Review: "What We Can Know"

By Nilima Sinha, Library Committee

What We Can Know by Ian McEwan with its intriguing plot and elegant prose was an extremely satisfying and entertaining read.

It is the story of a missing poem, which has become the obsession of an English scholar, Tom Metcalfe, in 2119. The poem, a corona made up of 15 sonnets, was a gift from the poet, Francis Bundy, to his wife Vivien at a 2014 dinner party in her honor.  The poem was never published.  It disappeared without a trace, and with the passage of more than 100 years has achieved a mythical status.

The book is a thrilling mystery and so much more.  It is a very clever exploration of the gaps between past, present and future.  Tom discovers that nobody can know the absolute truth about what happened in the past.  The book delves into the effects of climate

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change and how we will be judged by future generations. It is also an intricate story of adultery, secrets and lies. And there is a murder as well.

By 2119, the world population has declined due to environmental changes and global conflicts. Many animals have become extinct.  Britain is an archipelago of islands, America is partly under water in a state of civil war, China is a democracy, and Nigeria is the tech hub of the world.   Nature, however, is beginning to flourish once again. People drink acorn coffee and eat protein bars.  Universities still exist! And so does the internet! But there is no GPS as the satellites have burned up. Encryptions no longer work due to advances in computing, and all material that previous generations put on the internet, including emails, journals and texts, are freely available to everyone (beware of what you post online!). 

The first part of the book is narrated by Tom, and the second part is narrated by Vivien.   The narrative takes interesting twists and turns. McEwan’s writing is cerebral and stylish. The characters continue to reside in my head, and I would love to read the book all over again.

I have always enjoyed reading Ian McEwan’s works.  I loved Atonement (I enjoyed the movie as well) and Amsterdam.    I recall not liking Saturday as much.   I remember reading On Chesil Beach, but I cannot recollect my feelings about the book.

What We Can Know was published in September of this year and is not in the Coffman Library yet.  Our library owns Atonement (2014), Sweet Tooth (2012) and The Children Act (2014); all can be found in the Fiction section. ​