Reviews with content warning for Adult/minor relationship - Lessons

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

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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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raelin's review

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challenging emotional reflective medium-paced

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

4.0

I am glad I finished this, because I liked it more than I thought I did halfway through. I needed the reflections of the old man on the young man to balance out the thoughts of the young man, and I had to keep reading to get to that part.

There was a lot in this to digest and it is ripe for discussion in a book club.

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