I unfortunately could not get through this book. As a fan of McEwan's other works, I was excited to get the opportunity to read Lessons and give my thoughts on it, but around halfway through, I ultimately made the decision to stop reading this book. Reading it felt like a lot of work, which I don't necessarily mind in a book, but in order for me to be willing to put in the work, I need to like and care about the characters, which I just didn't with these characters. I just didn't care about what would happen to Roland as I kept reading.

The writing itself is good, despite the book being slow going. While this book was not necessarily for me, I didn't hate it, I just felt indifferent about it.

2.5 stars rounded up.

I have always had a love/hate relationship with Ian McEwan's book, some I totally love and others I never got past the first few chapters. His newest offering, Lessons, fell somewhere in the middle of that spectrum, and definitely a little more towards "like". The story is told over the lifetime of Roland Baines and related the events in his life to important world events. I really enjoy McEwan's writing style and exquisite characterization, but felt there were times, in this book ,where it was just a bit too unnecessarily wordy.

If you are a fan of epic novels and especially like any of Ian mcEwan's work, then you will find this book well worth your while.

3.5 rating!

I am grateful to NetGalley for providing an advance copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. 

‘Lessons’ is the story of Roland, the protagonist and narrator of Ian McEwan’s latest novel. Roland reflects on his 1960s boyhood and then later as he grows up, his life from the 1970s until the present day. While it is set mostly in England, world and regional events as well as more local events, provide the background to the story and in part, explain actions, decisions and choices made by the characters. Events such as the threat of nuclear war, the Cold War, the fall of the Soviet Union, Islamic terrorism, European and American political upheavals and finally a global pandemic.

These events, while global, are portrayed as having meaning beyond simply background to the plot. They colour Roland’s memories and in essence, his life. The books beginning is based mid-life for Roland, with Alissa, his German-born wife suddenly disappearing. Eventually we come to understand she has abandoned her son and husband to pursuing a career and life of her own.

Subsequent chapters take us through Roland’s early life, in particular his time at an English boarding school and an affair with a piano teacher. This key event is presented as having influenced much of his subsequent life and choices, particularly the bad ones, he has made. Later chapters take us through Roland’s life, outcomes from decisions good and bad, up to the disappearance of his wife and beyond to the present day.

Themes recur throughout the book, in relation to Roland’s and Alisha’s lives and the lives of their parents. Lost or missed opportunities, issues of work and education, family responsibilities, individual choices. Along the way, the reader learns details of the parents lives, in particular their experiences before, during and after World War Two. Plenty of blame is apportioned to the parents for difficulties in Roland and Alissa’s lives. Justified or not, the reader can make their own decisions.

Roland’s youthful, indeed underage affair with his piano teacher, is recalled frequently throughout the book, in part to explain his actions, thoughts and behaviours. The question arises whether he is a victim of a crime and damaged for life. Or possibly a willing participant, eager to blame his later misfortunes on events during his boarding school days. Roland ponders has status as victim and considers this as the reason for his shortcoming in life. Roland also ponders his ex-wife who has gained the type of success and acclaim he may have achieved had circumstances been different.

Earlier chapters of the book are engrossing. Factual events recalled often needed a detour to google more information. German resistance organisations and certain European artistic movements, all play a role in the story or at least as background event to lives.

The later chapters of the book, tell the story of growing older, and ageing, at first with regard to their parents, then later to Roland and Alissa themselves. Once again, their lives are played out against a background of world events, both present day and in the past. The author chooses to denigrate British Prime Minister Thatcher in one of the final chapters of the book, blaming her for misfortunes not only during her time as PM, but also for events decades after her death.

Although the book sometimes takes a tangent to the main plot, these side stories provide interesting reading and are thought provoking. For example, the divided city of Berlin, before the fall of the Soviet Union, is the scene of several events. Given the current war in Ukraine, it is timely to remember just how widespread, intrusive and cruel the Soviet system was to ordinary people in East Germany. The author rightly questions the admiration of the Soviet Union from the United Kingdom’s political Left during the 1970s and 1980s. One cannot help but think of parallels with the relationship between Germany and Russia over recent decades which has contributed to war in Ukraine today.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. I can recall enough of the global events to appreciate the significance they might have brought to someone at the time. It is a book that makes you stop, or at least slow down, think, take stock and continue reading. A thoughtful, provocative and memorable book. For younger readers, the books characters and plot possibly may not resonate, with background global events being in the far distant past. However, on reflection, current day events in Ukraine and Russia certainly provide a parallel of sorts to historic concerns of nuclear war and Soviet aggression.

While the main characters are not particularly pleasant, their lifestyle choices are intriguing as are their motives, thoughts and relationships. Roland and Alissa are memorable and believable. They both apportion blame widely for misfortunes. While both wasted or squandered opportunities for better or at least different lives. Individual choices for each of them have made their lives what they are, ending up in vastly different places and circumstances. For better or for worse.

The background events, relationships and lifestyles of the characters, combined with the incidents portrayed, make this book a real pleasure to read. I wish the author every success with publication.

