The remainder of Henry's day is filled with a variety of familial obligations-a visit to his mother, who sits out the limbo of Alzheimer's disease at a suburban nursing home attendance at Theo's rehearsal at a blues club and, finally, the preparation of a fish stew in honor of his daughter Daisy, who is flying in from Paris having just won a major poetry prize. Embarrassed in front of his friends, Baxter lets Henry go on his way with a stunning punch to the chest, and Henry arrives at his squash game just a few minutes late. When he notices something strange about the leader of the three-a young man called Baxter, whose erratic behavior and jerky carriage suggest an early case of a devastating neurological disease-he suggests that he can help him. On the way to his weekly squash game, a glancing collision with an oncoming BMW in a narrow street causes minor damage on both sides, but the three young men from the other car threaten Henry with a robbery and a beating. An enormous peace march is under way to protest the impending invasion of Saddam Hussein's Iraq. Yet a lingering anxiety continues to disturb Henry's Saturday. They find, eventually, that the plane was piloted by innocent Russians and has landed safely. Unable to sleep, he goes down to the kitchen where his son Theo, a blues guitarist, is having a late supper. In the wake of the terrorist attacks on Manhattan, the sight brings to Henry's mind the most dreadful assumptions. Henry Perowne, a successful neurosurgeon, awakens in the dark early hours of a Saturday morning in February 2003 to see a jet crossing the London sky in a trail of fire.

The introduction, discussion questions, suggestions for further reading, and author biography that follow are intended to enhance your group's reading of Saturday, Ian McEwan's highly acclaimed novel of urban life in the aftermath of 9/11. Saturday by Ian McEwan: Reading Group Guide

Saturday ian mcewan review