 Book Reviews
with Robin Osborne
Saturday
By Ian McEwan
$29.95
 In an uncanny parallel with Tom Wolfe's Bonfire Of The Vanities (PM Howard's favourite modern novel, apparently) the Mercedes-driving central character in acclaimed British writer Ian McEwan's new novel finds himself in a backstreet confrontation with some thugs who attempt to rob him.
So begins the turmoil of a wealthy man far outside his comfort zone, with Henry Perowne, a successful neurosurgeon first met watching a flaming aircraft pass in London's night sky, setting off for a Saturday morning game of squash.
Driving towards the courts, planning the elaborate seafood dinner he will cook that night, he is blocked by a street march protesting against the impending attack on Iraq by the 'Coalition of the Willing'. Saturday has been described as the first major novel referencing 9/11 and Iraq.
'Thousands packed in a single dense column are making for Piccadilly, their banners angled forward heroically, as in a revolutionary poster.... For dramatic effect, they're walking in silence to the funereal beat of marching drums.'
A 'flash of red streaks' turns out to be a carelessly driven BMW - 'a vehicle he associates for no good reason with criminality, drug dealing' - and Perowne takes evasive action, avoiding a major smash but bending the mirror of the other vehicle.
'By the standards of contemporary road accidents - Henry has done a total of five years in Accident and Emergency - this is a trivial matter', but he is monstered by the driver, the volatile 25-year old Baxter, and two mates, who demand the doctor takes them to an ATM for a cash payout.
When he refuses, he is roughed up and about to face a major beating, but in a plot twist unbelievable in less skilled hands he notices Baxter's severe facial tremors and recognises Huntington's Disease, a condition likely inherited from his father.
Astounding Baxter with his diagnosis, Perowne talks himself free, only to be tracked down later in the day and held with his family in a ghastly home invasion by the ailing thug.
With a few drinks on board, Baxter is pushed down a staircase by the doctor and his adult-aged son and rushed to hospital for a brain operation. Perowne, as the on-call surgeon, saves his assailant's life, the procedure being described in great detail, as are the cooking of the seafood dinner, the squash game and Perowne's lovemaking with his wife.
Together, they make a superb account of an unpredictable day in the life of a thoughtful, talented man.
- Books reviewed are available at Book Warehouse, Keen Street, Lismore.
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