Saturday

Ian McEwan

A good book - you are waiting for a terrible thing to happen. Scary. Set over the twenty-four hours of the big anti-Iraq war demo. A lot of brain surgery - not for the squeamish. For Ian McEwan fans a good example of his work. He does scary people well. It has an accident at the beginning and then gets worse.
Doreen 11/9/05

Very very good indeed. I was really gripped and taken in by the atmosphere he creates. I thought it was going to be very anti-war as it's set on the day on the big anti-Iraq war demo but it was very balanced. The blood and gore quotient wasn't so bad.
Bob 9/10/05

Christine really enjoyed this. A beatuifully written book that doesn't rely on any tricks.
Christine 6/11/05

This is one of those books where the action takes place in 24 hours. A man wakes up (in Fitzroy Square?) and McEwan goes through his day in fine detail. The main character is too good to be true, but the book is recommended.
Andrew 11/12/05

Jean was amazed by the amount of research and detail, especially the medical bits, and found it gripping and interesting. Recommended.
Jean 15/1/06

Seán's second McEwan, after the awful Amsterdam. Much, much better. The writing is good, but a little cold – and very accurate. The book follows twenty-four hours in a neurosurgeon's life, on the day of the big march in London against the Iraq war. In the morning there's a contrived car accident, which gives rise to the book's main crises, then and later, and McEwan handles the menacing post-accident situation brilliantly, really making the reader feel as if he or she is the threatened person. The menacing situation towards the end of the book is handled similarly well, and really makes one wonder “What would I do if it were me?”

Seán enjoyed the detailed descriptions of neurosurgery, although he felt that maybe there were more operations than necessary, but he didn't enjoy the squash match which seemed tangential to the plot and overlong. Clearly McEwan doesn't waste his research.

Seán 4/6/06

By the same author

The frames have gone all funny - click to make it good.