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3.34 AVERAGE
3.34 AVERAGE
Most of what I wanted and expected. Least of what I thought it was. The best part? Comes full circle in helping me prove to myself that intelligent fiction is one the greatest forms of intelligence. Thank you Mr McEwan, again.
Not as entertaining as I expected but the ending is very clever!
Story kept me interested, but really it's the eloquent writing of McEwan that I love.
I spent the majority of this book waiting for something to happen. It felt like a lot of time was spent on fairly boring points, portrayed by a fairly boring main character. I'm glad I finished reading this book though, because the ending does provide a welcome twist!
For someone who likes both the spy genre and Ian McEwan books I thought I would definitely adore this. But I'm not sure what I'm walking away thinking. It was...okay? Didn't really fit the spy genre and none of the characters grew on me too much. But it was still a somewhat playful read.
It is the early 1970s Britain. There is industrial unrest, Ira bombings and the Cold War is still at its height. Serena Frome, the daughter of a bishop, is still at school; even though she has a love for literature and language, she has a talent for maths and is persuaded against her better judgement to read mathematics at Cambridge. Whilst there she has a brief but intense affair with Professor Tony Canning. He ends it abruptly after his wife finds out.
After graduating with a third, she is approached by MI5 to join them. Canning had recommended her for a position before they had split; it is low level, but secure. After a while she is presented with an opportunity to work on a operation called ‘Sweet Tooth’. The plan is too offer money to new writers with a anti communist skew, she has been picked because of her love of reading. Her contact will be Thomas Haley, a young writer with a promising talent. Posing as a representative of the Freedom International Foundation, she travels to Sussex to offer him a stipend to write. She falls for his writing first and then for him, as they embark on a passionate affair. He gains the confidence to start writing a dystopian novel, but the themes in it are not to MI5s liking, but will the critical acclaim for the book he gets reveal Serena’s deception
It is not a bad novel, and like most of McEwan’s I have read, it is well written. I thought it was going to be a spy novel, and there was a dusting of that genre in there, but it was a love story primarily. It does have a mix of betrayal, suspicion and complicated family backgrounds too, and a plot that writhes around, but for me it really didn’t have much depth to the story, and the ending was a little too neat. Rather than a sugary sweet tooth, it was more saccharin...
After graduating with a third, she is approached by MI5 to join them. Canning had recommended her for a position before they had split; it is low level, but secure. After a while she is presented with an opportunity to work on a operation called ‘Sweet Tooth’. The plan is too offer money to new writers with a anti communist skew, she has been picked because of her love of reading. Her contact will be Thomas Haley, a young writer with a promising talent. Posing as a representative of the Freedom International Foundation, she travels to Sussex to offer him a stipend to write. She falls for his writing first and then for him, as they embark on a passionate affair. He gains the confidence to start writing a dystopian novel, but the themes in it are not to MI5s liking, but will the critical acclaim for the book he gets reveal Serena’s deception
It is not a bad novel, and like most of McEwan’s I have read, it is well written. I thought it was going to be a spy novel, and there was a dusting of that genre in there, but it was a love story primarily. It does have a mix of betrayal, suspicion and complicated family backgrounds too, and a plot that writhes around, but for me it really didn’t have much depth to the story, and the ending was a little too neat. Rather than a sugary sweet tooth, it was more saccharin...
creepy. i mostly couldn't stand the main character, and i doubt that would have changed had i not had a hint as to where the end was going.
as a reader I felt as discarded and cheated as Serena upon the conclusive "trick."