by Ian McEwan
"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..."
Review:
Aside from the fact that this was a read for my book club, I have been meaning to tackle this book ever since I was turned on to McEwan through his novel Atonement. Our club decided to read this particular title because we are going to see McEwan in two weeks at the 92nd Street Y in NYC. He is releasing a new novel and will probably be reading from it that night. I am very excited to see him there and anticipating the clubs discussion of Saturday. I loved this book! I actually hate books that take place over the course of one day, but I was able to get over it real quick once I finished this masterpiece. The story takes place on a Saturday in the life of Henry Perowne, a reflective neurosurgeon whose comfortable life is shaken following a run-in with a street thug. 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 and his children are now grown and making their way into this world as adults. On this particular Saturday morning, his day moves through the ordinary to the extraordinary: from an unusual sighting in the early morning sky to his usual squash game, and from trying to avoid the hundreds of thousands of war protesters filling the streets of London, to a seemingly minor car accident. This was a substantial work of literature by one of Britain’s greatest minds and a powerful piece of post-9/11 fiction.
