Saturday Night [Hardcover]

Susan Orlean (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 21, 1990

Twenty years ago, before she wrote The Orchid Thief or was hailed as “a national treasure” by The Washington Post, Susan Orlean was a journalist with a question: What makes Saturday night so special? To answer it, she embarked on a remarkable journey across the country and spent the evening with all sorts of people in all sorts of places—hipsters in Los Angeles, car cruisers in small-town Indiana, coeds in Boston, the homeless in New York, a lounge band in Portland, quinceañera revelers in Phoenix, and more—to chronicle the one night of the week when we do the things we want to do rather than the things we need to do. The result is an irresistible portrait of how Saturday night in America is lived that remains.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Tight, clean prose and thoughtful observations make this series of essays about the Saturday night experience hum with all the vitality and activity of its subject. Freelance writer Orlean demonstrates a fine eye for detail as she describes an array of Saturday night activities: partying, watching television, geriatric polka dancing, working in a missile silo or simply cruising the streets. She explores the mystique that has grown up around Saturday night, the one night that allows significant variety and opportunity for socialization. Also examined is the seemingly random violence that occurs more often on Saturday night than at any other time. But whether discussing the social etymology of the phrase "Saturday Night Special" or the tribulations of arriving after 9 p.m. at the video store, which earlier "would probably still have some color movies available," the book reveals much about ourselves. First serial to the New Yorker, Spy, New England Monthly, Washington Post, Boston Globe and the New York Times.
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

Held in almost reverential awe by many, Saturday night is an American icon, important to our culture and perhaps necessary to our psychological make-up, according to journalist Orlean. Traveling the country to find out what people do on Saturday night to make it so special, she attended a coming-of-age celebration for Hispanic girls in Phoenix known as a quinceanera ; a polka dance at Blob's Park in Jessup, Maryland; a snobbish New York socialite's dinner party; and a host of other activities each more fascinating than the last. Nonjudgmental, nearly as fun to read as the occurrences it describes, this fascinating book is also a powerful, incisive tract mapping out heretofore unexplored sociological terrain. An excellent addition to popular reading and sociology collections.
-Mark Annichiarico, "Library Journal"
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 258 pages
• Publisher: Knopf; 1st edition (April 21, 1990)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0394573366
• ISBN-13: 978-0394573366
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.9 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,469,840 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good work of Journalism, Literature, December 14, 2000

By 

edbank "edouglasb" (Boston, MA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Saturday Night (Hardcover)

Susan Orlean is a master of taking the would-be normal, humdrum existence of your average person and elevating that person into a character that is both memorable and worth reading. She did it in the Orchid Thief and she does it in Saturday Night, a book composed of chapters each dedicated to how different people spend their average Saturday night. Among the selections are people cruising Main Street, going to dinner, dancing, college students partying and folks staying home. This book explores the history of Saturday night as "the" night that people look forward to and Orlean offers her own take on it. If anything, the book hinges on the reader's curiosity about what others are doing on any given weekend evening. If you're not curious, or not willing to sit through other people's seemingly routine experiences, this book may not be for you. If you are at all curious about the world around you, and what people do to blow off steam, buy this book today.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Exquisite Voyeurism: An eloquent glance into a common night, May 28, 1999

By 

[e-mail] (Napa, CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Saturday Night (Hardcover)

Susan Orlean invites us into the brief lives of numerous citizens who are experiencing their typical Saturday nights. One will learn about the history of the weekend, experience rituals and enjoy the company of many interesting individuals. She writes with a comfortable energy and the reader will certainly contemplate the weekend with a new reverence. Visit cruisers, diners, dieters and polka dancers. Understand their fascinations, their lonliness, their time to relax, their time to look forward to bestial pursuits. I really enjyed this book and her style is accessible and refreshing.

3.0 out of 5 stars Saturday Night, March 22, 2008

By 

pia (CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Saturday Night (Hardcover)

Susan Orlean's, Saturday Night is a glance into the lives of any average American on Saturday nights. Within a few years of research, Orlean explores a variety of nightly activities, including visits to fraternity parties, polka dancers, dieting clubs, etc. Orlean has excellent writing techniques that seem to draw in readers, regardless of age. Orlean also tends to research thoroughly, writing about every age group, from the high school crowd, all the way up to people in their senior years. The book fulfills its goal in touching almost every group of Americans and leaves the reader satisfied.