The novel has been announced as “a chronicle of out times” and admittedly, that’s just what it is. Even though “Lessons” does not focus that much on a single question as in “The Children Act” or “Saturday” and was much longer than most of his former writings, I hugely enjoyed how his protagonist’s character unfolds in front of us and becomes who he is when his life closes. He is a wonderful narrator who easily makes you sink into the plot and forget everything around you.
What I have always appreciate most in his books is his carefully crafted characters who – hit by events outside their control – need to cope and to adjust. I have been a huge fan of Ian McEwan’s novel for years and accordingly, I was keen to open his latest novel “Lessons”. As we travel through his life, he has to learn some lessons, some taken light-heartedly, others a lot harder and leaving scars. Incidentally or initiated by fate, Roland’s life will remain closely connected to global events, be it the cloud coming from Chernobyl, the beginning and end of the Cold War, or major crises such as AIDS and the pandemic. While the political landscape forms itself after the Second World War, the boy takes piano lessons with Miss Cornell who will shape not only his idea of music, she will become his first love. Eleven-year-old Roland Baines’ life changes dramatically when his Africa based parents decide to send him back to England to attend a boarding school and get the classic education.
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