Lessons

By: Ian McEwan

Narrated by: Simon McBurney

Length: 17 hrs and 34 mins

Publisher's summary

Brought to you by Penguin.

A mesmerising novel from Ian McEwan, the bestselling author of Atonement. The world is forever changing. But for so many of us, old wounds run deep. Lessons is an intimate yet universal story of love, regret and a restless search for answers.

While the world is still counting the cost of the Second World War and the Iron Curtain has descended, young Roland Baines's life is turned upside down. Stranded at boarding school, his vulnerability attracts his piano teacher, Miriam Cornell, leaving scars as well as a memory of love that will never fade.

Twenty-five years later, as the radiation from the Chernobyl disaster spreads across Europe, Roland's wife mysteriously vanishes and he is forced to confront the reality of his rootless existence and look for answers in his family history.

From the fall of the Berlin Wall to the Covid pandemic and climate change, Roland sometimes rides with the tide of history but more often struggles against it. Haunted by lost opportunities, he seeks solace through every possible means ­- literature, travel, friendship, drugs, politics, sex and love.

His journey raises important questions. Can we take full charge of the course of our lives without damage to others? How do global events beyond our control shape us and our memories? What role do chance and contingency play in our existence? And what can we learn from the traumas of the past?

©2022 Ian McEwan (P)2022 Penguin Audio

Critic reviews

"The supreme novelist of his generation." (Sunday Times)

"McEwan is one of the most accomplished craftsmen of plot and prose." (New York Times)

"A true master." (Daily Telegraph)

Vintage McEwan

What can I say, everything I expected and more. I'm already looking forward to a second, slower parse. Nicely narrated by Simon McBurney.

So many story lines over a lifespan well told

This book sparked many insightful and challenging Gender role and equality discussions. Always seems like Men are given an easier pass when abandoning their families for some Artistic pursuit of grandeur. Few challenge the stereotype like this novel and yet it is not central to the story. Larger issue around how our earliest sexual encounters can shape an entire life span.

I have always liked Ian McEwan’s writing

He took us through a wide sweep of history with wonderful prose and interesting characters. I enjoyed this immensely.

Lessons

My 80 years my history,well written and Simon McBurney has such a pleasant voice.

Great story and writing; German pronouncing not good

Great story and writing; to bad the narrator didn’t put in the effort regarding the German pronounciation.

wonderful

masterpiece. a very personal and moving story of growing old, against a backdrop of European history, and the foolishness of people and countries not learning anything from experience.

Epic Journey

While the length required commitment, there were many surprisingly elegant turns of phrase and small insights that kept me engaged. The lessons learnt are delicately drawn and sometimes left hanging. Are they questions?

McEwan at his best

Simply marvelous. I feel to humbled by the fantastically precise and yet unpretentious prose to even attempt a detailed review. I'll simply say that this is a wonderfully convoluted and somewhat extreme (it IS Ian), but yet strangely relatable story. Add to this a brillant narator an you have a perfect litterary experience that doesn't even make you feel guilty for not "realy reading it".

Simply WOW

What a great and powerful in depth story of a human being, honest, gripping, warm against Europe’s history for the last 75 years. Mesmerizing!

Great story, wonderfully narrated

Beautifully crafted story of an ordinary life. I felt uplifted. Narration by Simon McBurney catches the mood of the story just right.