Saturday by Ian McEwan

Reviewed by Charles Green (CLA 2006)

Click the photo to purchase Saturday

Also available in Drew University Library Popular Literature Collection: POP LIT MCE 

Booker Award winner Ian McEwan's latest novel, Saturday, mixes the everyday with the extraordinary in its description of one particular day, February 15, 2003, in the life of a remarkable man.

Henry Perowne is a talented neurosurgeon, devoted husband, and father of two grown, well-adjusted children.  As he performs surgery, visits his ailing mother, and prepares for dinner on what promises to be a normal Saturday in London , Henry ruminates on many topics, such as contemporary literature, the history of his father-in-law, and the coming war in Iraq .  When he accidentally crosses the path of a criminal, however, the day becomes anything but ordinary.  

By the evening, Henry and his brood will face every family's worst nightmare, in a conclusion as suspenseful as it is thoughtful.  One hint: poetry will sooth the savage beast. Saturday shows McEwan at the height of his powers.  Discover why Esquire claims he could be “our era's Jane Austen.”