status_woe 's review for:

Lessons by Ian McEwan

3.5

emotional reflective slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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Expertly written, as you'd expect from Ian McEwan, but an almost-complete account of the minutiae of the 20th and 21st centuries, from the second world war, through the Cuban Missile Crisis, the Cold War, the fall of the Berlin Wall, Thatcher, New Labour, Brexit. By the time we got to Covid I felt like I'd lived a million and one lifetimes of my own, and none of them that interesting. Roland, the protagonist, is the wettest of wet blankets, and I don't think any book has ever been improved with an opening description of a teenage wank. Nevertheless this book had some great moments, and made me reflect on the totality of a life. From Roland, who dithers through a life of perceived missed opportunities, to his ex wife, who abandons her infant son and disowns her mother to become the greatest writer of a generation, by the end I was questioning what really matters, and if those things even matter. A worthwhile read, if a bit ponderous.