"Sweet Tooth" is wonderfully thought provoking the kind of novel you just want to mull over for awhile before beginning anything else.Ĥ.5 stars. Apart from an almost (just a teensy bit) Poirot-like explanatory soliloquy, McEwan keeps his end of the bargain and then some. Thankfully, this book's author seems to truly like and respect his reader. Afraid of being manipulated or feeling tricked, I steeled myself for disappointing ending. Finally, the idea of "a contract between a book's author and its reader" is explored in various interesting ways. Cringe worthy only because I have a feeling we really do sound like that to the world. I especially enjoyed the way she voiced an American ex-CIA agent. Experienced actress Juliet Stevenson does a stellar job narrating. Interesting cameos by real life literati added fun and rang true: Martin Amis buys dejected author Healy a whisky, and Ian Hamilton offers words of wisdom to an agitated Serena. Some of the darkness in the story reminded me of John Fowles, as did the novel's unconventional structure.
McEwan's MI-5 was so evocative of "The Circus" that I almost expected Connie Sachs to lumber around the corner, god bless her.
As a slavish admirer of LeCarre (well, truth be told my passionate secret affair is really with George Smiley) I reveled in the scenes set at MI-5 headquarters. Healy, but luckily the ensuing story isn't formulaic or predictable.
Of course the romantically vulnerable Serena falls for her target, author T.C. Disenchanted with the mundane nature of the work, Serena quickly agrees to participate in a covert cultural program that funds young writers in an effort to win the "war of ideas" taking place in Cold War Europe. She describes her teen-age self as "the first person to truly understand Orwell's 1984." Recovering from an abrupt break-up, Serena throws herself into a low level job with MI-5. Set in 1970s London, "rather gorgeous" recent Cambridge grad Serena Frome tells her story with some self awareness and a wry sense of humor. Like McEwan's excellent book "Atonement," the author's pitch perfect prose unveils a multi-layered story that explores universal human themes of secrecy, loyalty, betrayal and identity. Sweet Tooth is a compelling, intriguing listen that grabs hold immediately from first sentence to last satisfying twist. Perfect Book for your Literary Sweet Tooth
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