Saturday

Unabridged
Author: Ian McEwan
Narrator: Steven Crossley
Genres: Fiction, Literature
Publisher: Recorded Books
Date: March 2005
Length: 11 hours
Ratings:
Formats:
  • CD

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Overview

"Saturday is a novel set within a single day in February 2003. Henry Perowne is a contented man--a successful neurosurgeon, happily married to a newspaper lawyer, and enjoying good relations with his children, who are young adults. What troubles him is the state of the world--the impending war against Iraq, and a general darkening and gathering pessimism since the New York and Washington attacks two years before. On this particular Saturday morning, Perowne makes his way to his usual squash game with his anaesthetist, trying to avoid the hundreds of thousands of marchers filling the streets of London, protesting against the war. A minor accident in his car brings him into a confrontation with a small-time thug called Miller. To Perowne's professional eye, something appears to be profoundly wrong with this young man. Miller, in his turn, believes the surgeon has humiliated him, and visits the opulent Perowne home that evening, during a family reunion--with savage consequences that will lead Henry Perowne to deploy all his skills to keep this doomed figure alive.

Selected Reviews

Fascinating

by Andrea
  • Book Rating: 5/5

Saturday

by magicwoods
  • Book Rating: 4/5

More...

Read All 11

Reviews (11)

Fascinating

Written by Andrea from Hemet, CA on April 29th, 2009

  • Book Rating: 5/5

I know there was excessive detail and many digressions from the plot, but that was what made this novel intriguing. I felt as if I knew the narrator like an old friend and I found myself enjoying and agreeing with much of his philosophical musings. I was entertained by the way he analyzed his own personality flaws and admitted to himself that he caused many of his own problems throughout the one day that was encapsulated in the book. I admired how he mentally set high ideals for himself and attempted to follow the high moral path in his life, but often couldn't have enough willpower to do what he knew was the right thing. His internal dialogue felt very familiar to my own mental conversations. I like this book more than Atonement because it was not a heatbreaking tragedy and had a more modern feel. The narrator's strong British accent gave a pleasant anthentic flavor to the descriptions of London city life.

Saturday

Written by magicwoods on April 10th, 2008

  • Book Rating: 4/5

I enjoyed this book. The performance was seamless and the narrative slow-paced and evolving. The characters were quirky, brilliant and happily flawed. The setting of post-9/11 London lent an ominous air and cast an appropriate pall as the action unfolded. An interesting effort that portrays just how much world events can and do effect the discourse of daily life.

Saturday

Written by Linda Poole from Salisbury, MD on January 26th, 2008

  • Book Rating: 1/5

Very disappointed in this book. Couldn't go further than halfway thru CD #2. Soooooo boring. Too much unnecessary detail. I won't try this author again.

Saturday

Written by Diane Needleman on January 2nd, 2008

  • Book Rating: 1/5

I could not follow this story well enough to continue reading it after the first couple of CD's. It was slow and boring. I cannot recommend this story although I started it enthusiastically enough. Diane Needleman

very good

Written by Wayne on December 9th, 2007

  • Book Rating: 4/5

This is a very good novel. Based on Ms. Dalloway by V. Woolfe, it remains a fascinating look into the mind of a modern man in the wake of 9/11. It explores themes of evil and hope. It is flawed, but I am surprised at reviews that say it is boring. I found it very interesting and at points riveting to the point of discomfort...

Dreamy and disappointed

Written by Anonymous from Sterling Heights, MI on June 19th, 2007

  • Book Rating: 1/5

I have to say I was very excited to rear/listen to this story. Unfortunately, I didn't make it very far. I'm sure the story is decent enough but let just say the narrator didn't keep my inter..zzzz....zzz...zzz

saturday

Written by Santa Maria on May 19th, 2007

  • Book Rating: 5/5

What a fantastic writer. How he can cram so many happenings in one day, and keep the reader engaged, is just amazing. The main characters are well developed. This book gives us a glimpse of the uncertain, and changing political and social times we live in by weaving that feeling into a day in a life of a normal family. It shows that today's global events are affecting us more than we realize. A good easy read, and allows introspection at the same time.

Saturday

Written by Ann from Washington, DC on November 13th, 2006

  • Book Rating: 1/5

I could only make it to CD No. 2. The narrator was hard to listen to as he came across as a bit of a snob no matter if he was describing the main character or, for example, the son. In summary, I couldn't get past the narrator --- especially since the text was overly descriptive down to the nth degree.

saturday

Written by Munir Ahmed on October 25th, 2006

  • Book Rating: 4/5

Long winded narration but keeps you riveted. Captures each moment in great detail

Saturday

Written by Anonymous on August 5th, 2006

  • Book Rating: 4/5

I am an Ian McEwan fan and was glad I was able to "read" this one while driving. The story was engaging and interesting. And as is typical of most of McEwan's books, he often digresses on political or social issues in greater detail than is necessary to the story line. It makes you think the detail will be relevant to the story, but it is only relevant to the character's psyche so you can pay as much or as little attention to that as you need or like. He knows how to write a well written, well plotted, intelligent and suspenseful story.

Selected Reviews

Fascinating

by Andrea
  • Book Rating: 5/5

Saturday

by magicwoods
  • Book Rating: 4/5

More...

Read All 11

Author Details

Author Details

McEwan, Ian

Ian McEwan was born on 21 June 1948 in Aldershot, England. He studied at the University of Sussex, where he received a BA degree in English Literature in 1970. He received his MA degree in English Literature at the University of East Anglia.

McEwan's works have earned him worldwide critical acclaim. He won the Somerset Maugham Award in 1976 for his first collection of short stories First Love, Last Rites; the Whitbread Novel Award (1987) and the Prix Fémina Etranger (1993) for The Child in Time; and Germany's Shakespeare Prize in 1999. He has been shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize for Fiction numerous times, winning the award for Amsterdam in 1998. His novel Atonement received the WH Smith Literary Award (2002), National Book Critics' Circle Fiction Award (2003), Los Angeles Times Prize for Fiction (2003), and the Santiago Prize for the European Novel (2004). He was awarded a CBE in 2000. In 2006, he won the James Tait Black Memorial Prize for his novel Saturday and his novel On Chesil Beach was named Galaxy Book of the Year at the 2008 British Book Awards where McEwan was also named Reader's Digest Author of the Year.

McEwan lives in London and is currently writing a new novel. His most recently published work is For You, a libretto.