Saturday – Ian McEwan

I just finished reading “Saturday” by Ian McEwan, who won the Booker prize for his book “Amsterdam“.
This is the second book I read by him after his other bestseller “Atonement“, that I read almost a year ago.

This book follows an ordinary man throughout a Saturday whose high promise gradually turns a bit nightmarish. Henry Perowne–a neurosurgeon, urbane, privileged, deeply in love with his wife and grown-up children–plans 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’s day is thrown out of course.

As with “Atonement”, the first chapter of the book goes very deep into character development, with almost no introduction of any plot, getting you to know the main characters almost inside out.
After he’s done with that, he launches into the story and starts weaving the plot together, pulling you into the smallest details, making you live the day with the main character.

I still can’t get over how much detail he gets into about the characters and events in his writing, without giving you a sense that it’s useless information or boring, in fact you feel it’s all very interesting and quite related to how the rest of the story will unfold, even if it doesn’t.

It’s a pretty good read that I recommend checking out. And if you haven’t read “Atonement“, I recommend that book too, maybe even more than this one.

» You can buy “Saturday” here.