Saturday

by Ian McEwan | Other |
ISBN: 0385511809 Global Overview for this book
Registered by rem_BSQ-170388 on 10/9/2005
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2 journalers for this copy...
Journal Entry 1 by rem_BSQ-170388 on Sunday, October 9, 2005
I needed to read this for my October 20, 2005 book club and only got half-way through. Even though I loved the language - sentences such as 'work as the ultimate proof of health', p.24, and 'At the heart of the blues is not melancholy, but a strange and worldly joy', p.28 - I had a hard time staying interested. I guess it's because of the stream-of-conciousness style, the slow pace and one-day time-frame, and the masculin/technical topics (neurology, cars, squash).

Then, still intend on finishing the book, I got a request for it in January 2006. Again, I tried ploughing through, but got bored. Knowing how the story was going to evolve, from the bookclub discussion, didn't help much. So, even though I enjoyed the writing, I didn't finish this one, but if another book by Ian McEwan comes my way, I'll have another go at his work.

Synopsis
Saturday, February 15, 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 of his bedroom and filled with a growing unease. What troubles him as he looks out at the night sky is the state of the world - the impending war against Iraq, a gathering pessimism since 9/11, and a fear that his city and his happy family life are under threat. Later, Perowne makes his way to his weekly squash game through London streets filled with hundreds of thousands of anti-war protestors. A minor car accident brings him into a confrontation with Baxter, a fidgety, aggressive, young man, on the edge of violence. To Perowne's professional eye, there appears to be something profoundly wrong with him. Towards the end of a day rich in incident and filled with Perowne's celebrations of life's pleasures, his family gathers for a reunion. But with the sudden appearance of Baxter, Perowne's earlier fears seem about to be realised.

Hardcover, 289 p.
Doubleday, 2005

Journal Entry 2 by rem_BSQ-170388 on Monday, March 6, 2006
Sent it out to Scarsdale, New York, about a week ago.

Journal Entry 3 by Amykinofallkins from Scarsdale, New York USA on Wednesday, March 15, 2006
This book looks fantastic-- and it's hardcover, thank you!

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