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Lessons
- Narrated by: Simon McBurney
- Length: 17 hrs and 34 mins
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Lessons
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Publisher's Summary
Brought to you by Penguin.
A mesmerising novel from Ian McEwan, the bestselling author of Atonement. The world is forever changing. But for so many of us, old wounds run deep. Lessons is an intimate yet universal story of love, regret and a restless search for answers.
While the world is still counting the cost of the Second World War and the Iron Curtain has descended, young Roland Baines's life is turned upside down. Stranded at boarding school, his vulnerability attracts his piano teacher, Miriam Cornell, leaving scars as well as a memory of love that will never fade.
Twenty-five years later, as the radiation from the Chernobyl disaster spreads across Europe, Roland's wife mysteriously vanishes and he is forced to confront the reality of his rootless existence and look for answers in his family history.
From the fall of the Berlin Wall to the Covid pandemic and climate change, Roland sometimes rides with the tide of history but more often struggles against it. Haunted by lost opportunities, he seeks solace through every possible means - literature, travel, friendship, drugs, politics, sex and love.
His journey raises important questions. Can we take full charge of the course of our lives without damage to others? How do global events beyond our control shape us and our memories? What role do chance and contingency play in our existence? And what can we learn from the traumas of the past?
Critic Reviews
"The supreme novelist of his generation." (Sunday Times)
"McEwan is one of the most accomplished craftsmen of plot and prose." (New York Times)
"A true master." (Daily Telegraph)
What listeners say about Lessons
Average Customer RatingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Anonymous User
- 15-10-2022
Raunchy page turner gets deep
Opening with a bit of young boy fantasy brings intrigue then settles into a longer saga of a life and turns back to the past and the events that shaped and influenced the ambition and relationships of a man growing up through the 1960’s and further.
Great writing, keeps unwrapping insights and reflecting on the current circumstances of the 2020’s.
A real meat and two veges novel with a good side helping of sauerkraut and a European flavoured gravy I found quite palatable, a well cooked book!
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Anonymous User
- 21-01-2023
Another great novel by Ian McEwan
An interesting & comprehensive storyline. The story covered the personal cost of the damage inflicted on the innocent by those that should know better.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Judith Paulin
- 21-05-2023
An engrossing Life Story!
This is a hard to put down book which resonates with most thinking people. There is plenty for anyone to relate to their own life experience. Is the future related to accidental choice or is it fate?
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Anonymous User
- 05-06-2024
Superb listening & performances!
What marvellous voices and characters evoked by Simon McBurney in his reading of “Lessons”! The excellent and prestigious author, Ian McEwan, must be excited in hearing how well his novel’s characters spring into life in this sustained, and profoundly effective, Audible performance and reading. I certainly am, as I have just finished listening to the closing chapters.
Thank you for making each diversion, characterisation, accent and inflection, not to mention the marvellous, multi-layered sequence of stories, so memorable in tone and delivery, each word clearly and cleverly chosen.
Bravo bravissimo to you both!
Thank you so much,
Colleen Roche
(6th June, 2024)
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Nicky Webber
- 06-10-2022
A Unique History Lesson
Different from McEwan's standard fare but brilliantly written. insightful and engaging. I wondered how much was biographical, a family saga impacted by historical events.
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story3 out of 5 stars
- Amazon Customer
- 30-11-2022
Wonderful words but needs patience
His usual extraordinary writing and insights but the main character is self indulgent and feel this needed to be shortened
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Amazon Customer
- 01-12-2022
Loved this
Such an absorbing tale of a lifetime of choices and the outcomes that reverberate from them. Read with such eloquence and leaving so many lingering trails of thoughts. Highly recommend
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Anonymous User
- 21-01-2023
Sorrowful
Ian McEwan has always been my favourite. Atonement, Saturday. Sweet Tooth (brilliant!), On Chesil Beach, The Children Act, Amsterdam… even Solar (which was odd but okay) but this book I had such a hard time … I forced myself to finish it. Roland was a tragic character. I didn’t like him at all. I wanted to shake him and tell him to LIVE! I can’t believe anyone could be so complacent. But I suppose that was the point.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- memoir fan
- 10-02-2023
A life, beautifully described
Long winding path of life
With all the usual complications
Some observations were so perfectly written i had to bookmark.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Karla
- 20-03-2023
Sometimes I felt uncomfortable reading the words
Typical Ian McEwan with a Beaty and the Beast depictions of life in those days. Sometimes I felt uneasy reading the words, sometimes they were beautiful. A thought provoking great read
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