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toniclark 's review for:
Sweet Tooth
by Ian McEwan
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!