The bestselling novel by one of Britain's finest writers now in paperback.
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.
Reading Group Book Questions
- At the end of Saturday’s first paragraph, as Henry wakes too early, McEwan writes, ‘And he’s entirely himself, he is certain of it, and he knows that sleep is behind him: to know the difference between it and waking, to know the boundaries, is the essence of sanity.’ To what else does Henry awaken as the novel progresses?
- Discuss the irony of the novel’s title. Henry intended to spend the day relaxing; does the modern world allow for any true respite from worry?
- In your opinion, what accounts for the bliss between Henry and his wife? When he met her, did her vulnerability (through illness) feed their attraction or was it merely a means for then to find one another? What accounts for Henry’s uneasy relationship with his father-in-law?
- In researching Saturday, Ian McEwan spent months observing brain surgery. What parallels exist between a writer’s craft and a surgeon’s? What is the effect of McEwan’s decision to cast Henry in the specialty of neurosurgery (as opposed to thoracic or orthopaedic surgery, for example)?
About The Author
Ian McEwan's last novel, Amsterdam, won the 1998 Booker Prize. He lives in Oxford.
Industry Reviews
Dazzling... Profound and urgent * Observer *
The supreme novelist of his generation * Sunday Times *
He remains at the top of his game - assured, accomplished and ambitious * Daily Telegraph *
A book of great maturity, beautifully alive to the fragility of happiness and all forms of violence... Everyone should read Saturday * Financial Times *
An exemplary novel... It is undoubtedly McEwan's best * Mail on Sunday *
A rich book, sensuous and thoughtful... McEwan has found in Saturday the right form to showcase his dazzling talents * The Times *
Richly laden. McEwan pulls out all the stops. A rich book, sensuous and thoughtful. McEwan has found in Saturday the right form to showcase his dazzling talents * Sunday Telegraph *
A book of great moral maturity, beautifully alive to the fragility of happiness and all forms of violence... Everyone should read Saturday... Artistically, morally and politically, he excels * The Times *
It's the good writing and the truthful and convincing way of rendering consciousness that makes Saturday so engrossing * Colm Toibin *
Saturday is wonderfully involving and affecting on every page. Everybody with any interest in contemporary literature will want to read it at once * Evening Standard *
