![]() ![]() ![]() Roland’s background resembles McEwan’s in other respects as well. Nor, for that matter, later in placid Hampshire – because “his generation was also more fortunate than the one that followed”, as they “lolled on history’s aproned lap… eating all the cream”. Like his creator, the protagonist Roland Baines is lucky enough to have been born “in 1948 in placid Hampshire, not Ukraine or Poland in 1928”. The central idea that our lives essentially consist of random elements cobbled together leads to a book that could be described in much the same way – although not as damningly as that might sound. The result is part elegy for a vanished, kindlier post-war world part slightly guilty acknowledgement of the luck of the boomer and part handy summary of McEwan’s recurring concerns. ![]() Not only does Lessons explore the full, strange mix of personal experiences and historical forces that shape a life, but it’s shot through with a rich sense of McEwan taking stock of his own – and of the political and social changes he’s witnessed. Instead he’s now given us his longest ever novel, and one of his most ambitious. Aged 74 and generally regarded as Britain’s leading literary novelist, Ian McEwan could be forgiven for taking it easy. ![]()
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