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Sweet Tooth

by Ian McEwan
Sweet Tooth

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ISBN13: 9780385536820
ISBN10: 0385536828
Condition: Standard
DustJacket: Standard

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Awards

Staff Top 5s 2012 2012 Powell's Staff Top 5s

Staff Pick

Ian McEwan's Cold War-era spy tale is not what it appears to be. After suffering through a couple of bad love affairs, Serena, a beautiful 20-something university graduate, stumbles into a job with MI5 and is thrilled...until she realizes women only hold clerical positions. Still suffering the effects of a demoralizing breakup, she takes the job anyway. And soon, she does get an undercover assignment. "Sweet Tooth" is the code name for a loosely reasoned plan to financially back struggling artists by giving them a stipend and letting them produce art, with the proviso that the funding is coming from another source. (Having MI5 pay a writer to influence others seems too close to buying public opinion.) Serena's job is to give this welcoming news to a struggling writer, Tom Healey, who is trapped by the drudgery of a full-time job as a university professor. Yes, she falls for Tom, and yes, she keeps her identity and the source of his new funding from him. It seems clear where the novel will go, but I guess I was fooled once again by the amazing mind of Ian McEwan. His ability to crawl into a character and expose every flaw, rationalization, and weakness, yet at the same time expose her vulnerability and insecurity, is just flat-out astonishing. He doesn't tell the story so much as let you live inside it. His setting, his characters, and his tale feel as if they are your own, so perfectly do they dovetail with your world. After reading my eighth Ian McEwan novel, I'm convinced that he just gets better and better. The man is at the absolute top of his game. Ian McEwan is the greatest living writer. Recommended By Dianah H., Powells.com

Synopses & Reviews

Publisher Comments

In this stunning new novel, Ian McEwan’s first female protagonist since Atonement is about to learn that espionage is the ultimate seduction.

Cambridge student Serena Frome’s beauty and intelligence make her the ideal recruit for MI5. The year is 1972. The Cold War is far from over. England’s legendary intelligence agency is determined to manipulate the cultural conversation by funding writers whose politics align with those of the government. The operation is code named “Sweet Tooth.”

Serena, a compulsive reader of novels, is the perfect candidate to infiltrate the literary circle of a promising young writer named Tom Haley. At first, she loves his stories. Then she begins to love the man. How long can she conceal her undercover life? To answer that question, Serena must abandon the first rule of espionage: trust no one.

Once again, Ian McEwan’s mastery dazzles us in this superbly deft and witty story of betrayal and intrigue, love and the invented self.

Review

"A subtly and sweetly subversive novel [that is a] masterful manipulation of the relationship(s) between fiction and truth....Britain’s foremost living novelist has written a book as drily funny as it is thoughtful." Kirkus Reviews, starred review

Review

"A sublime novel about novels, about writing them and reading them and the spying that goes on in doing both....Rich and enjoyable." Financial Times

Review

"McEwan writes with his usual clinical precision, brilliantly evoking the London of dingy Camden flats, the three-day week and IRA atrocities. His assumption of a female persona is pitch-perfect." Daily Mail

Review

“McEwan is one of the most gifted literary storytellers alive.” James Wood, The New Republic

Review

“[McEwan’s] finely honed prose is a deep pleasure to experience.” Chicago Sun-Times

Review

“McEwan is in the first tier of novelists writing in English today....He has achieved a complete mastery of his craft.” The New York Observer

Synopsis

The incomparable Ian McEwan masterfully entwines espionage and love as only he can in a wickedly intriguing new novel.

The year is 1972. The Cold War has entered a moribund phase, but the fight against Communism goes on, especially in England's cultural circles.

Serena Frome, the beautiful daughter of an Anglican bishop, has just completed her maths degree at Cambridge. Her brief affair with one of her professors leads to an interview with MI5. Serena lands an assignment in Operation Sweet Tooth: the funding of artists and writers with whom MI5's political views align. Her "target" is Tom Healey, a promising young writer. First she falls in love with his stories, then she begins to fall in love with the man. When his novella wins a prestigious prize, the deceit becomes too much for Serena to bear. But before she can confess, her cover is blown, scandalizing the literary world and crippling MI5's efforts. Who blew the whistle and why? Ian McEwan will keep you guessing in this superbly deft and witty story of betrayal, intrigue, and love.


About the Author

IAN McEWAN is the bestselling author of fourteen books, including the novels Solar; On Chesil Beach; Saturday; Atonement, winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award and the W. H. Smith Literary Award; The Comfort of Strangers and Black Dogs, both shortlisted for the Booker Prize; Amsterdam, winner of the Booker Prize; and The Child in Time, winner of the Whitbread Award; as well as the story collections First Love, Last Rites, winner of the Somerset Maugham Award, and In Between the Sheets. He lives in England.

www.ianmcewan.com


4.7 12

What Our Readers Are Saying

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Average customer rating 4.7 (12 comments)

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ARB , April 13, 2014 (view all comments by ARB)
This is a story told by a former spy forty years after the fact, after all the deceptions and lies have been put to rest. Or have they? A young woman recruited to work as an MI5 agent during the '70s recounts her experiences as a hapless player in a project called Sweet Tooth. McEwan's descriptions of the secret services are sly and often funny. He tells stories within stories, and I found myself wondering how he could possibly wrap it up. When he did it was very amusing.

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techeditor , December 26, 2013 (view all comments by techeditor)
The one best word to describe SWEET TOOTH is "clever." Don't skip to the last chapter, but that one is the most clever of all. You'll realize by the end how clever all the chapters are, though. All eleven of the McEwan novels that I've read have taken their time, even when the book is short, which most of his are. Sometimes a reader may wonder if he's ever going to get to the point or if, maybe, he got to the point and the reader missed it. Usually it's the latter. Or, as in SWEET TOOTH, he gives clues to the point along the way that the reader may not realize are clues. Even if that is the case, the reader will probably recall them later. Then, BAM. How clever this is! McEwan may take his time, but few people can write like he does.

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Cynthia Francisco , January 30, 2013
McEwan's books are always a surprise, and this one no exception. I am a fan of spy thrillers and Sweet Tooth gives the genre an entirely new twist. It keeps you guessing until the end. Happy reading!

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jksquires , January 11, 2013 (view all comments by jksquires)
A friend sent this book as a Christmas gift, and as a longtime McEwan fan, I dove right in. This is simply the best McEwan book I've ever read, and that says a lot. I don't want to real a lot of the plot, because I don't want to deprive the potential reader of the delightful intricacies of it, so I'll just say it involves a young beautiful, and highly intelligent woman, the tail-end of the Cold War, and some of the best written love (and sex) scenes one can ever read. McEwan's ability to completely get inside the very souls' of his characters is true genius.

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heartofstingray , January 05, 2013 (view all comments by heartofstingray)
Ian McEwan has always been hit-or-miss for me. Sometimes he moves and enchants me, and others, his novels leave me cold. Sweet Tooth is easily one of my favorites of his, perhaps because I had no expectations of it. I was interested simply because of its pedigree and because I wanted to read 2012's notable fiction, and with no prior knowledge of its plot or genre, I was thrilled and captivated. McEwan is an author I have always associated with a masculine voice, even when writing from a female perspective, and I was pleasantly surprised by how deeply he captured the point of view of such an intelligent yet haughty, romantic yet realistic young woman. Serena might be my favorite female protagonist of recent years. Yes, she is idealized, beautiful and too smart and well-read for her own good, but she is also so distinctly realized, the novel is rather like a diary or a conversation, a succinct dialogue of one, full of hopes and fears and lessons learned. At times, the novel reminded me of John Le Carré's The Little Drummer Girl, but Serena has a greater sense of autonomy than the protagonist of that work. Unlike Le Carré's Charlie, McEwan's heroine has an authentic and challenging voice, and she becomes much more than a passive observer or pawn for MI5. And for avid readers, the kind who devour any and all written word, Serena rings far truer than the academic, dependent protagonist of Jeffrey Eugenides's The Marriage Plot. Sweet Tooth, despite its larger than life elements and nostalgic setting, is easily one of the most relatable books of the year.

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lynn.lampert , January 02, 2013
Still depressed that I finished reading Ian McEwan's latest masterpiece, Sweeth Tooth. It was such a great novel that I can't get it out of my mind after a week! My vote for the 2013 Puddly - adorded it! I will likely just have to read it again - such beautiful language and artful storytelling.

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Bookie Star , January 02, 2013 (view all comments by Bookie Star)
What I love about Ian McEwan's writing and especially in Sweet Tooth, is how he layers his writing with literary references that heighten the reader's understanding of the time period and deeper connection to his characters. Sweet Tooth takes place in Cold War 1970s when life was fraught with espionage and hidden enemies. In England Mi5 and Mi6 were recruiting young people from the best schools to do compromising work. Mcewan gives us one these people, Serena, a third at Cambridg, as his heroine and weaves a story of love, intrigue, betrayal and surprise. mcEwan always pulls the reader in with gorgeously crafted prose and forces us to think about the crazy world we live in , present and past.

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Bookie Star , January 02, 2013 (view all comments by Bookie Star)
What I love about Ian McEwan's writing and especially in Sweet Tooth, is how he layers his writing with literary references that heighten the reader's understanding of the time period and deeper connection to his characters.Sweet Tooth takes place in Cold War 1970s when life was fraught with espionage and hidden enemies. In England Mi5 and Mi6 were recruiting young people from the best schools to do compromising work. Mcewan gives us one these people, Serena, as his heroine and weaves a story of love, intrigue and surprise.

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KatDJ , January 01, 2013 (view all comments by KatDJ)
Fantastic book - McEwan does it again! Fantastic story, fascinating characters. Will keep you turning pages late into the night.

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EdwardHakim , December 24, 2012 (view all comments by EdwardHakim)
Ian McEwan is my favorite writer when it comes to style. There's something about the rhythm of his sentences that works for me. I thought he could write with aplomb in any genre until Solar came along and I found out McEwan definitely can't write satire. With Sweet Tooth, he's back on track. The novel isn't profound, but it is the most entertaining novel I've read this year by far.

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JohnLee , December 19, 2012 (view all comments by JohnLee)
Ian McEwan is an extraordinary author. His characterizations and his writing cadence are extraodinary. This book was really not what I expected. I was expecting a spy thriller book with earth-shattering and catastrophic segments. There is nothing life-threatening or dangerous about this book even though the element of surprise and the fear of the unexpected are both there for the reader. I have to admit that Serena Frome was probably one of the most unlikeable protagonists that I've ever read. She was very well portrayed and that is not why I didn't like her. She is just not a woman that I would be drawn to at all if I was to meet someone like her. She vacillates and can't seem to make a decision to save her life. She's insincere and a bit of a snob actually. She moves through her life and her main goal is to make no waves, stand for nothing and just drift. Having said that, I found the minor characters in the book were wonderful and very real. I especially liked Serena's sister and father. Although we don't see them much in the book, I found them very easy to picture and imagine. There's a lot about love, desire, deceit, creativity (in the form of the written word). Without giving away anything of the plot, there is even an evil character. A character that doesn't loom that large in the narrative, but one whose deception is actually behind the whole story. McEwan does such a good job of laying bare human deceptions and exposing all the cracks and breaks under the gloss of the human facade. It seems to come up and hit you as you read his books.

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Angelique Leone , September 21, 2012
Pre-order this book! I was lucky enough to read an advanced copy. It is such a great, enticing story. The main character's love of reading is magically weaved through the entire book; you even get to read the short stories she is reading (multiple plot lines for the price of one)! The backdrop of the early 70s, the Cold War that isn't as scary as other forces, changes in women's desires and careers, combined with beautifully flawed characters makes this for a more complex book than at first glance. McEwan doesn't disappoint!

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Product Details

ISBN:
9780385536820
Binding:
Hardcover
Publication date:
11/13/2012
Publisher:
PENGUIN RANDOM HOUSE
Pages:
320
Height:
1.40IN
Width:
6.60IN
Thickness:
1.25
Author:
Ian McEwan
Author:
Ian McEwan
Subject:
Popular Fiction-Technothrillers

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