He doesn't tell the story so much as let you live inside it. 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. It seems clear where the novel will go, but I guess I was fooled once again by the amazing mind of Ian McEwan. Yes, she falls for Tom, and yes, she keeps her identity and the source of his new funding from him. (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. "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. And soon, she does get an undercover assignment. Still suffering the effects of a demoralizing breakup, she takes the job anyway. 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. Ian McEwan's Cold War-era spy tale is not what it appears to be.
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