Reviews with content warning for Adult/minor relationship - Lessons

I don’t think I’m the target audience for this book of I’m being honest. I haven’t lived enough life to recognise whether what McEwan is saying has a profound and real meaning or not.

I don’t know if this being semi-autobiographical makes me like it more or not. It is still too suspended from his own life to make it particularly sentimental (although I was a bit emotional knowing that the dedication was to all his siblings, including his long lost brother), but it most certainly would not be anywhere near as cohesive without his real experiences.

I feel like an awful person for saying that Roland’s experience with and the subsequent decades-long fallout from Miriam was the most interesting part of the book, but it’s true. Roland still cannot fully reckon with just how much damage her grooming of him had through the rest of his life, and seemingly he never does. I really hope Roland’s confusion and inability to separate (what he viewed as) love and her crime is just how unresolved it is and not McEwan saying it requires more nuance. Because it doesn’t. She was an paedophilic adult woman who groomed and sexually exploited her student from the age of 11. There is no leeway there. My concern is that by referring to them as, in a roundabout way, both complicit, McEwan is showing has not learned anything in the 21 years since Atonement was written where he called Lola and Briony just as complicit as Paul. The rapist and victim should never be presented as on equal standing in the matter. That makes me uncomfortable in rating this super highly.

However, I do believe Alessa’s transphobia is meant to be parodying JK Rowling and her insane black mould-driven rants. Thank you for that laugh.

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dizcofriez's review against another edition

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emotional reflective slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

Fell a bit flat for me

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rasputina_99's review against another edition

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emotional reflective slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

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mrlsdevos's review against another edition

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emotional reflective sad slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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rasha_reads's review against another edition

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emotional reflective sad slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

A beautifully composed book where the author uses words as an artist uses paints. But the subject matter is so vast and yet so insignificant and goes back and forth in time so much that it is not an easy read. I had to read it in increments of about 50 pages at a time if not, I think I would have fallen into a deep depression.

I found it unusual in that there are no overtly good or bad guys in this book despite there being a main protagonist - though there is this definite theme of the ramifications of his affair with his piano teacher (who could be seen as bad) that reverberates throughout his life. Equally interesting was all of Roland’s emotional trauma is inflicted by the three main women in his life (mother, abuser/teacher, wife) even though much of his emotional confusion probably originated from his father…

This book is also unusual in that world events are used as a form of dividers in the book which coincide with chapters of Roland’s life [WWII — The Suez Canal Crisis — Cuban Missile Crisis — Chernobyl — Sarajevo — Blair & New Labour Government — 9/11 — Enron — covid — Washington riots…].

After having finished reading “Lessons” the main questions I was left with were: What is the point of life? What lessons do we learn from living?

I would not recommend this for everyone since it is slow going and character driven and I’m not sure I liked any of the characters much but it does make you think.

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bernard_black's review against another edition

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emotional reflective

Loveable characters? No

4.25

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pipnewman's review against another edition

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adventurous reflective slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

I enjoyed this read, and stuck with it which is saying something as I don't often read books this long. Told from the perspective of Roland, who grows up in the aftermath of the Second World War, the book is very rooted in the historical context. It was interesting to feel that each character was deeply influenced by the historical and political contexts- arms races, the fall of the Berlin Wall, political movements in Britain, all the way through to the covid lockdowns. However it did feel very male centric- all the male characters were significantly more developed than the female characters and it felt like the genre of 'grandad telling his life story at the dinner table'. Also massive massive content warning for sexual assault / harassment / pedophilia - it jumps in right at chapter 1, threads through the whole novel and is very confronting if you are not expecting it.

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