Lessons

Years ago I read Ian McEwan's book On Chesil Beach. This time I read Lessons. Both books are about older British gentleman. Lessons is about Roland Baines. Roland was living in Libya with his parents. His father is in the British Army and his mother worked at a YMCA in Tripoli. At age 11 his parents want him to get a proper education. His father wants him to be away from his mother because he thinks his wife babies their son. They drop him off at a boarding school. To Roland's surprise, the other boys his age are nice. The teachers are nice too with the exception of his private piano teacher who pinches him in the thigh when he makes the same mistake twice. At age 14 she seduces him and he goes along with it for a couple years. At age 16 she shows him train tickets for Scotland, a hotel reservation, and paper work for marriage. She insists he will marry her. At that point he recognizes her lunacy and high tails it out of there. Later in life he marries a woman from Germany. Weeks after the birth of their son, Lawrence, his wife abandons them and moves away. She sends postcards telling him not to look for her. Now Roland is in his. 70's and trying to make sense of his life. Did he miss some lessons along the way? The book. covers a sprawling amount of time. To mark the passage of time the author uses events such as the Chernobyl explosion,  the taking down of the wall in Germany, and the Enron scandal. I enjoyed the story. Basically Roland is a good person and a great father and a kind friend.