Saturday

“This commonplace cycle of falling asleep and waking, in darkness, under private cover, with another creature, a pale soft tender mammal, putting faces together in a ritual of affection, briefly settled in the eternal necessities of warmth, comfort, safety, crossing limbs to draw nearer - a simple daily consolation, almost too obvious, easy to forget by daylight.” 

“He's feeling a pull, like gravity, of the approaching TV news. It's a condition of the times, this compulsion to hear how it stands with the world, and be joined to the generality, to a community of anxiety. The habit's grown stronger these past two years; a different scale of news value has been set by monstrous and spectacular scenes. [...] Everyone fears it, but there's also a darker longing in the collective mind, a sickening for self-punishment and a blasphemous curiosity. Just as the hospitals have their crisis plans, so the television networks stand ready to deliver, and their audiences wait. Bigger, grosser next time. Please don't let it happen. But let me see it all the same, as it's happening and from every angle, and let me be among the first to know.” 

This the second novel I have read by Ian McEwan.  I have absolutely loved both!

The first was "On Chesil Beach".   A few pages into Saturday I was wondering why I had waited so long to read another of his books.  Both of these books cover one day in the life of the characters (actually even less in OCB), with forays into their past via their personal musings and memories.  The one day format seems to encourage the feeling that you want to devour the book and I would have been blissfully happy to read both in one long sitting if life had permitted.  Next time I read one of his books, which won't be too far away I am sure, I will make sure I start it on a lazy day when I have hours ahead to enjoy it.

McEwan is an amazing story teller and quickly sucks you into the world of the characters.  Simply getting dressed to play squash or cooking fish stew becomes a fascinating episode that draws you further into the characters mind.

The book was thoroughly researched, and, particularly as a doctor, I was very impressed by the depth and accuracy of the medical and neurosurgical detail.

McEwan touches on so many important and complex matters, but the issues are weaved so expertly into the narrative that it feels completely natural and unobtrusive and therefore all the more thought provoking.

I know I am raving but I just have to say "Bravo McEwan!  I can't wait to read more of your work."