A day in the life (Saturday - Ian McEwan)

Member Name: melee679

Product:	Saturday - Ian McEwan
Date:	13/01/06 (194 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: well written, thought provoking

Disadvantages: too close for comfort at points

Saturday is a snap shot of a novel. It's a life, a family, a city, a country, a world - all wrapped up and neatly presented as the day in the life of one man. It deals with twenty four hours in the shoes of one man, when simple everyday events threaten to collapse the central structure of his life.

Henry Perowne is a good man. A fine neurosurgeon, a good father and husband. His mind thrives on logic and explanations, and this leads him to analyse every part of the world around him. The book begins with a restless night, insomnia that drives him to the window, where he thinks he sees something horrific happening in the night sky. This is the London of today - where the terrorist threat lurks in every corner and people harbour fears they don't voice. This sets the tone for his day, and the book as a whole. Life teeters in an uncertain manner - London is protesting the war in Iraq, and this preoccupies him as he heads towards a Saturday squash game with a colleague. A minor accident on the way and the introduction to Baxter gives him more cause for thought. These men of the street are nothing like him, they don't think, speak or act like him, and though he knows what makes them function, or cease to function in their grey matter, he doesn't understand the rules. He breaks them, and he will be made to pay.

The book surges ahead, taking in the mundane details of the rest of his Saturday - visiting his mother who has no recollection of who he is anymore, preparing a dinner for visiting children who are all but grown and now think, feel and live without him. Every interlude is rammed with detail - the narrative bulges with thoughts of the science and philosophy of who we are. McEwan fills every exchange so we feel we are living this day with Henry - the squash game fills several pages with a game commentary, the ramblings of his mother are played out in full. This is more than space-filler though. It lets us see who this man is, how his mind works, his worries, loves, joys. By the end of the day when he returns home, his character has been so well drawn that we know how he will act for the final showdown.

The writing in this book is tight and technically beautiful. McEwan has clearly gone to some trouble to research the background of his doctor character - and this adds to the feeling of being inside Henry's head. Nothing is every glossed over, but held up clearly and distinctly for us to examine - explanations are offered exactly as Henry would like them. All McEwans's work is beautifully constructed - densely written and poised to perfection. Saturday is no exception. The story itself is just a meander through one day in one man's life in London. But it contains so many things for us to think about - sometimes things that are too close to home, too close in time to make comfortable fiction reading. It encapsulates our society's hopes and fears in an indelible way - and in a brave way. Highly recommended.

'Saturday' by Ian McEwan. RRP £7.99

Summary: a life, a family, a city, a country, a world - all wrapped up