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horrorreaderweekend 's review for:

Lessons by Ian McEwan
4.0

For seven decades, we intimately follow Roland Baines through his life. From his awkward abandonment at a boarding school 2000 miles from home at 11 years old, through his relationships, ranging from toxic abuse to desertion by his wife and mother to his son, Roland struggles to reach the peaks that his young self considered easy goals.

McEwan reveals Roland through his daily activities, his aimless fumbling through monumental world events, his thoughts and conversations. Roland’s passivity, as he unveils shocking events in his life that he barely processes, is intoxicating to read. It is like meeting some low key friends for wine and conversation in a quiet
tavern on a gray afternoon. And, softly, slowly, absolute bombshells of disclosures are discussed as the wine flows.

I love/hate Roland. But I love/love his story. Lessons is pure McEwan, abundant with grace and charm, art and depth, war and history, with intimately dissected relationships and repressed emotion.