42. Ian McEwan - Saturday

I decided not to read James Joyce's Ulysses any day soon, so I figured Ian McEwan's Saturday would be a good replacement. I'm just kidding of course, I don't think Saturday resembles Ulysses that much, apart from the fact that both stories narrator narrates one day in his life. 

In Saturday's case it's about the neurosurgeon Henry Perowne, who wakes up early one Saturday morning and by accident he looks out the window where he sees a plane in the sky that's clearly on fire. This is the beginning of a hectic day, which features a game of squash, a protest against the war in Iraq, a senile grandmother, a family dinner and a car crash in an alleyway. McEwan shows us all of Henry's thoughts during these events, which seem to be clinical ruminations mostly to do with the looming war in Iraq and 9/11. 

My literature teacher always said that you will never see anyone go to the toilet in books, simply because it does not add anything to the story. It's easy to understand what kind of book you are reading when going to the toilet is part of the narration, namely an overly descriptive one: 

"There's a view that it's shameful for a man to sit to urinate because that's what women do. Relax! He sits, feeling the last scraps of sleep dissolve as his stream plays against the bowl." (McEwan 57)

Even though I describe the way the story is told as clinical, it isn't tedious in the slightest. If Joyce's book would be half as exciting as this, I don't think anyone would ever put it down and lit teacher wouldn't say that it's just a good book to own but never to read. 

As a little side note I have a short anecdote.I had a discussion with my boyfriend and I told him about my belief that every great civilization will find its demise by the hands of another culture. Afterwards, everything that has been destroyed will be rebuilt again, after years and years of unrest have gone by. This thought would not really be interesting if Henry would not have argued the same thing in this novel:

"When this civilisation falls, when the Romans, whoever they are this time round, have finally left and the new dark ages begin, this will be one of the first luxuries to go." (McEwan 149)