Saturday by Ian McEwan
I am world's apart from Ian McEwan. At one point his main character, Henry Perowne, criticises Anna Karenenin for being just words, lacking insight. One mustn't invest author's with the beliefs of their creations, yet this is a standout. For me McEwan speaks through Perowne- for me they share interests and motivations. And why have characters say something like that out of the blue when it has nothing to do with the story.
I make such a to do of this because it encapsulates what is wrong with Saturday. The book goes on and on with its clever little plot, with its unbelievable twists and turns and in the end says nothing.
Anna Karenin is a work of genius- Saturday is work for the reader. After all those words, and there's some inordinate sum of them- precociously self- satisfying- I put down the book feeling I had gained nothing from the exercise. I finished it becauseI started it. The research was impressive- but, as with Barbara Kingsolver's Flight Behaviour- impressive research makes for a great thesis but does little for a reader. It's little more than a writer doing cartwheels. The novel is tough,. "Dazzling, profound and urgent" the publisher says on the cover. It is so utterly none of these.
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I make such a to do of this because it encapsulates what is wrong with Saturday. The book goes on and on with its clever little plot, with its unbelievable twists and turns and in the end says nothing.
Anna Karenin is a work of genius- Saturday is work for the reader. After all those words, and there's some inordinate sum of them- precociously self- satisfying- I put down the book feeling I had gained nothing from the exercise. I finished it becauseI started it. The research was impressive- but, as with Barbara Kingsolver's Flight Behaviour- impressive research makes for a great thesis but does little for a reader. It's little more than a writer doing cartwheels. The novel is tough,. "Dazzling, profound and urgent" the publisher says on the cover. It is so utterly none of these.
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Nikki
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Mar 03, 2015 09:49AM
I love McEwan, though this certainly isn't his best. You musn't attribute Perowne's sentiments to McEwan. For one, McEwan is an artist - he is sympathetic to the scientist, yes, but he would never reduce his own livelihood in the way Perowne does, nor does he see things in black and white. McEwan's work falls broadly into two camps - pure story (usually with some horrific event at the core), and story + exploration of intellectual tension. In Saturday, the tension explored is that between science and art. In Enduring Love, between science and religion. In The Children Act, between law and morality. You don't have to love his work but to impugn McEwan for aligning himself directly with one of his characters is unfair - he is far too clever for that. Have you read any of his other novels? If not, I would be happy to recommend one you might like more.
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