Skip to main content
PBS logo
 
 

Book Review of Saturday

Saturday
Saturday
Author: Ian McEwan
Genre: Literature & Fiction
Book Type: Paperback
reviewed on + 289 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 1


I have unwittingly read a higher proportion of Ian McEwan's work than expected for a writer that I don't count as one of my favorites. Saturday, a novel about an unusual day in the life of a London neurosurgeon, was easy to digest. There's a sense of the uneasiness of the post-9/11 world as Henry Perowne starts his day; it boils over as a minor automobile accident starts a more personal chain of events. McEwan brings poetry to his descriptions of neurosurgery, consciousness, and the mind, which reverberates through the protagonist's family and professional lives as well as the events of the day. Henry is a character that one can like, which helps this neatly structured novel move along. I enjoyed this pick from the list of 1001 books you must read before you die.