Saturday by Ian McEwan
And so it is that questions are forgotten.
Today I finished reading Saturday by Ian McEwan and three parts in particular caught my eye as I read this excellent novel.
"...moments of precise reckoning are rare in real life; questions of misinterpretation are not often resolved. Nor do they remain pressingly unresolved. They simply fade. People don't remember clearly, or they die, or the questions die and new ones take their place" (page 159).
I have found myself fascinated with themes like this throughout my life (Lapse, Lagging Memory, Memories Instead); the notion that memories and understanding, even those of great import, fade with disuse, weaken with time. The ebb and flow of the everyday wear thin the larger questions, distract us from their resolution. And so it is that questions are forgotten.
"It's a condition of the times, this compulsion to hear how it stands with the world, and be joined to the generality, to a community of anxiety" (Speaking of a compulsive need to listen to the news media following a near tragedy, page 180).
This strikes me as unequivocally true. We're becoming more and more reflexively aware of our collective cultural paranoia via the media, but the harbinger of bad news is still strangely coddled, nursed even, with a morose curiosity and primal interest in something real, something visceral. We're anxiously awaiting disaster. Disgusted and thrilled to be collectively focused on something in common. Tragedy has become our community.
"When there are no consequences, being wrong is simply an interesting diversion" (page 198).
A point, I thought, well put.
I'll not do the book injustice by attempting to summarize, analyze or further comment upon its many themes, but the above quotes should lead you toward a sense of whether or not it would appeal to you. Suffice it to say that this is the first McEwan book I have read, and I am looking forward to reading more.