FEBRUARY READING: SWEET TOOTH by Ian McEwan

SWEET TOOTH by Ian McEwan

He had me at 'Amsterdam',  'Black Dogs' was pretty macabre, 'The Comfort of Strangers' downright scary, 'Enduring Love' ever so slightly creepy, 'Atonement' divine. Then this. So, yes, admittedly it has been some 11 years since 'Atonement' was published and he has published four novels since then, none of which I have read. My mistake perhaps.

What I loved about those earlier novels was the compactness and perfection of the writing: with the exception of 'Atonement' they are all short books. So much was said in so few words. 'Atonement' is longer than this novel, but an awful lot happened in that story over quite a long period of time, plus the story was told from the perspective of a number of different characters. It touched me. This novel - none of those things.

There is a huge amount on the net about the autobiographical bits and pieces in this story and the significance or otherwise of that, plus plenty of over-analysis of time and place and characters. But the upshot for me is that it is far too long - the main character, Serena Frome, drones on endlessly,I felt little or no engagement with any of the characters or with the story for that matter, and for the length of the book very little actually happens. In short, very disappointing.

I did love the setting however, and the author's writing of it. Set in London, early 1970s, middle of the Cold War, troubles with the unions, British Government in chaos, oil crisis, all sorts of trouble in Ireland, the author conveys the uncertainty and worry of the average Brit with the possibility of heating cuts, petrol rationing, where will the IRA strike next, job security, being overtaken by Communists. A wealth of material to write a novel about spies, espionage and double crossing. But 'Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy' it aint.

Serena is a most unlikely heroine. Smart and well educated without being brilliant, pretty without being stunningly beautiful, product of an Anglican bishop and closet-feminist mother, keen to get ahead in life, she is probably typical of many girls of her middle class upbringing at this time. She is young, so love and romance rank pretty highly in her small universe. She has an affair with a much older Cambridge professor, which leads her into working for the intelligence service. She finds herself as a pawn in the long game, code name 'Sweet Tooth', of MI5 nurturing the writing talent of an up and coming writer, Tom Haley. Naturally they fall in love, naturally the whole things unravels. End of story, and, a la McEwan, with a twist.

So not much more to be said really. Other than the writing of Serena's target Tom  Haley, which I thought was the best writing in the whole book - short stories within the novel. They are all the things those earlier novels of McEwan's are that I have read - touching on the dark side of human nature. Creepy, macabre, weird, brilliant. If only there was more of this in the book instead of all the rambling, introspective, precious thought processes of Serena's brain.