In the aftermath of the second world war, Roland Baines is sent to boarding school in England. Despite his young age, he starts a sexual relationship with his much older piano teacher. We follow Baines' throughout his life, his marriage, his son, his wife's disappearance, the relationship with his in-laws, his new partner in life, until his old age.
His personal life happens against the background of the history of the 20th century - from the Second World War to the Suez and Cuban Missile Crises, from Tchernobyl and the fall of the Berlin Wall to the current pandemic and climate change - which shapes Baines' life as much as his own willingness to shape his own life.
This is a McEwan novel, so almost by definition it is easy to recommend. The language, the style, the composition, the pace ... are all controlled, carefully crafted and precise.
But maybe the time span is too long, and Baines' life moves too fast to allow for the typical in-depth psychological approach that we are used from other McEwan novels and plays. Even if you can sympathise with the main characters, you do not have the time to grow into them, because they've already stepped up to another phase in their life.
It's a too distant depiction of the actual traumatising events Roland Baines has been subjected to.
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