My enjoyment of Ian McEwan’s writing is a perverse pleasure. The unsettling fiction describes human situations that are tinged with darkness but are narrated with the calmness of ordinary behaviour.
Roland, the main character in Lessons, was an eleven year old schoolboy seduced by his piano teacher. His story and that of his extended family takes the reader to post war Germany, his early childhood in Libya where his father served in the British army, and his return to Berlin when the wall came down.
Roland is damaged by his first sexual experiences in a way that impacts on his future relationships and his marriage. When his wife abandons him and their young boy the intimate portrayal of the father son relationship is told with subtlety and tenderness.
I would recommend the short stories or Solar as an introduction to Ian McEwan’s writing, although any of his books are well worth reading.
odespinner 