British novelist Ian McEwan has penned two new works: a fictional one about the life of one Roland Baines, and a truncated history of the last 75 years spanning World War II to Covid. The problem is that both are contained within the same novel, “Lessons.”
McEwan has gracefully straddled literary acclaim and popular embrace for an impressive portion of those years. Adaptations of his award-winning novels, including “Atonement,” also make surprisingly frequent appearances at the movie house, with three adaptations released in 2017 alone.
“Lessons,” his 18th novel, opens with some light sadism while introducing us to Roland as an 11-year-old, nervous-fingered
