Lessons

Starred review from July 25, 2022
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.

March 1, 2023

McEwan (Atonement) offers a rambling and sentimental portrait of an ordinary life story with a few extraordinary events strewn throughout. Except for the monumental event of his youth, where he is groomed and seduced by his piano teacher at age 14, Roland Baines lives a life like most of his contemporaries. But those lessons of piano and love from his teacher at such a tender age leave a mark. Much later, Roland's wife leaves him and their infant son so that she can be whatever it is she is meant to be, and Roland is left to raise their child as a single father. But the lessons he has learned throughout life reveal the vulnerability of all humans, and that opportunities--whether seized or missed out on--abound. Narrator Simon McBurney's light, simple delivery suits the story. His pacing and characterizations are outstanding, although listeners may be waylaid by the many reminiscences of people in Roland's peripheral life. VERDICT A recommended purchase, as McEwan's many fans will be clamoring for his latest work.--Laura Brosie

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