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3.34 AVERAGE
3.34 AVERAGE
Since this is McEwan, we know the story will not be straightforward, and again he presents us with a great example of an unreliable narrator and a foray into metafiction. We also get a light evocation of England during a difficult period of miners’ strikes, economic and political instability, IRA bombings, and the dawning hippy and drug cultures. Although by no means a Cold War spy thriller, the novel provides plenty of plot twists.
See my complete review here:
http://whatmeread.wordpress.com/tag/sweet-tooth/
See my complete review here:
http://whatmeread.wordpress.com/tag/sweet-tooth/
The ending of this book was exceptional. Very smartly written!
feels like McEwan's lost his magic here, but then again the weak writing has a purpose, to foreground Haley's own literary flair. the ending is pretty good, though you'll have to endure a plot that reveals itself in slow bursts to get to it
Brilliant. But there are some long draggy parts. In retrospect, most of the information seems necessary, but not engrossing. Had it been, I'd probably have given the book five stars.
I really enjoyed the first section — the part about Serena's background and her affair with Tony Canning — which had been published in The New Yorker in April, 2012 as the short story, "Hand on the Shoulder." McEwan discusses that story in the magazine's "This Week in Fiction."
My interest flagged a bit after that. From there through at least the middle of the book. I didn't always enjoy reading Tom's short stories (they felt tangential — though were more clever than I acknowledged at the time). I subsequently learned that some of the fictional Tom Haley's short stories are recognizable versions of some of McEwan's from the same decade.
Also, the setting of the story involves the military and cultural cold wars of the 1050s through 1970s (?), about which I know little. And I know nothing of the British security services: M15 and M16. I was never sure, while reading, what was true or possibly true (all, I suppose), or part of the fiction. Apparently, secret service agencies (including the CIA) did spend millions on promoting certain arts deemed politically useful.
But soon after the halfway point, the story picked up. I began to be more interested in the characters. Especially Serena, though. She's believable, at turns clever and clueless. Sometimes it seems she's her own worst enemy; at others, there seems to be no way she could have behaved otherwise. By the last third, I was totally engrossed and finished the book saying, effing brilliant. The writing is superb. Controlled. Elegant. Many times, I felt I should slow down, just enjoy the craft here, instead of racing on for the sake of the story.New York Times reviewer Kurt Andersen wrote that Sweet Tooth "is extremely clever in both the British and American senses (smart as well as amusingly tricky) and his most cheerful book by far." I totally agree!
I really enjoyed the first section — the part about Serena's background and her affair with Tony Canning — which had been published in The New Yorker in April, 2012 as the short story, "Hand on the Shoulder." McEwan discusses that story in the magazine's "This Week in Fiction."
My interest flagged a bit after that. From there through at least the middle of the book. I didn't always enjoy reading Tom's short stories (they felt tangential — though were more clever than I acknowledged at the time). I subsequently learned that some of the fictional Tom Haley's short stories are recognizable versions of some of McEwan's from the same decade.
Also, the setting of the story involves the military and cultural cold wars of the 1050s through 1970s (?), about which I know little. And I know nothing of the British security services: M15 and M16. I was never sure, while reading, what was true or possibly true (all, I suppose), or part of the fiction. Apparently, secret service agencies (including the CIA) did spend millions on promoting certain arts deemed politically useful.
But soon after the halfway point, the story picked up. I began to be more interested in the characters. Especially Serena, though. She's believable, at turns clever and clueless. Sometimes it seems she's her own worst enemy; at others, there seems to be no way she could have behaved otherwise. By the last third, I was totally engrossed and finished the book saying, effing brilliant. The writing is superb. Controlled. Elegant. Many times, I felt I should slow down, just enjoy the craft here, instead of racing on for the sake of the story.New York Times reviewer Kurt Andersen wrote that Sweet Tooth "is extremely clever in both the British and American senses (smart as well as amusingly tricky) and his most cheerful book by far." I totally agree!
Hmm... I can't get around the fact that I found Serena Frome irritating and lacking in any sort of presence except when there was a man around. The ending redeemed the book, but only slightly. I guess I'm still thinking of the book several days later (but still irritated with Serena).
