β Scribed by Ian McEwan
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In his triumphant new novel, Ian McEwan, the bestselling author of Atonement, follows an ordinary man through a Saturday whose high promise gradually turns nightmarish. Henry Perownea neurosurgeon, urbane, privileged, deeply in love with his wife and grown-up childrenplans to play a game of squash, visit his elderly mother, and cook dinner for his family. But after a minor traffic accident leads to an unsettling confrontation, Perowne must set aside his plans and summon a strength greater than he knew he had in order to preserve the life that is dear to him.
From the Trade Paperback edition.
In the predawn sky on a Saturday morning, London neurosurgeon Henry Perowne sees a plane with a wing afire streaking toward Heathrow. His first thought is terrorism--especially since this is the day of a public demonstration against the pending Iraq war. Eventually, danger to Perowne and his family will come from another source, but the plane, like the balloon in the first scene of Enduring Love, turns out to be a harbinger of a world forever changed. Meanwhile, the reader follows Perowne through his day, mainly via an interior monologue. His cerebral peregrination records, in turn, the meticulous details of brain surgery, a car accident followed by a confrontation with a hoodlum, a far-from-routine squash game, a visit to Perowne's mother in a nursing home and a family reunion. It is during the latter event, at the end of the day, that the ominous pall that has hovered over the narrative explodes into violence, and Perowne's sense that the world has become "a commuity of anxiety" plays out in suspense, delusion, heroism and reconciliation. The tension throughout the novel between science (Perowne's surgery) and art (his daughter is a poet; his son a musician) culminates in a synthesis of the two, and a grave, hopeful, meaningful, transcendent ending. If this novel is not as complex a work as McEwan's bestselling Atonement, it is nonetheless a wise and poignant portrait of the way we live now. (Mar. 22)
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As McEwan writers, When anything can happen, everything matters. Saturday magnifies a pivotal moment in history and a day in a mans life as secure foundations crack and uncertainty rushes in. While critics cited different overriding themes, Saturday explores ideas of fate and purpose, lifes fragility, revelation, and terror at all levels of society. McEwan, an enduring talent in Britain combines literary seriousness with a momentum more commonly associated with genre fiction. The result is an intricate, captivating novel defined by a serene tension that erupts into a dark reality despite its heros optimism (New York Times Book Review).
McEwan brilliantly builds many layers of reality from small details. Henry-a sympathetic, if conflicted, character-knows he can examine peoples brains, but not understand their minds. His ruminations on surgery, lovemaking, music, war (hes pro-war), and literature (hes clueless) rise to a crescendo as he slowly questions his own motives and actions. In dazzling, authoritative prose, McEwan depicts this growing anxiety with a calmness that is soon violated.
Despite its appeal on both sides of the Atlantic, a few reviewers thought McEwans intricate plotting and slow, dark suspense was too structured. The novels explicit messages deprive the reader of feeling, rather than coolly registering, the authors intention (New York Times Book Review). Yet, in the end, most critics agree that Saturday is both a substantial work of literature by one of Britains greatest minds and a powerful piece of post-9/11 fiction.
Copyright 2004 Phillips & Nelson Media, Inc.
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SUMMARY: In his triumphant new novel, Ian McEwan, the bestselling author of Atonement, follows an ordinary man through a Saturday whose high promise gradually turns nightmarish. Henry Perownea neurosurgeon, urbane, privileged, deeply in love with his wife and grown-up childrenplans to play a game
SUMMARY: In his triumphant new novel, Ian McEwan, the bestselling author of Atonement, follows an ordinary man through a Saturday whose high promise gradually turns nightmarish. Henry Perownea neurosurgeon, urbane, privileged, deeply in love with his wife and grown-up childrenplans to play a game
Saturday, February 15, 2003. Henry Perowne, a successful neurosurgeon, stands at his bedroom window before dawn and watches a plane ablaze with fire like a meteor arcing across the London sky. Over the course of the following day, unease gathers about Perowne, as he moves amongst hundreds of thousan
Henry Perowne, 48, ist ein zufriedener Mann: erfolgreich als Neurochirurg, glΓΌcklich verheiratet, zwei begabte Kinder. Das einzige, was ihn leicht beunruhigt, ist der Zustand der Welt. Es ist Samstag, und er freut sich auf sein Squashspiel. Doch an diesem speziellen Samstag, dem 15. Februar 2003, is
{ Oct 2020 - epub revisions. Verified ebook for complete book description, cover, table of contents, content separation, and epub format error checking. } ebook, 162 pages Published 2005 Anchor eBook (2006) In his triumphant new novel, Ian McEwan, the bestselling author of Atonement, follows a