Book Review: ‘What We Can Know’ by Ian McEwan

Book Title: What We Can Know
Author: Ian McEwan
Publisher: Jonathan Cape
Number of Pages: 320
ISBN: 978-1787335745
Date Published: Sept. 18, 2025
Price: INR 621

Book Review

Ian McEwan’s “What We Can Know” is a deeply moving and thought-provoking novel that blends climate fiction, mystery, and love story into one haunting narrative. Set in the year 2119, much of Britain has been lost to rising seas, leaving behind only a scattered group of islands and a population haunted by the past. Among them is Tom Metcalfe, a university scholar obsessed with finding a poem from 2014 called A Corona for Vivien—a piece of art believed to have been read aloud once and then lost forever. In this fragile future world, where most beauty and culture have disappeared, Tom’s obsession with a vanished poem becomes both his passion and downfall. Through his search, McEwan builds a story that connects two worlds: the past, full of creativity and love, and the future, struggling to remember what it means to be human.

McEwan’s writing is clear, elegant, and full of emotion. He takes readers through Tom’s research and discoveries about the poet Francis Blundy and his muse, Vivien, whose relationship was marked by love, betrayal, and tragedy. As Tom uncovers fragments of their lives, we see how his own relationship with his colleague and lover, Rose, begins to mirror the same mix of admiration, jealousy, and heartbreak. The book moves smoothly between timelines, showing both the decaying world of 2119 and the lively, chaotic energy of 2014. It raises questions about truth and memory—how much of what we think we know is real, and how much is shaped by our own longing. The story also reflects on the way people use art and history to fill emotional gaps in their own lives.

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The true strength of “What We Can Know” lies in its quiet, lingering melancholy. Instead of describing big disasters or chaos, McEwan focuses on the small, human moments that define loss—the butterflies that no longer exist, the music no one can play, the art that no one remembers. The missing poem becomes a symbol of everything we’ve lost as a species, and everything we still hope to hold on to. Beneath the mystery lies a deep message about resilience, love, and the need to keep creating even when the world feels empty. McEwan doesn’t offer easy answers, but he leaves readers with a sense of wonder and melancholy. “What We Can Know” is a moving reminder that as long as we seek meaning—in love, art, and memory—something of us will always endure.

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