DNF at 21%.

<i>Lessons</i> focuses on the life of Roland Baines, a man who has lived through many of the major events in the latter 20th century. Through him, we see these events as they unfold and how they affect Roland.

Right off the bat, I'll admit I've never read any of McEwan's other work, although several have been on my to-read list for years. I didn't really know what to expect going into this book, and I think in some ways I'm glad for that. It's clear that McEwan has a command over prose, and the chapters flip back and forth through time easily.

My biggest issue (and the factor that made me DNF this book) is how meandering the book is. Perhaps this is remedied in later chapters, but when I reached an extended chapter specifically about Alissa's mother's past, I just found I was absolutely not interested. And it's not a small section you can easily skip over; it's interspersed with details about Roland and Alissa that I was actually interested in. But once I was brought out of the story for that long, it just didn't feel worth it for me to stick with the book, which was disappointing.

I wouldn't necessarily recommend this book, but it also hasn't turned me off from reading the McEwan books already on my list. If you're a die-hard fan, you'll probably be reading this anyway, and if you're not, I think it could go either way for you.

Thank you to Knopf and NetGalley for providing a copy for review.

I got hooked at the beginning of “Lessons” and cared about what would happen to Roland and Lawrence. The early life material also pulled me in although the child abuse committed by Roland’s teacher and the abandonment by his parents were ruinous to Roland’s emotional life and painful to read about. The details of Roland’s childhood when he lived with his parents in different countries was wonderfully written. Those times are described in such a vivid way that I really felt like I was there. And when Roland is basically dropped off at boarding school in London at age eleven, I keenly felt his sense of unreality, grief, and helplessness...experiences that continue in his adult life. I found the long descriptions of international crises to be too much.. They slowed the book down. I’ve read five of the author’s other books and loved them but, sadly, I didn’t enjoy “Lessons” enough to recommend it.

The book covers the life of Roland from 14 to 70 years old, shaped not only by his surroundings but also world events. What lessons does one learn from school, parents, others one encounters through life and the world around us? How much is shaped by world events? A challenging read.
Thanks to Netgalley for a copy.

I have read a number of books by Ian McEwan, liking some better than others. This is one of his books that I did not find to be interesting. The story was slow to build and not terribly satisfying.

essons
By Ian McEwan

I am generally a fan of Mr. McEwan's books. This one not so much. It is the story of the life of Roland Baines, a life packed with life lessons as all lives are. The problem here is that Roland seems to spend his whole life bumbling from one catastrophe to another and blaming the catastrophes for the aimlessness in between.

This would have been more interesting if Roland's catastrophes were of a little more commonplace magnitude. Here we have Roland as a child living with his military father and the mother who is the object of dad's abuse. Soon enough Roland is sent back to England to boarding school, where, at age eleven, he begins piano lessons with a woman who turns out to be a pedophile and who initiates Roland into the world of sex. Once that situation resolves, Roland wastes years doing only what he chooses (which is not much) instead of applying his talents to the opportunities made available to him.

Suffice it to say, Roland manages to get into all kinds of mishaps, from smuggling records into East Berlin to having his wife of two years leave him and his infant son to follow her artistic calling. Roland's life continues on this way, in spite of all that the world outside himself tries to provide to help him.

I liked the book well enough. I just feel that Mr. McEwan tries to pile on way too many ideas and life lessons here. Roland, as a character, did not earn my empathy.

What a book! Told from the perspective of an elderly man, it takes you from his childhood as the son of a military man, into his adolescence at boarding school and on into his adulthood as a single parent. Through every chapter, there is a piece of each of these and the supporting characters are woven in seamlessly. Every time I thought I could read 'just one more chapter,' I was drawn into more. Exceptional writing, as one would expect. A truly 5-star novel!

Ian McEwan is one of those rare, remarkable, confident writers who can weave a cast of sad, flawed, struggling fictional characters into great global events of the last century to create an epic story that resonates long after the reader has finished the book.
The cover of McEwan's "Lessons" depicts a young child practicing diligently on the piano, but the real lessons of the story are learned by the book's protagonist, Roland Baines, over a long life, filled with pain and heartbreak, love and death and everything else that comprises life.
As a boy, Roland finds himself imprisoned, almost literally, in an appalling, controlling sexual relationship with the woman giving him piano lessons. It is his first sexual experience, and Roland is ambivalent as to how he should feel about it. Only later, as he begins to navigate through adult relationships, does he begin to understand how the experience has scarred him.
The world, meanwhile, obliviously revolves on, with Roland bearing witness to many of the landmark events of the late Twentieth and early Twenty-First centuries: the 1956 battle for control of the Suez Canal, the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis, the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, the rise of global terrorism, finally the Covid pandemic and its attendant social and political wars.
As a young father, amid all this, Roland finds himself inexplicably abandoned by a wife intent on becoming a great novelist -- who then, over the years, accomplishes exactly that. The abandonment, like the earlier abuse, cripples and confounds Roland. Along with the reader, Roland struggles to understand what has driven the woman he loves to suddenly leave him and a young son for life and a career in another country.
Understanding, or at least acceptance and reconciliation, does not come until much later, after Roland has confronted other demons and has finally experienced -- almost too late -- genuine love.
McEwan's range as a writer is astonishing, and his powers as a storyteller have never been on greater display. Some will find parts of "Lessons" difficult and perhaps overly academic, but the lesson for the reader is that great literature does not always come easy.

