Book Discussion 2: (Virtual) What We Can Know by Ian McEwan
Details
Our July book is:
What We Can Know
by Ian McEwan
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Summary:
(This summary was written by Michelle Lee Walters, your host.)
Ian McEwan utilizes the scholarly protagonist to tackle big questions and our deepest fears regarding our future as human beings within our societies and cultures. This is not necessarily very dystopian, Ian points out, except maybe for his take on AI, but rather looking back into our time now from a distant future, but not so distant that the society in the novel doesn’t feel the touch of our present. It leaves us standing in the question of what our moral obligation is to the future. Ian bases this fictional future on the historical, present, and imagined futures that lie in the details of London's communities.
McEwan brings us to the heart of what truth means for a future generation left to sift through massive amounts of data spanning a person's entire life, but what do our short blurbs, texts, and emails say? Is the lost art of letter writing from ages before technology lost, and therefore, the truth harder to find? How do all of these pieces contribute not only to the loss of individuals’ memories but also to the loss of societal, cultural, and historical memory – our identity individually and as a society?
Has it ever crossed your mind, regarding future societies, how they will perceive us as they look behind them, into our now? Will we be villains, or will we be viewed as heroes? The book is very apropos, as everyday people today are wondering what quality of life children and grandchildren will have in the future. How do we keep the spirit of hope so that we can move forward in our obligation to what we owe the future? This book takes those questions and turns them into an experience lived in this novel of fiction.
Also, at the heart of this novel is the most eloquent form of writing humans have created, carried through as a blank page for the characters to imagine their own truths and fears about life, expressed in a lost poem written in 2014. Ian McEwan, the author of this book, deliberately places a poem as the thread through time because, in real life, he has always felt that poetry is our highest form of writing.
Rest assured that the author believes in the hope that nature and humans will pull through tragedies, mishaps, disasters, and catastrophes, as they have for all the years before us. That there will be future generations to live lives, wonder through the legacies we have left behind, and continue making history on this planet.
I look forward to hosting and participating in this in-depth discussion with you. Join me!
Check out my source!
CBC Arts. (2025, Oct. 28). Atonement author Ian McEwan’s surprising take on the future. [Video file].
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Announcements: Book Recommendations requested. Feel free to message Jean O. or other leaders with your suggestions. We have a poll coming up early in the week of Aug. 23 through Aug. 29th, and the poll will be announced. Please cast your vote, as the polls will be closing at the end of the day on Friday, September 18 th, 2026. Please search for WomensBookClubWineAndSnacks-announce@messages.meetup.com in your email; sometimes our messages land in SPAM or SOCIAL mailboxes.
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Donations: If you would like to make a small contribution to support our costs, please email Michelle at ***Luvshell1@gmail.com*** for donation information.
We are all Volunteers: Note that no one makes a profit; donations are strictly used to cover our costs.
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Join us at this Virtual event.
We encourage you to join both Book Discussion 1 (in-person) & Book Discussion 2 (virtual) and treat yourself to the full experience of ideas and discussion.
If you can't attend, please change your RSVP to Not Going.
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