This is destined to be a big hit, the "witness to history" angle is really well fleshed out. It's a big, rich story with such engaging characters, Roland is always tilting at windmills, but somehow it remains endearing throughout.

Lessons

This stunning novel manages to be both grand in scope and also an intimate look at the life of a man who experienced the world post World War II through the pandemic. “Lessons’” prologue opens with 11-year-old Roland Baines at piano lessons with his boarding school’s teacher, a young woman who gently pinches his thigh when he makes a mistake. This is a relationship that will both scar him and create an unforgettable memory of love.

In the first chapter, it’s 1986 and a nuclear cloud from Chernobyl is heading for London. Roland is aware, but he is sitting across the table from a detective while attempting to calm his infant son. Roland’s wife has disappeared, and the detective is wondering whether Roland murdered her.

The story spirals out from there. Roland’s father was in the military and they live in Libya before he is sent to boarding school at eleven. He will forge ties with Germany through his German/English wife, he will travel the world, see the Wall fall, be a loving single father, create a community, be in the thick of global events, try to be the best he can and fail in many, many areas.

I’m not sure I ever finished another Ian McEwan novel, but I loved every page of this one. It took two tries to get going—the opening disturbed me so much I had to back down for a while. But once you launch into Roland’s life after that, the story snatches you away and you are by his side until the end. Highly recommended.

My thanks to both NetGalley and the publisher Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group for an advanced copy for this novel that takes place at some of the most epic times in the last century and this one.

Life is a series of moments, sometimes shared by others sometimes just ourselves, but each moment, no matter how big or small, life- changing or life- damaging, moments tick away and make our days. How a person deals is really how a life is lived. Face them and life might be grand, or it might not. Let them overpower you, crush you, make every decision exhausting life might might not be as enjoyable, or it might be a live lived. Ian McEwan in his novel Lessons follows the life of one boy into a man, or man- child from the post war to the pandemics of today.

Roland Baines is a an English child, born after the war who comes of age in the post-war dream of what Europe and the world is supposed to be, except reality gets in the way. Sent to a boarding school far away, young Roland is a misfit outsider who finds himself under the sway of an attractive piano teacher by the name of Miss Miriam Cornell, an unhealthy attraction in everyway. The aftereffects taint Roland's life and ability to feel and find love. Married to a woman whose dreams don't include him or their child, Roland finds himself alone a parent who can barely handle taking care of himself. At the same time the world is changing, the Suez crisis weakening Britain's standing in the world, the Cuban Missile Crisis making the safety of the world in doubt, and finally Chernobyl, which causes Roland to finally face some of the mysteries in his own history.

McEwan has a way of making world events mix in his fiction trapping and freeing McEwan's characters in a variety of ways. The outside world is as much a character as any that appear in this book, and as with the other characters is treated with respect, and developed well. The story takes it's time, not revealing itself at once but becomeing clearer as the reader goes on. Roland isn't a great guy, sometimes he is kind of annoying, but the weight of events, of actions, and abuses take there toll on the man, something that McEwan is quite good at showing and suggesting. Seeing the world through Roland's eyes are interesting, no matter how closed Roland tries to keep them.

Similar, but much larger in scope than his other books. Atonement and September were all based on events that happened in one day, this is scattered across almost seventy years. Roland is lost, confused by love, a survivor of sexual assault, trying desperately to find something in life that was as magical as a youth he kind of remembers. A book that like like all of Ian McEwan's works read wonderfully and stay in the mind long after the pages are closed.

This one is hard to rate. While I feel the novel was good, my own personal opinions are marring my rating. This book covered a lot of major events of the 20th century over about a 70 year period which I found interesting. However, after I certain point I found myself bored with no real climax or build up. The book seemed to just go on and on while not really going anywhere at the same time. However, it was well written with a lot of interesting facts.

Review A multi-layered epic, dense with European history covering a span of 70 years. Interesting twist on the me-too movement. Even though it was a bit of a struggle to read (only because I am not the versed in the details of Eurpean history), I appreciated the layered protagonist and his free-spirit lifestyle.

