Solar by Ian McEwan: A review

Let's admit right up front that Michael Beard is a thoroughly unlikable, even despicable, character. He is selfish, self-absorbed, insincere, apparently incapable of honestly caring for another human being. When we meet him, he is on his fifth marriage and every one of them has been marked by his constant infidelities which were the causes of the endings of the first four.

Uniquely, in his fifth marriage, when his wife learns of his philandering, instead of screaming and crying and demanding a divorce, she cheerfully takes that knowledge as a license to take her own lovers. Which she does. And, of course, Michael cannot tolerate that. What's sauce for the gander is most definitely not sauce for the goose in his world.

Michael Beard was at one time a world class physicist. He had even won the Nobel Prize for his work. But that was years ago. These days he's simply coasting on his reputation, delivering speeches for pay and lending his name to be used on letterheads of various scientific institutions. He's also nominally the head of a government backed initiative to address global warming, but his participation in this effort is desultory at best.

Michael Beard at the beginning of Solar is a late middle-aged, overweight, disorganized, greedy, lazy, weak-willed slob of a man. How can one possibly care what happens to such a man? And yet Ian McEwan cleverly inveigles us into caring. By the end of the book, when the adoring and adorable three-year-old daughter whom he never wanted runs into his arms, we may still not like Michael Beard much but at least we have begun to understand a bit of what made this unlikable protagonist who he is.

Along the way, Beard has been transformed from a perfunctory role in the fight against global warming to an active and enthusiastic warrior. How this happens is at the crux of the plot and I won't discuss it except to say that it comes about as the result of a tragic accident.

Beard comes into possession of an idea for transforming the elements of water to create and enhance solar power, thereby providing an inexhaustible source of clean and cheap energy for the world, a source of energy that can be used all over the planet and will finally put an end to the dominance of dirty fossil fuels. Thus this loathsome character becomes a protagonist in a noble endeavor - bringing cheap solar power to the world.

Ian McEwan is an extraordinarily talented writer and I can't begin to adequately critique the way he has worked his magic here. I'm perfectly happy with that. I don't necessarily have to understand exactly how everything works in order to enjoy it. I can only say that this is actually quite a funny novel and even though Michael Beard is not warm and lovable, there are some thoroughly likable characters here. The women characters are particularly strong. They would have to be to deal with Michael!

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Poetry Sunday: Don't Hesitate by Mary Oliver

How about we share another Mary Oliver poem? After all, you can never have too many of those. In this one, the poet seems to acknowledge that it is often hard to simply live in and enjoy the moment, perhaps because we are afraid it can't last. She urges us to give in to that moment and fully experience the joy. Although "much can never be redeemed, still, life has some possibility left." Don't Hesitate by Mary Oliver If you suddenly and unexpectedly feel joy, don’t hesitate. Give in to it. There are plenty of lives and whole towns destroyed or about to be. We are not wise, and not very often kind. And much can never be redeemed. Still, life has some possibility left. Perhaps this is its way of fighting back, that sometimes something happens better than all the riches or power in the world. It could be anything, but very likely you notice it in the instant when love begins. Anyway, that’s often the case. Anyway, whatever it is, don’t be afraid of its plenty. Joy is no...

Poetry Sunday: Blackberry-Picking by Seamus Heaney

My mother was a farm wife and a prodigious canner. She canned fruit and vegetables from the garden, even occasionally meat. But the best thing that she canned, in my opinion, was blackberry jam. Even as I type those words my mouth waters! Of course, before she could make that jam, somebody had to pick the blackberries. And that somebody was quite often named Dorothy. I think Seamus Heaney might have spent some time among the briars plucking those delicious black fruits as well, so he would have known that "Once off the bush the fruit fermented, the sweet flesh would turn sour." They don't keep; you have to get that jam made in a hurry! Blackberry-Picking by Seamus Heaney Late August, given heavy rain and sun For a full week, the blackberries would ripen. At first, just one, a glossy purple clot Among others, red, green, hard as a knot. You ate that first one and its flesh was sweet Like thickened wine: summer's blood was in it Leaving stains upon the tongue and lust ...

Poetry Sunday: Hymn for the Hurting by Amanda Gorman

You probably remember poet Amanda Gorman from her appearance at the inauguration of President Biden. She read her poem "The Hill We Climb" on that occasion. After the senseless slaughter in Uvalde this week, she was inspired to write another poem which was published in The New York Times. It seemed perfect for the occasion and so I stole it in order to feature it here, just in case you didn't get a chance to read it in the Times . Hymn for the Hurting by Amanda Gorman Everything hurts, Our hearts shadowed and strange, Minds made muddied and mute. We carry tragedy, terrifying and true. And yet none of it is new; We knew it as home, As horror, As heritage. Even our children Cannot be children, Cannot be. Everything hurts. It’s a hard time to be alive, And even harder to stay that way. We’re burdened to live out these days, While at the same time, blessed to outlive them. This alarm is how we know We must be altered — That we must differ or die, That we must triumph or try. ...

The Nature of Things

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