February 2014 book ~ Sweet Tooth by Ian McEwan ~ discussion Qs

DISCUSSION GUIDE: “SWEET TOOTH”

by KILA

McEwan chooses to employ a female protagonist. Consider your thoughts and feelings about her character. Are you sympathetic to Serena?

Is Sweet Tooth truly a spy novel? How does it fulfill or defy your expectations of this genre? How does espionage become a metaphor for the deeper concerns of the novel?

Why do you think the author chose to set the novel in the England of the 1970s, during the lingering Cold War? What contemporary or otherwise timeless themes is McEwan able to treat by adopting this political-historical backdrop?

Pierre speaks to MI5 of “the hazardous terrain where politics and literature meet”. Talk about Operation Sweet Tooth. What is the nature of its participation in “the softest, sweetest part of the Cold War, the only truly interesting part- the war of ideas”?

Serena’s voraciousness as a reader of novels is what got her recruited to a secret mission for MI5. What kind of a reader is Serena? What about reading is McEwan exploring through her character?

Excerpts of Haley’s stories are peppered throughout the novel. What impact do these stories have on the reader? Do they mirror- or otherwise contradict- the major themes of Sweet Tooth?

McEwan confirms that Sweet Tooth contains autobiographical elements. What does he reveal through the character of Tom Haley about being a writer and the process of writing itself?

How did the final chapter of Sweet Tooth affect you? How did it wrap up the book’s overall  messages and themes?

from:  http://onereadingwoman.wordpress.com/2013/07/21/discussion-guide-sweet-tooth/