Take a photo of a barcode or cover
3.34 AVERAGE
3.34 AVERAGE
As a McEwan fan, this one is not at the top of the list, but still a compelling read.
When I was first finished the book I was annoyed at the ending but after thinking about it - I went back and reread the first 2 pages. Not the disappointing ending I originally thought. Juliet Stevenson is a wonderful narrator for the audible version!
I'm torn. I've literally just finished Sweet Tooth and I'm not sure if I really liked this book or if I just liked it. Why can't I give Sweet Tooth a 3.5 star rating? Hm, you know what? I'm going to give this novel a 4 star rating, and why you might ask, because I enjoyed reading about the relationships Serena had. I do have one criticism, and that is I didn't enjoy reading all of the ‘Cliffsnotes’ on the stories Serena Frome was reading, but other than that I quite enjoyed Sweet Tooth.
This was so much better than the reviews led me to think it would be. Tricky and fun, which I didn't expect from McEwan.
minder dan wat ik tot nu toe van hem gelezen heb (Zaterdag, Boetekleed, Zwarte Honden), maar het is Ian McEwan; de man kan zo goed schrijven..
3.5 stars. Throughout the entire novel I was trying to decide if I liked Serena or not, and I still haven't come to a conclusion. This book felt a bit like a chore to read. The last chapter was fantastic, though, and not just because it meant I was almost done with the book.
It’s hard to put into words how best to describe my reaction to Sweet Tooth. The best place to start is at the beginning, the introduction of Serena Frome (rhymes with plume) was interesting and a great introduction to the book. However that’s where I have to draw the line, the book starts to turn into a spitting out of facts for me which in all honesty I didn’t understand.
McEwan weaves a rather spastic tapestry in my view. I will not say that it wasn’t written well or unprofessionally. McEwan has a way with words that I will say drew me in at times. The “sudden” additions of short stories by a character introduced halfway through the book I found to be slightly misleading if not boring and confusing. Serena had to be engrossed to fall in love with Tom. I understand that, but was it necessary to drag the reader in with her? We weren’t meant to fall in love with him she was.
Character development I thought was strong; we get a good sense of Serena and her upbringing early on. Her decisions are interesting from her secret affair with Tony to her “pursuit” of Max to her eventual infatuation with Tom. Shirley was a cute character who I suppose was to be Serena’s foil. A strong opinionated girl who constantly wrote in a little notebook until her eventual sacking gets her to leave and live her dream of being a writer.
Tom was another person that I thought was developed well if not a tiny bit over Serena. It’s only later that I found out that he shares quite a few traits with McEwan. Suddenly my feelings become much more opinionated. Many people have said that Dan Brown tries to make his titular character of Robert Langdon to share many of his traits, and that maybe in reality he wishes himself to share these adventures with smart sexy women.
Can I accuse another man of doing the same? Why not, could it be that McEwan wanted this sort of adventure for himself? Doesn’t everyone? To sidestep my line of thinking that he is a sad old man, I finally just concentrated on the final chapter of the book: a well written letter by a man who had stumbled into the truth with the help of a whiny emasculated man, in the form of Max.
Oh Max, the only way you could breach the arranged marriage your mommy and daddy made for you was to get drunk and blame it on another woman. The whole “wanting what you can’t have” bit worked well for this. It made perfect sense to make him the leak, considering he was the “injured” party of the situation. It made him all the more bitchy and pathetic. I wish I could know what happened to him in the end. Did he get sacked? Did I miss that part of the story? Also the dialogue between Serena and the heads of Sweet Tooth was perfect, the ideology of that time frame in terms of their opinion of women taking a larger role in MI5 was well written.
Back to the letter, which explained away much of my frustration and annoyance, but at the same time added to it. If the letter was to show us that Tom was the actual narrator in the guise of Serena, then readers of his previous novel Atonement might be a little insulted by the same trick being pulled twice. If I’m to be perfectly honest, I was insulted and this is my first McEwan novel. The additions of the short stories had me believe that Tom was a little egotistical, as well as adding the debriefings where the information sort of dragged. I didn’t find it interesting, or necessary.
I’m the kind of reader that is comfortable walking out of his comfort zone to see what he is missing in the literary world. I was beginning to get as bored as Serena, to the point where I just began to skip paragraphs all together. A habit I thought I kicked back in middle school.
By the end I found myself hating most of the characters with the exception of the ones we met in the first chapter. I felt that Serena may have been screwed the minute that whole towel situation was happening with her first college boyfriend.
Did I hate it? No. Did I like it? No. Am I confused and somewhere in the middle? Yes, very much. I have a tendency of removing books I don’t like from my bookshelf and shipping them off to Amazon. So why can’t I part from this book? Is there an unspoken connection that I have to it? Can it be discovered and discerned within this review? Doubt it, I’ve decided to keep it for a while and return to it once a proper time has passed.
The verdict: I give it a three out of five. Why? Because even though I give it a lot of humming and hawing I consider it to be well written. The story has an interesting premise and it could work if certain things were ignored. The “twist” was stale, no ah-ha moment behind it. Unfortunate but true, Sweet Tooth is readable but for me not a great page turner.