Roland Baines grows up in Tripoli with a somewhat distant relationship with his military father, a warm but hard to figure out relationship with his mother. The influence of the other women in his life : the relationship with his piano teacher when he is just fourteen, being abandoned by his wife. There are flashbacks to the time when he is sent off to a boarding school in London when he is eleven, from the present as he cares for his baby Lawrence solely after his wife leaves him . Chernobyl has just occurred and Roland blocks the windows . Then flashbacks to Cuban Missile Crisis and where he was in his life moving forward again to 9/11 and the recent Brexit and current Covid pandemic. Sprawling describes this novel so well as it depicts world events and where he was in his life in that particular time. If I made it sound confusing moving around, you can trust that McEwan does this seamlessly. This novel is a view of a man’s life, a commentary on the world, the culture, the people in it . As big and broad in scope as it is, it is also intimate.

Life lessons, hard earned at times and not learned until years later evaluating one’s hopes and desires, lost chances. With the emphasis on world events at various times in Roland’s life, I couldn’t help but think about all of the events that are happening simultaneously at this time in our country and around the world. How will these things impact us personally as we move forward, but especially how will the future generation of young people be impacted. How has each of our personal upbringings brought us to where we are, who we are ? It’s so wonderfully written as we’ve come to expect from McEwan, a master story teller. I couldn’t quite give it five stars for lack of a connection to the other characters, but I certainly felt for Roland. McEwan fans will be pleased.

I received an advanced copy of this book from Knopf through NetGalley.

McEwan's "Lessons" is a jam packed social novel that delves into the politics and historical events of 20th century Europe whilst also providing a glimpse into the life of writers. Absolutely loved it, McEwan never disappoints.

What I've always appreciated about Ian McEwan's writing is his ability to create tension and make a point with an economy of language that holds interest throughout. Unfortunately, that wasn't the case for me with this book that seemed to meander on forever. I actually gave up ¾ of the way through.

Incredibly insightful, moving and thought provoking! McEwan encapsulates a life in deeply felt prose.

This is a rich, complex story. There is so much going on, and writing is so beautiful and precise, that I found it slow going. It took me much longer to get through it than most novels I read, yet I felt rewarded enough to keep reading. Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This was my first book by Ian McEwan, I seem to have come pretty late to the party on that front. It was a privilege to read an early real ease. An epic tale of Roland, and his journey of self discovery. As he rides life’s journey of high and lows. I enjoyed how the characters weaves together, however it was pretty heavy going at points but overall I enjoyed this. And was grateful to experience this authors work.

This epic story about a man’s life and the external events and experiences that impacted him was interesting. Family, friends, historical and current events certainly effect decisions we make along the way. In the very beginning, he is sexually assaulted by his piano teacher. I was impressed with how it was described in such a nuanced way. We aren’t even sure it happened at first. This predicates the rest of the story. It’s a very long and slow journey but good to recall these events. Thank you NetGalley for the ARC.

Ian McEwan’s writing is always descriptively eloquent but his books, more so than others’, require wanting to go along with the journey his main characters experience. I tried to appreciate the descriptions of Roland’s journey, but I never connected with him as a character so it just didn’t come together for me. I’m leaving a review here but not on other platforms as I can’t recommend it. Thank for the opportunity to review!

I enjoyed this book, as I have enjoyed all McEwan's novels. Here, too, he shows his ability to probe into the depths of human nature and explore why we do what we do.

I had incredibly high hopes for this book. Ian McEwan's previous books have been on my tbr but I never got the chance to read them until I joined NetGalley and found this one. Unfortunately, I could not make it through the first 100 hundred pages. I am not someone who DNF's books regularly. However, I realized if I am going to read something, I don't want to force myself to pick it up every day and that was what was happening. I understand that it is completely unfair to review this accurately without having read all of it, but I will try my best. The underlying message of the story and the themes that McEwan incorporated into this novel is something that I hadn't read about before. These two things were woven in well, and I don't think my dislike of the book had anything to do with that. Moreover, I struggled with the long chapters and the weaving timelines that are present, I assume, throughout the entire novel. The first 3 chapters were 30 or more pages long each. I am someone who likes feeling accomplishment when finishing a chapter. However, when they are incredibly long, I begin to lose interest in the story and the characters. I found myself getting bored ten pages into every chapter and having to force myself to keep reading. Again, this has nothing to do with the author or the premise of the novel. I wish I could have enjoyed it more, but hopefully, I will soon pick up another McEwan novel and erase this saddening experience from my brain.