional and worth the price of the book alone. Highly recommend.

Smart, exciting and heart rending

I liked the nostalgia it invoked in me. The book checked many boxes in my own life’s story. I appreciate the honest and sometimes difficult subjects that didn’t insist the characters be good or evil rather allowed them to be broken people looking for redemption.

Good until it gets to present day

If you like McEwan, you won’t be disappointed. However, as a conservative, I find it disappointing to see him drink the liberal Kool Aid so unthinkingly when the story gets up to the present. The author’s healthy skepticism throughout the book suddenly disappears in favor of government authority. But most liberals will see no contradiction, as they have made the same U-turn as well.

Superb!

One of the best books I have read this decade. Historical events scaffolding added to the poignant and brilliant unfolding of the interwoven stories told. Though long, I will reread within the year!

Magnificent !

I have loved all of McEwans books. None have disappointed.
This might be his best. It is very personal and
oh so human. A life lived, with all its warts and
it’s joys. It is the entire picture that remains and
resonates.
EL

Totally engrossing!

I am a total convert to listening to books, which I do exclusively while out & about in NYC. I found myself walking many extra miles so I could continue listening to Lessons. Listening, much more than reading would, dropped me into the mind of the protagonist ... as a child, a young man and a more mature man. These voices go back and forth until their stories converge. Each voice was utterly convincing. Amazing!

Couldn’t get through it

Usually love his writing but not this time. Narrator wasn’t any help in maintaining interest. Hate to say it but just not a book I’d recommend.

Ok but not great

I almost quit listening. The opening 1/3 of the book dragged and it seemed to take forever to get to the heart of the storyline. Just when I was ready to abandon, the pace picked up and my interest in the main character picked up. Though most of the Narration was good, the female characters were not done very well.
I might be generous in giving this a 4 but the author redeemed himself in the last half.

Another achievement

Lessons illustrates the fact that often good novelists often get better and better over time.