“This was insomniac memory, not a dream,” McEwan writes, but as the adult Roland’s memories “faded into dreaming” he’s awoken by the cries of his infant son. He scrambled off the stool and stood, flushed.” Her touch was cool as her hand moved up under his shorts to where the elastic of his pants met his skin. That night there would be a tiny blue bruise. Her fingers found his inside leg, just at the hem of his grey shorts, and pinched him hard. Her beauty lay concealed behind her manner.” And then: “Her displeasure came as a quick exhalation through her nostrils, a reverse sniff he had heard before. Roland Baines is an 11-year-old boy at boarding school when he attracts the attention of a predatory piano teacher, which leads to encounters that will haunt him for years: “The teacher sat close by him on the long stool.
With that out of the way, I can say how powerful and affecting the book is-it’s a lens into the way past trauma, parenthood, and global events affect a life. I tell him that the book especially resonates with me, as it encompasses the span of my lifetime. McEwan-whose work has stirred controversy, received critical acclaim, made bestseller lists, been adapted for film, and received many awards, including the 1998 Booker -writes with passion, humor, and insight in this ambitious novel. Ian McEwan’s 18th novel, Lessons (Knopf, Sept.), cuts a wide swath through history, from post-WWII to the pandemic, with the story told through the experiences of a single man.
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