McEwan weaves a rather spastic tapestry in my view. I will not say that it wasn’t written well or unprofessionally. McEwan has a way with words that I will say drew me in at times. The “sudden” additions of short stories by a character introduced halfway through the book I found to be slightly misleading if not boring and confusing. Serena had to be engrossed to fall in love with Tom. I understand that, but was it necessary to drag the reader in with her? We weren’t meant to fall in love with him she was.
Character development I thought was strong; we get a good sense of Serena and her upbringing early on. Her decisions are interesting from her secret affair with Tony to her “pursuit” of Max to her eventual infatuation with Tom. Shirley was a cute character who I suppose was to be Serena’s foil. A strong opinionated girl who constantly wrote in a little notebook until her eventual sacking gets her to leave and live her dream of being a writer.
Tom was another person that I thought was developed well if not a tiny bit over Serena. It’s only later that I found out that he shares quite a few traits with McEwan. Suddenly my feelings become much more opinionated. Many people have said that Dan Brown tries to make his titular character of Robert Langdon to share many of his traits, and that maybe in reality he wishes himself to share these adventures with smart sexy women.
Can I accuse another man of doing the same? Why not, could it be that McEwan wanted this sort of adventure for himself? Doesn’t everyone? To sidestep my line of thinking that he is a sad old man, I finally just concentrated on the final chapter of the book: a well written letter by a man who had stumbled into the truth with the help of a whiny emasculated man, in the form of Max.
Oh Max, the only way you could breach the arranged marriage your mommy and daddy made for you was to get drunk and blame it on another woman. The whole “wanting what you can’t have” bit worked well for this. It made perfect sense to make him the leak, considering he was the “injured” party of the situation. It made him all the more bitchy and pathetic. I wish I could know what happened to him in the end. Did he get sacked? Did I miss that part of the story? Also the dialogue between Serena and the heads of Sweet Tooth was perfect, the ideology of that time frame in terms of their opinion of women taking a larger role in MI5 was well written.
Back to the letter, which explained away much of my frustration and annoyance, but at the same time added to it. If the letter was to show us that Tom was the actual narrator in the guise of Serena, then readers of his previous novel Atonement might be a little insulted by the same trick being pulled twice. If I’m to be perfectly honest, I was insulted and this is my first McEwan novel. The additions of the short stories had me believe that Tom was a little egotistical, as well as adding the debriefings where the information sort of dragged. I didn’t find it interesting, or necessary.
I’m the kind of reader that is comfortable walking out of his comfort zone to see what he is missing in the literary world. I was beginning to get as bored as Serena, to the point where I just began to skip paragraphs all together. A habit I thought I kicked back in middle school.
By the end I found myself hating most of the characters with the exception of the ones we met in the first chapter. I felt that Serena may have been screwed the minute that whole towel situation was happening with her first college boyfriend.
Did I hate it? No. Did I like it? No. Am I confused and somewhere in the middle? Yes, very much. I have a tendency of removing books I don’t like from my bookshelf and shipping them off to Amazon. So why can’t I part from this book? Is there an unspoken connection that I have to it? Can it be discovered and discerned within this review? Doubt it, I’ve decided to keep it for a while and return to it once a proper time has passed.
The verdict: I give it a three out of five. Why? Because even though I give it a lot of humming and hawing I consider it to be well written. The story has an interesting premise and it could work if certain things were ignored. The “twist” was stale, no ah-ha moment behind it. Unfortunate but true, Sweet Tooth is readable but for me not a great page turner.
McEwan remains one of my favorites, and I enjoyed this one.
Not his worst (see Solar), and not his best (see Atonement, Black Dogs, Saturday), but a middling entry into the library.
Not his worst (see Solar), and not his best (see Atonement, Black Dogs, Saturday), but a middling entry into the library.
I'm ashamed to say that this is my first Ian McEwan book, but pleased to say it won't be my last.
I adored it, so much so that the reasons I couldn't put it down feel far too complicated to write down. I feel like starting to describe what I loved about the book would just be an endless essay. I have another book waiting so no time for that!
I was told that the leading lady, Serena, came across as annoying. But I didn't find that to be the case at all. I loved the brief history of her early years and the way her character developed through her decisions and demeanour, not through laboured adjectives and examples. I found myself rooting for her.
What a skill the author has for inserting books into books, and making it seamless and relevant.
The story was complete, no lingering in pointless prose but enough detail to carry everything through. It was so well written I feel like my review should be some sort of masterpiece. Quite honestly, don't even read what I've written, just pick up the book.
There's romance, deception, intrigue, intellect and termoil.
Just read it.
I adored it, so much so that the reasons I couldn't put it down feel far too complicated to write down. I feel like starting to describe what I loved about the book would just be an endless essay. I have another book waiting so no time for that!
I was told that the leading lady, Serena, came across as annoying. But I didn't find that to be the case at all. I loved the brief history of her early years and the way her character developed through her decisions and demeanour, not through laboured adjectives and examples. I found myself rooting for her.
What a skill the author has for inserting books into books, and making it seamless and relevant.
The story was complete, no lingering in pointless prose but enough detail to carry everything through. It was so well written I feel like my review should be some sort of masterpiece. Quite honestly, don't even read what I've written, just pick up the book.
There's romance, deception, intrigue, intellect and termoil.
Just read it.