Lessons by Ian McEwan

Sunday, Mar. 10, 2024--San Antonio

Lessons is one of several books I have read by Ian McEwan.  It was named a best book of the year by The New Yorker and Vogue.  I agree that it is a good book, but it is not, as far as I am concerned, the best book by the author.  I consider his novel Atonement to be one of the best I have ever read, and I have read a few more of his books that are better.  Lessons, however did grab my attention and keep it most of the time.  It's the story of one man who has lived approximately throughout the time of my own life--from the mid-1940s to today.  Set mostly in England, he is aware, like me, of his good fortune in life related to timing--avoiding having to fight in wars, seeing changes that he considers to be improvements in life for society in general (such as the fall of the Berlin wall and the related movement toward democracy in former communist countries), the improvements in quality of life in general, etc.  However, as a child he is molested by his piano teacher and he cannot get it off his mind.  Although he manages to stay away from her for 3 years, he cannot get over the physical sensations of her touch, and, at age 14, he shows up at her home and they become lovers.  This relationship changes the trajectory of his life.  The teacher is assertive in trying to maintain the relationship and to control him.  He loves the pleasure of sex which they have every day and often more than once a day.  Eventually, however, her control threatens his chance for high education and he becomes aware that it is not good for him.   But it is too late to hope for a higher education; he must run away from both her and education completely to escape her grip on him.  That experience affects him in terms of sexual relationships and financial standing for much of the rest of his life.  After a number of failed relationship that end because the women get tired of him expecting daily sex, he and a woman fall in love and get married.  She, however, eventually runs away leaving him with their 1-year-old child.  She cuts all contact and blames him for smothering her life by expecting daily sex and not having a good job which meant that she had to work to make money for them when what she really wanted to do was to be a writer.  And she eventually does become a very famous author.  He is a good man who has given up his chance of being a professional pianist to get away from his first lover and now sacrifices his hope to be a poet to raise his son.  But every person has their own version of what has happened--him, the piano teacher, the wife who became a famous artist, his parents about their lives, the writer's parents about their lives, etc., and each believes their own "truth" and hides secrets.  Over time in one's life, one eventually is presented with alternative perspectives on what was happening at any given time.  And not all things keep getting better in life over time--in one's personal life or life in general. It's a complex book, and at times there were details presented in too much detail--more than was required.  But McEwan is a very good writer in terms of getting the reader emotionally involved in the stories he tells.  I gave the book 4 stars out of 5.