Thanks to NetGallery, Knopf and Ian McEwan for the ARC

~~Sharon
The Writer's Reader
https://thewritersreader.wordpress.com

I tried, I really did, but I couldn’t finish this book. This reaction was an unwanted shocker because I love the three McEwan books I read (especially Nutshell). I was salivating, expecting to devour his latest, waiting for his words to do the trick. They didn’t.

When I’m looking at the bottom of the Kindle page and I groan every time the “percent read” doesn’t change (seriously, I’m still only at 14 percent? Really?), I know I’m in trouble. This baby is long, almost 450 pages, and there’s just no way my head, my eyes, and my heart are going to agree to plod on. They rule—the goody-two-shoes perfectionist (and book optimist) wants to finish, wants to make it all right, but that chick has no say; she’s just along for the ride.

I always have trouble ditching a book, but my wise book woman inside gives me the go-ahead. Too many books a waitin’, too little time to trudge through something that isn’t grabbing me.

My MO is to try to analyze why this book isn’t cutting it. I came up with a bunch of things: there isn’t any dialogue, there’s little interaction, the writing style is detached, it’s too quiet, it’s all one big distant narrator voice, there’s too much history. And mostly, it’s just too damn slow and boring. There’s a weirdo piano teacher-woman who affected the main character when he was little, and a current wife who has disappeared. Both of those stories initially drew me in, but the book meanders and the two threads get buried. And face it, there just aren’t enough action verbs.

As usually, McEwan’s language is to die for, but the language couldn’t save this one for me.

Other readers liked this book; I sure wish I did! Please read the positive reviews; I’m pretty sure I’m an outlier. Other reviewers say the last part of the book is the best, but I didn’t have the patience to get there. It was just too dense and snooze-festy for me. But god do I hate giving a McEwan book a bad grade, I really do.

Thanks to NetGalley for the advance copy.

"They had always been there, past, present, future, and he hadn't noticed how language divided up time."

2 stars

This book started out leaving me with a bad taste in my mouth- and it never went away. The abuse is a lot, and combined with the overly dramatic prose. I never connected with the character, in fact I grew to hate him. The highlight for me was what his first wife decided to do- I was on her side. It spans over a long time, just sort of telling you every horrible thing that is happening. If you are a super fan of the author, maybe you will enjoy this one; but it's note for everyone.

Thank you to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest opinion.

Ian McEwan is a beautiful writer but unfortunately this particular book is exceedingly dull and as unfocused and meandering as the main character’s life. There are definitely touching and thoughtful moments throughout but as a whole it felt like there was little if anything driving the story forward and every time I I picked up a thread that was finally going somewhere, it would immediately drop and digress elsewhere: I don’t like to leave books unfinished, so I did ultimately get to the end, but it took quite a bit of work to get there.

I received a free ARC ebook from NetGalley in exchange for an unbiased review.
Calling Lessons by Ian McEwan a sweeping novel in scope is an understatement. While reading this book I felt like I was revisiting the historical highlights of my life but with an understanding and connection to other momentous, worldwide events that no one has at the time of said event. Readers see the world through the eyes of Roland Baines who is born in post World War II England. Anyone of a similar age can easily name dozens of geopolitical events that occurred in the last seventy years but Roland's experiences are all colored through the lens of a child sexually abused by a music teacher. Everything that happens to him as an adult, every decision he makes, is predicated on that experience. He never really lives up to his potential but does spend a young restless life traveling the world which provides him a unique, somewhat personal, view of history.

When he marries and has a son, once again his life does not follow a familiar pattern. His wife, Alissa, has dreams of her own that have been stymied by her past. When she abandons Roland and their young son, Roland appears ill-equipped to handle the load. Missed opportunities are disguised with music and literature and travel. Events like the Cuban Missile Crisis, the fall of the Berlin Wall, terrorist attacks, climate change and the pandemic are all threaded through Roland's life. His reactions, his fears are - in many cases - analogous to those of readers. The world frequently seemed on the precipice of disaster.

