A Day In a Book
I have just finished Ian McEwen's remarkable novel, Saturday. What this guy does with words and everyday life is nothing short of miraculous. At first you feel like he is plodding along, telling far too many little details, digging into far too many corners of his characters' souls, minds, and histories. Do you really care?
The answer becomes, quite simply, "Yes."
The central character is a British neurosurgeon. It is about a month before the start of the Iraq war, a Saturday when a large demonstration was held in London. Starting with an pre-dawn awakening and ends exactly 24 hours later as Dr. Perrowne gets ready to go back to bed after a day of ups, downs, tension, terror, and the boring. He reflects on life, history, his life, his children, his squash game, a disabled aircraft landing, the impending war, his wife, and the man who threatens his life.
Somehow I got the idea that these unrelated events can, if given time and space, be a commentary on each other- and on nothing in particular. It is a stunning book that made me reflect on the sources of terror and our human attempts to end it while unwittingly causing it.
I'm not sure I could take more than one of McEwan's books in a row. I need time to decompress and to allow life to return to some normalcy of pacing and insight. But he is truly a unique writer of extraordinary gifts and grace. Perhaps in the end it is only grace that will rescue us all from terror.
I have just finished Ian McEwen's remarkable novel, Saturday. What this guy does with words and everyday life is nothing short of miraculous. At first you feel like he is plodding along, telling far too many little details, digging into far too many corners of his characters' souls, minds, and histories. Do you really care?
The answer becomes, quite simply, "Yes."
The central character is a British neurosurgeon. It is about a month before the start of the Iraq war, a Saturday when a large demonstration was held in London. Starting with an pre-dawn awakening and ends exactly 24 hours later as Dr. Perrowne gets ready to go back to bed after a day of ups, downs, tension, terror, and the boring. He reflects on life, history, his life, his children, his squash game, a disabled aircraft landing, the impending war, his wife, and the man who threatens his life.
Somehow I got the idea that these unrelated events can, if given time and space, be a commentary on each other- and on nothing in particular. It is a stunning book that made me reflect on the sources of terror and our human attempts to end it while unwittingly causing it.
I'm not sure I could take more than one of McEwan's books in a row. I need time to decompress and to allow life to return to some normalcy of pacing and insight. But he is truly a unique writer of extraordinary gifts and grace. Perhaps in the end it is only grace that will rescue us all from terror.
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