I find anything Ian McEwan writes to be compulsively readable, despite whether I really like the story or not, i.e. Solar, his last novel. Sweet Tooth is miles better. The ending reminded me a lot of Antonement's, but it's different enough to be just as surprising. McEwan fans should enjoy this one.
In this one Ian McEwan writes of a "very pretty" woman who ends up working for MI5 in early '70s London. For some reason that I have yet to figure out (it's happened a few other times) I just couldn't put this book down.
I wouldn't say it's plot-driven and it's not the minutiae-laden introspective that one gets with character-driven pieces. I would say it's good. I just want to keep reading...the prose is so smooth, tempered, and paced that my eyes and my mind keep moving through the book like water as if they were a sail to which my body-boat was attached.
Good and interesting meta-effect to be sure. While I was caught COMPLETELY off-guard by Atonement it won't happen again. Like M. Night Shylaman, the impact of your tools are diminished once people begin to expect it.
Strongly recommended for anyone who likes good writing, spies, or mysteries. I wouldn't say it's a thriller but I could understand why some may call it that.
A 9/10 on my personal scale.
-tpl
I wouldn't say it's plot-driven and it's not the minutiae-laden introspective that one gets with character-driven pieces. I would say it's good. I just want to keep reading...the prose is so smooth, tempered, and paced that my eyes and my mind keep moving through the book like water as if they were a sail to which my body-boat was attached.
Good and interesting meta-effect to be sure. While I was caught COMPLETELY off-guard by Atonement it won't happen again. Like M. Night Shylaman, the impact of your tools are diminished once people begin to expect it.
Strongly recommended for anyone who likes good writing, spies, or mysteries. I wouldn't say it's a thriller but I could understand why some may call it that.
A 9/10 on my personal scale.
-tpl
In the style of Le Carre & Fleming, yet very much his own, this is an easy and enjoyable read.
Ian McEwan's new novel is the story of an MI5 agent in the seventies who is part of a group trying to find and secretly fund writers. Serena was good at math in school, which caused her mother to push for her to apply to study math at Cambridge, rather than literature somewhere less exalted, as Serena would have preferred. Along the way, she has a relationship with a professor, which leads her to applying for and getting a job in the secret service. To her disappointment, women at that time were only allowed to be glorified secretaries and, in one memorable instance, cleaning women. Although Serena is less bothered by this state of affairs than her closest colleague, she's nonetheless pleased when she is given a small promotion and sent to offer a stipend to a new writer.
The setting is fantastic. The Cold War was underway and the fabric of British society was fraying, with strikes and shortages lending an air of doom to everyday life. MI5 was competing with MI6, and both were eager to impress the CIA. Intellectual life favored the left, some of whom were allegedly funded by the Soviets, so the idea that funding writers who would be sympathetic to the right seemed perfectly reasonable.
Serena is a true believer in the dangers of communism and finds her work to be of value. Handed Haley's short stories in preparation to her visiting him, she's intrigued by his writing and attracted to him because of that when they do meet. There's a bit of distance built into the story, which is framed as having been written years after the events described, but the actions and feelings of the people involved benefit from the remove. I enjoyed this book, both for its descriptions of time and place and for the themes of the relationship between writer and reader and for the sheer unreliability of a writer's compliance to coercion.
The setting is fantastic. The Cold War was underway and the fabric of British society was fraying, with strikes and shortages lending an air of doom to everyday life. MI5 was competing with MI6, and both were eager to impress the CIA. Intellectual life favored the left, some of whom were allegedly funded by the Soviets, so the idea that funding writers who would be sympathetic to the right seemed perfectly reasonable.
Serena is a true believer in the dangers of communism and finds her work to be of value. Handed Haley's short stories in preparation to her visiting him, she's intrigued by his writing and attracted to him because of that when they do meet. There's a bit of distance built into the story, which is framed as having been written years after the events described, but the actions and feelings of the people involved benefit from the remove. I enjoyed this book, both for its descriptions of time and place and for the themes of the relationship between writer and reader and for the sheer unreliability of a writer's compliance to coercion.
The narration of the audio book by Juliet Stevenson was perfect for this excellent book.