McEwan is one of those rare writers who can take the scope of these huge events and personalize them in a way that does not diminish but rather expands their impact. Lessons is a slow burn of a read.

I was a big fan of Atonement and was excited to get an advanced reader's copy of Lessons. Knowing the style of Atonement, I knew this could potentially be gritty and sad.

Maybe it was the timing of my read, but I couldn't get past the first few chapters. Child abuse, grooming, and nuclear fallout were too much to handle emotionally. I'll chalk it up to too much dark reality in my daily media to want it in my pleasure reading at the moment.

The author as always has beautiful diction and paints emotions and scenes well. Hoping to pick up this title again later.

This was an epic, sprawling, long journey by a beloved author. I've read that it was somewhat autobiographical, which is incredible and made for a more personal and meaningful read. I have only read one of Ian McEwan's books previously, after having already seen the film, but I enjoyed it nevertheless and this book is a close second to Atonement in my opinion.

I enjoyed the character development in the novel. Overall, I liked the writing, but found the political discussions/rants to be unnecessary.

I am a massive fan of Ian McEwan, and his work has never disappointed me, so I approached this work with trepidation. The length, as well as the description of an introverted character juxtaposed with world events over many years, suggested this might not work.

I was pleasantly surprised and as gripped by this as any other McEwan work. The premise sounds contrived, and in the hands of another writer, it might not work, but I found this flowed freely, and the references were interwoven carefully and appropriately and added to the narrative.

This is very character-driven, and as well as Roland, other characters stayed with me long after the last page. There is a beautiful empathy in the prose, which could be explained by the autobiographical elements.
There is so much in this book that I would love to see Lawrence's story further explored in another work in the future.

As a musician, I appreciated the accuracy of the detail around the music performances - this is not always the case in general fiction.

A lovely example of how history can be explored through fiction.

Thank you, Net Galley, for the ARC

Although I have the highest regard for Ian McEwan as a proven author, This is the first book of his that I really did not like. Way too long. Too much politicizing. I found myself skipping through some of the rants.

Ian McEwan quickly became one of my favorite authors after I read Atonement. I treasured his back catalog and purchased each of his new books. Unfortunately, his newer work has not found the same status on my shelf. I did not find myself pouring over the language in this book, but paging ahead to get past the political ramblings. This is a long book, not a short one where words are used precisely and the plot turns ever so carefully. Oh well!

It is a disappointment to write that I did not care for Ian McEwan's latest novel. I have liked the previous ones, but in Lessons he seems to forget his reader. Perhaps he is writing only to himself. But I found the book boring and wordy.
Thanks NetGalley for the ARC.

Roland Baines is 11 years old when he's first molested by his piano teacher, Miriam Cornell. At 16 he's spending every possible moment in her bed only escaping when she declares they are to be married. Rather than risk her allure he leaves school where she teaches and abandons a promising academic and musical career. Lessons follows Roland's life over a period of seventy years . Over his life span he marries twice, is abandoned by his first wife and left to raise his infant son, He never has steady employment but earns a living playing piano at a hotel, writing occasional articles for publication and teaching tennis.
Lessons set Roland's life against the background of historical events _ the fall of the Iron Curtain, the Cuban Missile crisis, Chernobyl, bombing of the Twin Towers, etc. . Through it all Roland manages, sometimes more successfully than others, to create a life for himself and his son.
Roland's story examines the impact of childhood abuse and how global events affect lives. McEwan's weaving the two together makes for a lengthy and sometimes slow book but it's nicely done by giving Roland an introspective personality in which to ruminate on historical events, think about the future of civilization and the individual's place in it.

Lessons is the eighteenth novel by Booker prize-winning British author, Ian McEwan. At the age of eleven, after living for five years with his parents in Libya, Roland Baines is sent to Berners Hall, a boarding school in rural Suffolk, to get the education his parents missed out on. His father had always wanted to play the piano: Roland is signed up for lessons with Miss Miriam Cornell.

When Roland is thirty-seven, his wife abandons him and their baby son, claiming in a note that, while she loves him, motherhood would sink her, and she’s been living the “wrong life”. Now a published poet, Roland has to seek social service assistance as sole carer for seven-month-old Lawrence.

