McEwan's Sweet Tooth

                                               What's on my night table...

This is English author, Ian McEwan's latest novel, Sweet Tooth.  I will tell you McEwan is one of the few authors I make a point of reading whatever he publishes.  I have read all his work to date and looked forward to this one.  I had a mixed reaction to this book and if you haven't read any of his books yet, I would suggest you do not start with this one. 
McEwan has proven in his other work that he is a master of the English language.  His stories are always praised for being well-crafted and this book is also well-written and I guess you could say well-crafted.  The protagonist is a female, Serena, and we begin by following her through a description of her parents and early schooling and to the  point where she is recruited by MI5.  Much has been written about how this novel is actually stories within a story and in fact I found this is true.  Serena's adventure as a spy become another 'story' of her life. Her feelings for another character develop into a love story.
 I had two particular problems with this book; one was I did not care for Serena and I didn't care particularly what happened to her as a result.  Another was that I found some of the writing and events too cute or too pat for true believability.  Sections of the book I found almost annoying and I had to push through those parts to keep reading. Overall, this novel was disappointing for me as I had waited quite a while to finally get to read it.

Oh my, maybe I am becoming too critical in my older age....