sarahrussell 's review for:

Sweet Tooth by Ian McEwan

4.0

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In this, as with his other novels, his ability to let the story unfold is absolutely genius. The characters are written just right--sympathetic enough, compelling enough and just flawed enough. Their decisions, similarly, are always believable even when you wish they would choose are act differently. Although the look at MI5 and England of the 70s is well-done and an intriguing backdrop for the novel (and I think a little self-consciously made fun of when the main character talks about only liking books that describe a world she knows), the setting is not the story, which is in the end a love story. As always, McEwan's character studies are perfect and beautiful, his ability to parlay his research into balanced narrative is among the best and his insights into human nature are valuable.
Nothing will ever be as great as Atonement, but there are aspects of this story that are in stark contrast to Atonement and On Chesil Beach that I really appreciate (but would be spoilers to explain more here).