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A review by andrewspink
Lessons by Ian McEwan
dark
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
This is a beautifully written book, phrases like "his private labyrinth of cold sorrow" are exquisite. "Her life had been one long receding tide. As it withdrew it left behind random pools of stranded memory". What a metaphor! That literary acrobatics makes up for it being rather ponderous in places.
The book is filled with literary references, several to James Joyce, and a whole lot of poetry, much of which I don't know. As another reviewer on Storygraph commented, that can make the reader feel a bit stupid, but on the other hand it does add depth and if it does happen to be a book that you've read then it can deepen the reading experience (even more so if you can actually remember what that book was about!). There are some parts where I think I spotted a reference, but I'm not sure. "No one could conceive a book of such ambition and execution in that house. Unless she was alone there". Is that a reference to A room of my own (Virginia Woolf), or is that my imagination? It does give an added dimension.
Roland Baines (and Ian McEwan) are about 15 years older than me. Seeing I grew up in England, that meant that there was a lot in this book that was very recognisable to me. I had a music teacher who used to hit our knuckles with a 12-inch ruler if I played a wrong note. Bizarre and very counterproductive, but fortunately that was where the resemblance with Miriam Cornell ends. Many of the political milestones that he mentions were also the soundtrack to my growing up, even if I didn't have the luxury of a private jet to Berlin but had to watch it, amazed, on the television. Eskdale is a favourite place in the Lake District. I remember when the Chernobyl rain cloud came over. I was doing field work in the Welsh mountains and stood in that rain all day. It was forbidden to eat the meat of the sheep that stood in that same rain, next to us. They were all given bright orange paint splashes on their flanks, thankfully we didn't have to undergo that.
It is a long book at almost 500 pages. I was sorry when I got to the end. That says a lot.
The book is filled with literary references, several to James Joyce, and a whole lot of poetry, much of which I don't know. As another reviewer on Storygraph commented, that can make the reader feel a bit stupid, but on the other hand it does add depth and if it does happen to be a book that you've read then it can deepen the reading experience (even more so if you can actually remember what that book was about!). There are some parts where I think I spotted a reference, but I'm not sure. "No one could conceive a book of such ambition and execution in that house. Unless she was alone there". Is that a reference to A room of my own (Virginia Woolf), or is that my imagination? It does give an added dimension.
Roland Baines (and Ian McEwan) are about 15 years older than me. Seeing I grew up in England, that meant that there was a lot in this book that was very recognisable to me. I had a music teacher who used to hit our knuckles with a 12-inch ruler if I played a wrong note. Bizarre and very counterproductive, but fortunately that was where the resemblance with Miriam Cornell ends. Many of the political milestones that he mentions were also the soundtrack to my growing up, even if I didn't have the luxury of a private jet to Berlin but had to watch it, amazed, on the television. Eskdale is a favourite place in the Lake District. I remember when the Chernobyl rain cloud came over. I was doing field work in the Welsh mountains and stood in that rain all day. It was forbidden to eat the meat of the sheep that stood in that same rain, next to us. They were all given bright orange paint splashes on their flanks, thankfully we didn't have to undergo that.
It is a long book at almost 500 pages. I was sorry when I got to the end. That says a lot.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Pedophilia