Saturday

A masterful Ian McEwan explores the incredible fragility of existence, as he charts one hugely eventful day in the life of a middle-aged neurosurgeon.Henry Perowne, a successful neurosurgeon, watches a plane - ablaze with fire like a meteor - arcing across the London dawn. His unease grows throughout the day as he moves amongst hundreds of thousands of anti-war protestors in the post-9/11 streets. A minor car accident leads to a meeting with Baxter, who to Perowne’s professional eye appears to be profoundly unwell. And when Baxter makes a sudden appearance at the Perowne family home all Henry’s earlier fears seem about to be realised..."None of this is in itself remarkable, but McEwan’s examination of the minute workings of conscience and personality is thrillingly shrewd... In other hands, this could become maddeningly flashy, a torrent of clever aperçus and topical graffiti. But McEwan’s style has long been skewed towards understatement; even when he’s itemising the details of a craniotomy. In Saturday he is at his best - thoughtful, eloquent, yet restrained. The novel has all the technical assurance of its predecessors and suggests as well a newly political sensibility and seductive, Joycean attention to the textures of normality." - Henry Hitchings, Financial TimesIan McEwan is the critically acclaimed author of seventeen books. His first published work, a collection of short stories, First Love, Last Rites, won the Somerset Maugham Award. His novels include The Child in Time, which won the 1987 Whitbread Novel of the Year Award; The Cement Garden; Enduring Love; Amsterdam, which won the 1998 Booker Prize; Atonement; Saturday; On Chesil Beach; Solar; Sweet Tooth; The Children Act; Nutshell; and Machines Like Me. From the pen of a master -- the #1 bestselling, Booker Prize--winning author of Atonement -- comes an astonishing novel that captures the fine balance of happiness and the unforeseen threats that can destroy it. A brilliant, thrilling page-turner that will keep readers on the edge of their seats.Saturday is a masterful novel set within a single day in February 2003. Henry Perowne is a contented man -- a successful neurosurgeon, happily married to a newspaper lawyer, and enjoying good relations with his children. Henry wakes to the comfort of his large home in central London on this, his day off. He is as at ease here as he is in the operating room. Outside the hospital, the world is not so easy or predictable. There is an impending war against Iraq, and a general darkening and gathering pessimism since the New York and Washington attacks two years before.On this particular Saturday morning, Perowne's day moves through the ordinary to the extraordinary. After an unusual sighting in the early morning sky, he makes his way to his regular squash game with his anaesthetist, trying to avoid the hundreds of thousands of marchers filling the streets of London, protesting against the war. A minor accident in his car brings him into a confrontation with a small-time thug. To Perowne's professional eye, something appears to be profoundly wrong with this young man, who in turn believes the surgeon has humiliated him -- with savage consequences that will lead Henry Perowne to deploy all his skills to keep his family alive.From the Hardcover edition. Saturday, February 15th, 2003, Henry Perowne Is A Contented Man - A Successful Neurosurgeon, The Devoted Husband Of Rosalind And Proud Father Of Two Grown-up Children. Unusually He Wakes Before Dawn, Drawn To The Window And Filled With A Growing Unease. As He Looks Out At The Night Sky He Is Troubled By The State Of The World - The Impending War With Iraq, A Gathering Pessimism Since 9/11, And A Fear That His City And His Happy Family Life Are Under Threat. Ian Mcewan. If you're expecting this book to develop into a story, forget it. At many points in the book (pg 30,50 90 150 200 etc.) I thought something would happen to peak my interest. It remains boring, highly unbelievable and has an absurd "twist" in the very late chapters. As a surgeon, I was little impressed with his medical terms and descriptions of operations. It is just DULL. Save your time and money. Some hours before dawn Henry Perowne, a neurosurgeon, wakes to find himself already in motion, pushing back the covers from a sitting position, and then rising to his feet.