Hooray! You have added the first book to your bookshelf. Check it out now!
[−]
  • Search Digit-count Valid ISBN Invalid ISBN Valid Barcode Invalid Barcode
Blog this item

Saturday

By Ian McEwan

(215)

| Paperback | 9780676977622

Like Saturday?
Join aNobii to see if your friends read it, and discover similar books!

Sign up for free

Book Description

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 eContinue

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.

Critics

  • 'Saturday' by Ian McEwan

    As someone who took part in the Stop the War march, I was keen to read Ian McEwan's Saturday because it is famously set in London on that very day. But the protest is a mere backdrop to a more deeply personal story, that of a day-in-the-life of a wel ... (read full critics)

    readingmatters published on Tue, 28 Sep 2010

  • When Saturday comes

    Saturday by Ian McEwan Cape £17.99, pp280 We have learned to expect the worst from Ian McEwan. Since his debut collection of stories, First Love, Last Rites, his fiction has always dwelt at the heart of places we hope never to find ourselves in: the ... (read full critics)

    guardian.co.uk published on Sat, 25 Sep 2010

11 Reviews

Login or Sign Up to write a review

  • 1 person find this helpful

    I always like Ian McEwan, but Saturday is not his best. It is also no match for his last work, The Atonement.

    The story is quite plain and not exciting. But as always, McEwan saved the day through detailed description of the thoughts and struggles of the characters as they tried to make sens ... (continue)

    I always like Ian McEwan, but Saturday is not his best. It is also no match for his last work, The Atonement.

    The story is quite plain and not exciting. But as always, McEwan saved the day through detailed description of the thoughts and struggles of the characters as they tried to make sense of the insane world around them. Worth a read.

    Is this helpful?

    Tracy W said on Apr 11, 2007 | Add your feedback

  • I defenitely don't like McEwan. I've read The Atonement before and then I was told Saturday was his best book and I should give another chance. It's well written and descriptive but I think it's too slow to read.

    Is this helpful?

    Agustín said on Jun 9, 2011 | Add your feedback

  • You can do better

    Definitely not his masterpiece. Somewhere tedious especially when he tries to make you familiar with neurosurgery dictionary !!

    Is this helpful?

    Big Sur said on Apr 14, 2011 | Add your feedback

  • Having just been lent a copy of Ian McEwan’s more recent novel On Chesil Beach I decided that I should read Saturday first, as the copy my husband read was on our bookshelves. I have previously read and enjoyed, The Cement Garden, Enduring Love, Amsterdam and Atonement. The latter is still my favour ... (continue)

    Having just been lent a copy of Ian McEwan’s more recent novel On Chesil Beach I decided that I should read Saturday first, as the copy my husband read was on our bookshelves. I have previously read and enjoyed, The Cement Garden, Enduring Love, Amsterdam and Atonement. The latter is still my favourite, although I highly recommend Saturday as a thought provoking read.
    Saturday as the title suggests covers just one day, February 15th 2003 in the life of modern day Londoner Henry Perowne. A successful neurosurgeon living a comfortable middle class existence, happily married to Rosalind, a lawyer and two grown-up children Daisy a poet and Theo a musician. His day starts as he watches the dawn from his bedroom window and events as the day progresses cause him to examine his life and beliefs in detail. In fact detail to the extreme is something this story is full of along with lots of literary and musical references. The detail McEwan goes into on subjects as diverse as brain surgery and a squash match are riveting. The brain surgery details made me feel uncomfortable, as for the squash match I felt I was playing the game myself. He writes in such a realistic manner, the fifties housewives cleanliness and the old peoples homes descriptions were also parts where I actually felt I was there, memories of my own may be?
    The story builds slowly to its dramatic climax with Henry spending his Saturday preparing for a family gathering. On the day the streets of London were filled with hundreds of thousands of anti-war protestors, which seemed to have a disconnected effect on everything that happened to Henry that day
    I enjoyed this so much that I am going to start On Chesil Beach straight away!

    Is this helpful?

    Lindyloumac said on Oct 26, 2009 about the Hardcover edition | Add your feedback

Book Details

Improve data of this book

Margin notes of this book

Prices Change currency & sellers

ISBN Edition List Sale Seller
9780676977622 Paperback -- -- --
Other editions →
+ 1 copy tradable: →
Added to Shelf Added to Wish List

Inline Translation Mode

Left click to navigate, right click to translate.

inline translation guide

or close

Inline translation is not ready for this page yet.

Inline translation mode.

Share this page with your friends.

The viewport has not loaded.