Saturday Audiobook

" I just couldn't get into this rather masculine meandering mess. Laboriously dense and pretentious. "

" Read for "Page to Bedside: Literature and Medicine", an elective I am taking as part of medical school. The book is very well written, with an artistic style. I felt like I was actually in Dr. Perowne's head, privy to his most mundane and most intimate thoughts. The entire book takes place on one Saturday, and even though it was a very long and eventful day I struggled with the pace of the book a bit. I have been informed that this is a literary style, sort of a pivotal "day in the life" of the principal character, but I am more accustomed to books that cover some more ground temporally speaking. Touches on some interesting topics, (view spoiler)[like the state of the world with terrorism and such, the ethics of using medical training/knowledge to gain an advantage over an adversary and possibly do them harm (emotional/physical/whatev), operating on patients that you have a history with. In my opinion, he was completely justified using whatever means he could to avoid a fight (kinda like a person with marital arts training, you know avoid fighting whenever possible) even if it did make Baxter look weak in front of his homies. Also, when Baxter invaded his home with a weapon all bets are off, and Perowne can lie, exploit, and even use violence to defend himself and his family. The guy had a knife to his wife's neck and made his daughter strip, so yeah, Perowne was justified in lying to him about a fake clinical trial and in bashing his head on the stairs. Saying he can't use his medical knowledge to his advantage is like saying a ninja shouldn't use his ninja skills to womp the punk who is trying to slice his wife's throat. Of course the ninja can karate chop. Of course the surgeon can make false medical promises. Of course the daughter can take false credit for a poem she didn't write. Anyone who says different is entitled to their opinion I suppose, but I don't see it. (hide spoiler)] Some language, some bedroom encounters. You are in the head of a male, privy to ALL of his thoughts. So not necessarily PG. More like R. "

" This was my first of Ian's books and it hooked me in just the first few pages. Reading this felt like eating a rich, heavy bread, fragrant and solid fresh from the oven. "

" I sort of enjoyed all the experiences that happened in a day, but the other six people in the book club either didn't finish it or couldn't stand it. It may have been more interesting to me because the book's main character was a neurosurgeon. Enough said. I wouldn't have read it if it was not a book club book. "

" There were some really powerful moments. McEwan just hits those spaces in-between, feelings and behaviors just under the radar of awareness. Overall, this is not one of my favorites. I faded in and out of being engrossed; the comments on "these times" felt heavy-handed and pulled me out. "

" This book chronicles a day in the life (a Saturday) of Henry Perrone, a comfortably well-off neurosurgeon living in London. He is supposed to take the day off. The day starts with him witnessing a near plane crash from his window. It goes on to his fender bender with a group of thugs and near beating. He wins a squash match against a colleague (described in great detail). He witnesses a practice session that his son, a blues musician, participates in. He cooks dinner and has an argument with his grown daughter about the impending Iraq war.One of the tough young men with whom he collided in the morning finds his house and invades it with a knife as a weapon. He holds Perrone's wife hostage and terrorizes the family. Finally Perrone manages to get him into position and pushes him down the stairs. The man is taken to the hospital, and sure enough, a while later, Perrone is called in to do surgery on him. The brain surgery is described in great detail. The book has this as the plot outline, but it is really a meditation on middle age life, family, sickness, success, and a myriad of other issues. It moves a little bit slow for my taste, but it has gotten great reviews. "

" Another brilliant book by my favourite author! Loved every second! "

" Very good, but what if you don't have this thing for senseless violence? "

" Ian McEwan is one of the best authors of all contemporary fiction and the day he writes about in Saturday does not disappoint "

" I love McEwan, but this one didn't work for me. "

" Fussy, overly meticulous, tedious, and I didn't like the main character. "

" Read some time ago, found it a bit of a chore. "

" Beautiful writing as usual but I found the character a little too satisfied with himself to take. Maybe that was the point?? "

" I read McEwan like crazy but this bored the hell out of me. It's basically a real-time account of a really terrible day in the life of an upper-middle class dude who has to deal with some violence. Yeah, I know, that's the majority of McEwan's work but this is the phoned-in version. "

" I just couldn't get into this book. "

" After having read this book I am keen to read more of McEwan's work "

" Not as good as Atonement. "

" Love the way he writes...but occasionally I think "just get on with the bloody story" too! "

" I would have given it a better rating, but 18-pages long description of a squash game? Seriously? "

" Beautiful and fascinating. This is a book that stayed with me after I finished it - if only there was a Sunday :) "

" Not a book I enjoyed very much "

" There were moments that this book was great, but it just went on and on and still went on into every little detail and had me zoning out half the time. "

" Too slow, too long, and the worst part of it is that I didn't really believe in the characters. Non, merci. "

" Very slow paced, thoughtful book. I'm glad that I read it. "

" Couldn't put it down, slow at times, but what a hopeful ending "

" Couldn't get into it. It felt too contrived, the protagonist's children were parodies, and it fell into that literary trap of having non-book people simply awestruck by hearing literature read aloud. That doesn't happen. "

" Ian McKewan is one of our contemporary masters; his work is stunning at times. His craft, his sensibilities, his intellect and his strong investment in human morality bears one away on a wave of awe. This novel takes place on one very long day in 2002. Read it. "

" I love McEwan's writing, I love his craft -- but this one is a bit slow. Understand its going to be a day in the life, but 80 pages for the main character to get out of bed makes for a slow read. "

" Don't ask me what happened in this book; I read it in one night and was completely out of my mind. "

" This was boring for the first forty-odd pages and then suddenly got riveting. Uneven but worth it in the end. "

" McEwan captured contemporary thoughts, hopes and fears perfectly. "

" Among its peer-reviewed cohort, the most introspective case report I have read to date. "