As he copes with sole parenthood and the threat of a radiation cloud from Chernobyl, he is also under suspicion for murder from DI Douglas Browne, who is sceptical of the note and postcards Alissa has sent.

Plagued by sleeplessness, Roland’s mind goes back to his childhood: army accommodation in Tripoli, boarding school, lessons with Miss Cornell, and the highly inappropriate affair into which she grooms a pre-teen boy. While the prospect of an older, attractive, single and erotically-inclined lover might be a dream come true for a randy sixteen-year-old schoolboy, even bedazzled, Roland understands it could be the destruction of his future.

In eventually rejecting her, he also abandons his formal education, spends a rather dissolute decade travelling, then begins to educate himself. By his mid-forties, he is coaching tennis, writing reviews and playing tearoom piano. “How easy it was to drift through an unchosen life, in a succession of reactions to events.”

Some of McEwan’s descriptive prose is exquisite: “He knew that her mind was elsewhere and that he bored her with his insignificance – another inky boy in a boarding school. His fingers were pressing down on the tuneless keys. He could see the bad place on the page before he reached it, it was happening before it happened, the mistake was coming towards him, arms outstretched like a mother, ready to scoop him up, always the same mistake coming to collect him without the promise of a kiss. And so it happened. His thumb had its own life. Together, they listened to the bad notes fade into the hissing silence.”

But, at times, he seems to go off on tangents from his main plot, and although patience with these apparent digressions does offer the reader a fuller backstory, his lofty prose and cerebral subject matter can be enough to make the ordinary reader feel uneducated, even dumb. His protagonist is not all that likeable, making it hard for the reader to care a whole lot about his fate until, in the final pages, he develops into a more appealing character.

With references to national, European and world events, McEwan certainly establishes the era and setting, but his protagonist’s opinions on, and reactions to, politics and current affairs do begin to bore, and readers will be tempted to skim. A too-detailed description of a mediocre life that is much wordier than it needs to be.
This unbiased review is from an uncorrected proof copy provided by NetGalley and the publisher.

I had not read anything by Ian McEwan before, and because the reviews of his works are generally stellar, I was eager to read this, his latest. What a tome this is! With the backdrop of Europe during most of the last century, this tells the story of Roland Baines and his lifetime from boyhood on. As impressed as I was, I found it hard to get started and it took me quite a while to get into it, almost giving up a time or two because large portions of the narrative seemed overdone and I struggled to get through them. The final portion of the novel was probably my favorite, but it took me absolutely forever to get there. I admire the historical scope of this novel, but all in all this was somewhat of a disappointing read for me.

Ian McEwan’s Lessons dips into autofiction, a seemingly new territory for the author, with fraught memories of a distant mother and a father, making this novel a distinct lived experience in the world through reflection over a long life. Unlike the shorter novels Amsterdam, Children Act, Chesil Beach, Lessons unfolds in extended summary passages as interludes between in-the-moment scenes. The scene-writing rewards the reader's curiosity with the masterly character detail, development, and dialogue. In a novel of well over 400 pages covering decades of time and major world events (aftermath of the Second World War, Chernobyl, and the fall of the Iron Curtain), Lessons is told in nonlinear fashion. The reader must patiently and devotedly read across back-and-forth timelines to piece together the whole story of Roland Baines.

Here is a son/husband/father’s reflection of his own past, from childhood and its trauma, including an unorthodox sexual awakening, and its causality that affects the rest of his life. Resulting failures and disappointments determine his path in Life, suggesting what might have been. There is a reversal of traditional gender roles here in both the adolescent sexual liaison (think Lolita) by way of piano lessons and the coming of age of an unprotected child, and later in the 1980s when the wife succeeds boldly as the abandoned husband meanders and struggles, rearing their infant son. The woman as novelist writes her way into fame; the man accepts his parenthood. Without the usual antiphony of trading male and female points of view, the narrator’s sleight of hand accomplishes something completely different in the oeuvre.