She’s a voracious reader who prefers her authors to ‘make use of the real world’ and avoid ‘tricksy haggling over the limits of their art…. The book starts with the main character, Serena Frome, telling us how she was recruited into MI5 in the 1970s, where there’s plenty of trickery and deception going on. The idea of trickery resonates throughout Sweet Tooth, McEwan’s latest novel. So there’s no doubt he has form in this matter.

Perhaps the best known instance of McEwan writing as a woman is his masterpiece of trickery, Atonement, which includes McEwan writing convincingly not only as a woman, but as a woman writing as a woman. Some people loved Lloyd Jones’ Matilda, whereas others had a problem with him writing as a 13 year old girl. Kirsten McDougall presented Philip Fetch, in The Invisible Rider, so authentically it is hard to see how she could have known all the thoughts and feelings of a middle aged male lawyer.

The answer is, of course, it depends how good a writer you are. The sweeping shots of forests, mountains, and recovered animal populations are accented with a folk-heavy soundtrack, with Simon & Garfunkel’s “The Boxer” used for particularly heart-wrenching effect.Is it possible to write convincingly from the point of view of the opposite gender? Is it possible to write a review of an Ian McEwan novel without giving too much away? His vision of suburban security for his chosen few, a callback to the tidy nightmare the Singhs lived in during season 1, is the dark alternative to the natural beauty this show revels in. Apparently his army consists of soldiers, personal tailors for his elaborate outfits, and graphic designers who produce his ‘50s-style propaganda posters, but if you don’t think too hard about how they were made the imagery is highly evocative. It’s a particularly strong metaphor for the conflict between young climate activists and the adults they believe are sacrificing the future to maintain their present comfort, given that the heroes of Sweet Tooth are the adults who acknowledge that they must make way for the hybrid children to inherit the Earth.Ībbott, meanwhile, represents regressive ideology, promising not only a return to the time before the Sick but to an idealized past that never really existed. Yet Sweet Tooth works as a fairy tale about the trauma of global change that continues to feel highly relevant in these uncertain times.

Sweet tooth novel review