BOOKS : Saturday by Ian McEwan
I read a review of this in the Guardian and thought, well everyone likes this guy, I might give him a try, and why not with this book.
What a great decision! I love this book. While the plot isn't anything fantastic, I love the writing, I love the way he moves off on tangents, but never far enough away from the story to make you think 'get back to the story' and I love the underlying tension that pervades, but with no obvious source. (OK, there might be an obvious source, but the maintenance of tension when that source isn't around is well done).
If you ever want to know how my brain works, read this book and realise that the main character thinks very similarly to me, only as a neurosurgeon rather than prog'er. Thing being, I suspect that most people do behave/think like this, it's just no that often put in writing (that I read at least).
Other reasons I am particularly likely to enjoy this book; the main character is father in an atomic family, a family very like mine. His age makes him halfway between my Dad and myself; I can empathise with my father through his thoughts, but I can also imagine myself in his position in the not too distant future. He also likes his sport, but not too much, and allows his competitiveness to get the better of him. Finally, he is a middle class liberal tainted by the ability to see more than one side in an argument.
Haven't really said much about the book, more the character, but I guess that like in Ulysses by JJ the story is the character (BTW, it's called Saturday because the whole book takes place on one Saturday, hence the Ulysses comparison).
Anyway, if you want an insight into my inner workings, give this book a go and you'll come close.
What a great decision! I love this book. While the plot isn't anything fantastic, I love the writing, I love the way he moves off on tangents, but never far enough away from the story to make you think 'get back to the story' and I love the underlying tension that pervades, but with no obvious source. (OK, there might be an obvious source, but the maintenance of tension when that source isn't around is well done).
If you ever want to know how my brain works, read this book and realise that the main character thinks very similarly to me, only as a neurosurgeon rather than prog'er. Thing being, I suspect that most people do behave/think like this, it's just no that often put in writing (that I read at least).
Other reasons I am particularly likely to enjoy this book; the main character is father in an atomic family, a family very like mine. His age makes him halfway between my Dad and myself; I can empathise with my father through his thoughts, but I can also imagine myself in his position in the not too distant future. He also likes his sport, but not too much, and allows his competitiveness to get the better of him. Finally, he is a middle class liberal tainted by the ability to see more than one side in an argument.
Haven't really said much about the book, more the character, but I guess that like in Ulysses by JJ the story is the character (BTW, it's called Saturday because the whole book takes place on one Saturday, hence the Ulysses comparison).
Anyway, if you want an insight into my inner workings, give this book a go and you'll come close.
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