Book Review: Saturday by Ian McEwan

“The nineties are looking like an innocent decade, and who would have thought that at the time? Now we breathe a different air.”

Ian McEwan, Saturday

Review:

Listen. The Child in Time is one of my favorite books. It was so much a favorite that I binge-bought a bunch of Ian McEwan’s books. It was so good that I have been afraid to pick up another for fear no other book would live up to its memory. But I finally did, because I bought the books and I need to read them… How I wish I had picked up any other than this one.

As the title suggests, this book takes place on a Saturday in Henry Perowne’s life. I typically enjoy stream-of-consciousness stories, but not when the character is painfully dull and pompous. I feel like Ian McEwan should have just published a political essay at the time and called it a day. That’s the only oomph the story had, and it still wasn’t interesting. If you have an interest in the medical field, the talk of neurosurgery might be a draw, however, it wasn’t for me.

Boring took a turn to uncomfortable toward the end. To speak around the spoilers, it was a scene involving his daughter which Henry was present (along with the rest of the family), and the fact he made (inward) comments about his daughter’s body made my skin crawl. It’ll take a while to recover from that one.

I still have a bunch of Ian McEwan’s books to go through, but they’ll have to sit on the shelf a while longer. 

Likes & Dislikes:

What I liked:

• There were a couple of good quotes that resonated with me.

What I didn’t like:

• Everything else.

Afterthoughts:

To say I’m disappointed in this book is an understatement, mostly because now I’m questioning my memory of The Child in Time.

Where to buy the book: