Sweet Tooth

By: Ian McEwan

Narrated by: Juliet Stevenson

Length: 12 hrs and 3 mins

Publisher's summary

Serena Frome, the beautiful daughter of an Anglican bishop, has a brief affair with an older man during her final year at Cambridge and finds herself being groomed for the intelligence services. The year is 1972. Britain, confronting economic disaster, is being torn apart by industrial unrest and terrorism and faces its fifth state of emergency. The Cold War has entered a moribund phase, but the fight goes on, especially in the cultural sphere.

Serena, a compulsive reader of novels, is sent on a ‘secret mission’ that brings her into the literary world of Tom Haley, a promising young writer. First she loves his stories; then she begins to love the man. Can she maintain the fiction of her undercover life? And who is inventing whom? To answer these questions, Serena must abandon the first rule of espionage – trust no one.

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

©2012 Ian McEwan (P)2012 Random House Audiobooks

Critic reviews

"Ian McEwan’s SWEET TOOTH is a joy, beautifully written, moving between love and betrayal, reality and shadows with a wonderful ease, breathing vivid life into the characters." ( Kati Nicholl, Express.co.uk)

A gripping cold war spy romance

Would you consider the audio edition of Sweet Tooth to be better than the print version?

Definitely. I have already recommended it to several friends.

Who was your favorite character and why?

Serena's character was very well portrayed as I could relate to how women were treated in the seventies. I was amazed that a male could write so well from a woman's point of view.

Which scene was your favorite?

The final scene in which Serena sits down and reads the letter.

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

Serena's reaction in the final meeting with her superiors - great character descriptions and portrayal of emotions.

Any additional comments?

This is definitely Ian McEwan's best novel. Many modern writers create insipid, extraneous characters to offset the villains from a particular country or ethnicity in order to accommodate our politically correct world, but it rarely works for me. Fortunately, McEwan hasn't succumbed to this yet.

McEwan Back On Form

If you’ve listened to books by Ian McEwan before, how does this one compare?

Certainly an absorbing story imbued with period verisimilitude, even some clever twists. However, only a male writer (and dare I say a baby-boomer-age one at that) would write such cringe-inducingly bad sex scenes from the P.O.V. of a young woman. If you could edit those eye-rollingly self-indulgent paragraphs out I'd give it a higher rating. Seriously though McEwan seems to have finished exploring the "privileged middle aged professionals meet at funeral and have angst-ey love triangle" genre and finally got inspired again with something halfway decent.

What about Juliet Stevenson’s performance did you like?

I'm still undecided whether it was the perfect brilliance of Stevenson's reading that made the story so refreshingly interesting, or indeed the book itself. All I know for sure is that I certainly would not have read the printed version, let alone bought it as I've been so put off McEwan for so long now. The choice of Juliet Stevenson certainly sold this to me so well done clever producers.

Word perfect.

What did you love best about Sweet Tooth?

I loved the narrative voice. The author describes his characters so clearly that you can picture every wrinkle and every pore. His descriptions of London and life within MI5 seemed very real. I wanted to be in that world visiting pubs, strolling around London and the Brighton seafront.

What did you like best about this story?

I loved the intrigue and the fact that the ending surprised me. The heroine is being deceitful but I could imagine making the same choices. To me, it was word perfect. No words were wasted and every one was needed. The letter ending the book is just the most beautiful piece of prose.

Have you listened to any of Juliet Stevenson’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

No. I want to hear more of her audiobooks.

Who was the most memorable character of Sweet Tooth and why?

Max. He is not in the story that much but you can feel his influence and presence throughout.

Any additional comments?

One of the best books I have read in a long time. Only books like Cutting for Stone or The Secret History come close to such evocative descriptions and compelling characters.

Briliant, unputdownable, and marvellous narration.

Don't miss this one! probably the best of Ian M. Juliet S, as usual, superb.

Story about a public servant.yawn

This book wasn’t for you, but who do you think might enjoy it more?

Not a title I would recommend. For spy fans there is no mystery or espionage. Would recommend if you like books with no drama, intrigue.

What could Ian McEwan have done to make this a more enjoyable book for you?

Add some drama, add some colour to this grey and drab story. Because the rest of the story was so nondescript, he could have added more believable lovers for this supposedly beautiful woman. Old, gay and physically unattractive seemed to be her preferred choice. The story was OK - but a bit Margaret Drabble like (who by the way I finding boring)

What three words best describe Juliet Stevenson’s performance?

Hard to judge with the material she had to work with- yawn.

If you could play editor, what scene or scenes would you have cut from Sweet Tooth?

I really could not get into this story, I did try, really I did, but I would have vetoed the whole book when it first hit my editors desk.

Any additional comments?

Sometimes it is not about the destination but the journey, this book unfortunately didn't leave the station, you sit on board waiting for the train to move and it never starts. It is hard for me to find a book or genre that I can't get into, but this book despite the good reviews was one I could not get my Sweet Tooth into.

Don't judge the Book by its Cover!

The cover promises a novel of excitement and intrigue but the whole thing was as grey as the depressing London streets McEwan kept going on about. The whole concept seemed far fetched and sketchy at best (a great waste of tax payers dollars if you ask me). Serena was incredibly boring and wishy washy, by the end of the book I grew to hate her and wished that the twist I was waiting for was that someone would shoot her.I love Juliet Stevenson but even her great talent couldn't make Serena interesting. Don't waste a credit.

DON'T BOTHER!

What would have made Sweet Tooth better?

OMG the story was tedious and boring! It felt like it was not going anywhere and even the end wasn't exciting.

What was most disappointing about Ian McEwan’s story?

The whole story was disappointing..

What character would you cut from Sweet Tooth?

All of them! it was so long and boring!

What's the story??

What disappointed you about Sweet Tooth?

There is no real story, no excitement, just boring...
I found it hard to finish the book and would not recommend it. Absolutely boring!

Wait to the end?!

If it wasn't an Ian McEwan book, I would never have finished reading. It's a tidies, uninteresting story, that moves slowly and uncharmigly through the motions of an annoying, grey, 3rd grade secratery in MI5 (don't late the name of the organization fool you - it's still boring) and her contact with a new novelist (more interesting character, but very shelowly explored). The whole thing feels almost as if McEwan wants to create a frame for some short stories, which are probably the only great thing in the book.
Just because I know McEwan, I knew there will be a twist at the end, and curious to know what he has come up this time, I hang in there. We'll let me tell you that: the finale is also disappointing.
If you are a great McEwan fan like me, you will forgive him for this book, but I really think it's not worth spending any time on it.

Pretentious nonsense

Not one of McEwan's best. Self indulgent and tedious. Unlikeable and improbable characters working their way through a banal plot. Narrator, however was excellent.