Sweet Tooth by Ian McEwan

One quote from this novel (about the character who is a writer) perfectly describes how I feel about Ian McEwan himself: "From the very first paragraph you are in his hands, you know he knows what he is doing, and you can trust him."

I have read all McEwan's novels, and I have never considered any of them less than first-rate. He has written several different kinds of novels, and some I have liked better than others because I enjoy that style, but all are written to perfection and convey exactly what he intended. All the plots seem somewhat predictable in the beginning, but turn out to be anything but what you would have expected. And this is the highest praise that I, personally, can give a writer: When I read McEwan I forget that I am reading a made-up story. The actions and characters become real to me, true accounts of actual happenings.

This one features a young female protagonist, who is hired in the 1970s by the British secret service (M15) following her graduation from Cambridge. Even though she studied maths in university, she is an avid, non-discriminatory reader of novels, consuming three and four a week. (I felt some kinship, here.) With the Cold War and the struggle for hearts and minds still going on, she is sent as an undercover operative to get to know a young writer who might turn out to be helpful to the government. She falls in love with his writings, and then she falls in love with him. Obviously, she has a conflict of interests.

Despite the basic plot description, this is not a typical spy novel by any means. The danger here is not of being physically harmed, but of being revealed to a loved one as duplicitous and to the world at large as being a fool.

This is also a consideration of the difference between real life and fiction and of creating a reality through writing. And it is funny in the smooth, understated British way. (Not in the wacky British way; they appear to have two, distinct styles of humor over there.) But, most of all, it is a great story. For me, as for the female protagonist of this novel, the story's the thing.

Sometimes when I was reading this, I thought to myself, "McEwan missed it there. I'm disappointed in him." I should have trusted him. The ending causes it all to make perfect sense and makes me want to immediately re-read the book to see how he accomplished what he did--a total surprise, yet with all the clues there.

Here's one of the more obviously humorous bits that I must mention: The first novel the fictional writer comes up with, which wins a prestigious prize, sounds very much like The Road by Cormac McCarthy. Also, McEwan often seems to be making fun of himself (in a most kind way, naturally), as plot summaries of the fictional writer's early short stories sound very much like McEwan's early writings.

I loved this novel. I know that it will not be counted as McEwan's most important writing, but I liked it best.