Lessons

De: Ian McEwan

Narrado por: Simon McBurney

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

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.

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.

Pleasant surprise.

The beginning did not grab me. I was simply not interested in the story. But as I continued listening I became more involved in the characters. I wanted to know what would happen.

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.

Disappointing - a boomer’s reflections

Quite frankly I’m disappointed. I am a huge McEwan fan and was so looking forward to this novel.

I’m roughly McEwan’s age so I should identify with much of his reactions to the social mores and world events of the protagonist’s life. But though I recognize them I don’t think he gets across the zeitgeist of the 60s and 70s.
Got bored by chapter 4.

Needed editing

Could have been half as long and even better. High points were far apart. I struggled finishing however it was well written at the high points.

Solid 4 star experience

The book is very good, but not Ian McEwan‘s best. Other than the protagonist, the characters are somewhat flat. In attempting to paint a picture of the last 60 years, some things were omitted by necessity. The narration is generally quite good. However it is easier to follow jumps back and forth in time on the page than on this audiobook.

good but not my cup of tea

love ian but struggled with bit of a confusing ending also not my usual genre so not book's fault there

Amazing moments, memorable novel

This book had so many amazing parts, and covered a nearly full arc of a life. It is long and goes into great detail about Roland, the protagonist, and many secondary characters. This stayed with me when I was not reading it. That said, like life, there were many slow moments with too much time spend on secondary characters and on the current events of the day. The life start with young Roland being sexually accosted by his piano teacher. I think this is a great book in spite of those many slow movements. The narrator was great, too.

Excellent!

Once again McEwan delivers a great book. His novels always grasp me intellectually and emotionally.