Saturday follows the actions of neurosurgeon, Henry Perowne on one particular day that will alter his life and his view of the world forever. Set to the backdrop of a terrorism obsessed London pre-Iraq invasion, the drama’s of Perowne’s life run parallel to a mass anti-war protest and a general feeling of unease caused by a plane crash for unknown reasons.

Written with almost overwhelming description of the most mundane detail, Perowne’s day begins with him witnessing the plane crash as a metaphor for his life that is about to crash down before him. Perowne’s life is insulated by a happy marriage, talented children and highly-successful career, which leave him floundering when he is faced with a random run-in with Baxter, an irrational and violent stranger from a world he can barely comprehend.

Although Perowne is able to use his wits to escape the situation, the thuggish Baxter is not as willing to end the exchange as he is. In an explosive climax, Baxter proves to be the catalyst to Perowne’s discovery that everything is not as it seems both in and outside his home.

Saturday uses a minimalist plot to extract both an emotive and intellectual response, making the reader question how we form the very opinions on which we base our lives and how simple it is to become so lost in the details that the bigger picture becomes a blur.

As a whole I have to admit that I didn’t find Perowne very sympathetic as a character. Although I could identify with some of his struggles, such as the triumph of guilt over self-indulgence when he visits his elderly mother, he is a middle-aged, middle-class, conservative… dad. Oddly it didn’t seem necessary to warm to him to find his story compelling and I got a small (if guilty) kick from watching the fragments of his life unravel. I’m not sure if that was what McEwan was going for, but it worked for me.

While I struggled initially to get into the novel and occasionally felt lost in the detail myself (when it got to lists and lists of unpronounceable medical terminology, I just made up my own weird sounds to replace them), I would highly recommend this thought-provoking study of how one day can alter the course of a life.

4/5