Half a Weekend

Life and death all in a day. I will be reading more by this author. Thanks Ian I was transported.

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Good book. Good Narrator

Liked but not loved. Good book. OK narrator. I've had better. Humphrey Bower who reads Bryce Courtenay books is much better. Actors can do accents and voices better.

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Beautifully written

But disjointed - there were so many very long ‘capillaries’ to this story regarding the personalities and lives of his family - and I kept wanting him to get back to what the actual plot was which was really pretty lame. The descriptions of for example a squash game was brilliant but unbelievably long and frustrating.

I sought this out like many readers I suspect who had been operated on by Neil Kitchen on whom the writer shadowed for research. But I struggled to finish it.

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Not a story but a diary

Not my kind of story. But I thought the narrative was excellent.
A bit boring but the ideas and thoughts of one man. On a Saturday that culminates in an event.

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Superb writing

Read this last year. Just listened to this faithful reading. It is equally good . Great thriller .

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Marvellous

I can't remember when i last enjoyed a novel as much. It seems churlish to complain about part of the performance. The sloppy portrayal of all the black characters with a shameless impersonation of Jim Davidson in 1977 was piss poor. A Guyanese Doctor, a black British teenager or two security guards would not all sound like Chalky. Get a grip FFS

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Goes nowhere but a thoroughly enjoyable listen

As with much of the other reviews, I will note that this book doesn’t have much of a plot and doesn’t really go anywhere. It follows a man’s day from start to finish, expanding on various aspects of his day with anecdotes and thoughts back into the past. It is a pleasurable listen whilst doing something such as cleaning as it doesn’t require too much concentration. That said, the detail with which particular elements of the story are described is good. Overall a very decent listen and glad I decided to give it a go after being hesitant initially

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Yay. A McEwan protagonist who isn't a bastard!

Ian McEwan is one of my favourite writers but if I have a difficulty it's with the fact that he usually puts me in the company of horrible people, drawn in sickeningly believable detail. Those books are fascinating and exciting but what a pleasure it was to spend a day inside the head of a decent man. Henry Perowne is not a saint. Just mostly considerate, warm and loving. But most importantly, he's lucky and that very particular kind of lucky man who also has the good luck to be of grateful temperament. Someone who keeps savouring small routine pleasures.

It's almost like a kind of therapy, an exemplar for living gratefully while keeping it grounded and believable. Perowne is not walking around in constant bliss. Bad things happen and sometimes his mood has big dips without him being sure of why.

Quite apart from the rich textures of ideas on the political and experiential questions about what western middle class life is, it's simply a pleasure to be given a course in how to simply experience contentedness.

It is true that such a lucky, affluent man has much reason to be content but so many of McEwan's richer, more famous protagonists are inwardly wretched. And a theme of the book is Perowne continually reflecting on how easily he could have been in someone else's less fortunate position.

It becomes clear that a certain amount of comfort and love in one's life is important to be content but the things he loves the most are largely quite ordinary.

I expect I'll come back to this book when I need to be reminded that I don't need anything more than what I already have.

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1 person found this helpful

Wonderful

Brilliant written and thought provoking with back drop of Iraqi war. An amazing insight into the work of a neurologist.

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Update

Any additional comments?

Rather than slate this book and it's story, let me tell you where I am with it, and you can make your own mind up.

So I am four hours into the book. The story is set in London, depicting a Saturday as experienced by a successful neurosurgeon, Henry. So far, in four hours, Henry has woken up from his bed in a weird dream like state, good downstairs for a drink of milk and had a chat with his teenage son, who also can't sleep. He was also staring out the window when he saw an aeroplane on fire heading for the runway. He wasn't seen anything on the news as yet.

He's made love to his wife. He is excited about his daughter coming to visit from Paris where she now lives. She likes literature and forces him to read more.

He left the house to go to work where he has just crashed his BMW into another motorist who was driving a BMW series 5...

...and thats it. I've decided not to listen to any more because the fact I am four hours into this book and so little has happened is enough for me to give up.

So there you have it. Love or hate this review; I have given you the facts. Ian Mckewan spent two years shadowing Mr kitchen, a brain surgeon (who operated on my mother in law's tumour) in London in order for him to be able to write this book. It was because of this that I wanted to give it a go.

Decide for yourself what you wish to do!

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6 people found this helpful