Ian Fleming's James Bond
Submitted by bertie on Mon, 09/23/2002 - 07:32
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- CASINO ROYALE This novel was first published in 1953, making it nearly half a century old already. It is still quite readable, though its age shows, and its sedate pace may come as a surprise to the reader who is used to Bond in fast-paced movies. The basic Bond plot formula was here at the outset. Bond is assigned to bring down a major villain, his efforts being complicated by his weakness for romantic entanglements, and his professional success due to a combination of knowlege, guts, and sheer good luck. For me, the main interest is in the incidental details. For example, Fleming had a food fetish and took obvious delight in describing several of Bond's meals in each story. He and Bond were also very fond of gambling, especially at cards, and a high-stakes card game forms the centrepiece of this first Bond novel. There is also a torture scene that will make any male reader's eyes water.
- LIVE AND LET DIE [First published: 1954] The criminal genius in this episode from Bond's career is a black American who uses his minions' belief in voodoo to control them. The love-interest is a blue-eyed white girl who is being held virtual captive by this black Mister Big [stop laughing], and whose heart is easily won by Bond. Is this novel racist? Is it ever. We go scuba diving with Bond for the first time in this one; in fact the last several chapters are very wet. Interestingly, an episode from this novel (involving a shark under a bait-worm factory) that does not appear in the movie version of Live And Let Die was eventually used in the movie Licence To Kill.
- MOONRAKER [First published 1955] Interesting villain, Sir Hugo Drax, in this one. With his invention of a super-ICBM (the Moonraker) he is almost singlehandedly making Great Britain a major player in the Cold War, so everyone idolises him - except Bond's boss, M, who knows he cheats at cards. M assigns Bond to use his card-sharping skills to show Drax how it feels to be cheated, which he does. Drax reacts by hiring Bond to be his new Head of Security at the Moonraker test site. Where the plot of this novel goes completely haywire. The climax is more than a little ridiculous. But, even so, this is a fun read.
- DIAMONDS ARE FOREVER [First published 1956] Crowded with incident and interest, this one. We get diamond smuggling from Africa to England to Nevada, a glimpse of airline travel as it was in the mid 1950s, also horse racing, mud-bathing, a history of Saratoga Springs (great chapter heading: "Studillac to Saratoga"), Bond the gambler visits (and critiques) Las Vegas, where he runs afoul of an eccentric gangster who chases him on a private railway, then an ocean voyage back to England aboard the liner Queen Elizabeth, rescuing his bad-girl love-interest from an odd couple of hitmen along the way, finishing up back in Africa, finally shooting down the chief villain with a Bofors anti-aircraft gun. Oh, and we meet the ever helpful Felix Leiter again after his mauling in Live And Let Die. What's not to like?
- FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE [First published 1956] Yes, the best of the early Bond novels. The plot structure is something of a departure too: Bond doesn't make his entrance until the second half. The first half is devoted to a fascinating introduction to SMERSH (the Russian organisation devoted to finding and killing enemy spies) and the two main villains, plus the "love"-interest character. The action of the second half takes place in Istanbul (where Bond teams up with a memorable fellow agent), and aboard the famous Orient Express passenger train. The baddies in this one are really evil creations: a lunatic assassin and a truly poisonous female who makes for an extremely sharp contrast with the beautiful, naive girl sent to Bond from Russia with "love". Warning: the ending is a To Be Continued...[in Dr No, which I am now reading].
- DR NO [First published 1957] We return with Bond to Jamaica, scene of the climax of Live and Let Die, and find another villain being evil on an island. But this is very much the better novel; in fact, I would say it seriously rivals From Russia With Love for the title of best of the series so far. Bond, only just recovered from the near-deadly poisoned kick SMERSH super-bitch Rosa Klebb gave him at the end of FRWL, is sent by M to look into the supposed elopement of two British agents in Jamaica. "A holiday in the sun", as M puts it. But instead of being a relaxing break, this assignment leads Bond into the lair (the initially luxurious lair) of Dr No, a very serious sociopath with high intelligence and a lust for power. Bond and nature-girl Honeychile Rider fall into the clutches of this murderous monster, and Bond barely survives a hellish obstacle course designed by his evil captor, and at the end of which he battles a kraken [look it up], before burying the bad doctor in bird doo-doo and making good his escape. He doesn't need to rescue Miss Rider; her knowlege of the local wildlife allows her to save herself. Remember the scene in the movie in which Bond finds himself in bed with a big hairy tarantula? Well, in the book it's a big hairy centipede. Talk about making the skin crawl. Interesting trivia: Bond briefly poses to Dr No as an ornithologist. In fact Fleming borrowed the name "James Bond" from the author of a book on ornithology.
- GOLDFINGER [First published in 1959] Although the movie version is quite good, the novel is something of a disappointment. It is slow-moving and over-long. Can you imagine a thriller being published these days in which two of the chapters consist of a detailed description of a game of golf? Well, perhaps if you were a golf fanatic. Also, the climax at Fort Knox is simply very unconvincing and a fizzer in the action department. Bond encounters three women this time out. One is murdered by the villain, the second, her sister, is a lesbian, and the third, 'hilariously' named Pussy Galore, is the presumably butch leader of a criminal gang of lesbians. Neverthless, PG falls for Bond's literally effortless charm, changes teams (in more ways than one), and helps him defeat the bad guy. Goldfinger himself is only a moderately interesting villain.
- FOR YOUR EYES ONLY [First published 1962, copyrighted 1960] This book is not a novel but a collection of five shorter works:
- "From A View To A Kill" - There is a Bond movie witlessly titled A View To A Kill, but it is not based on this story - not even a little bit. Here, in France, someone is killing NATO dispatch riders and stealing the dispatches. M assigns Bond to find and eliminate the killers, which he does by detective work worthy of Sherlock Holmes himself. The 'find' part goes like a dream, but the 'eliminate' part suddenly becomes nightmarish and ends rather surprisingly. Only forty or so pages, yet Bond still manages a romance - what a man! - and, what a woman. Bond comes across as somewhat more human here. We learn that he lost his virginity on his first visit to Paris at age sixteen. To sum up: interesting, but not thrilling until that final surprising scene.
- "For Your Eyes Only" - As a Bond novella this is excellent: neatly told in vivid detail. Fleming uses an idea here that he also used in Goldfinger - involving a vengeful girl who gets between him and the bad guy. The movie of this title has little in common with this story.
- "Quantum Of Solace" - The contrast between this and the previous story is so sharp that one is tempted to insist this isn't a 'real' Bond story at all. There is zero action. A career diplomat tells Bond about the unhappy marriage of a diplomatic colleague, unhappy due to his unashamedly unfaithful wife, after which Bond realises he has just met the woman involved and thought her dull. He reflectively compares his lifestyle with theirs. That's it.
- "Risico" - This one is as good as, maybe better than, FYEO. The title comes from the opening line, 'In this pizniss is much risico'. Bond is assigned to destroy a heroin smuggling operation and becomes involved in a feud between rival smugglers on the Mediterranean. The story is clearly and interestingly told; there are two good action scenes, a good plot twist, and, of course, Bond wins yet another female heart along the way.
- "The Hildebrand Rarity" - Another curiosity as Bond stories go. The bad guy is merely a rich American bastard who abuses his English wife. Bond meets the pair when he and a mutual acquaintance are invited aboard their luxury cruiser to accompany them on a search for a rare fish. The setting is the Seychelle Islands. The wife-beater finds the fish, uses a very environmentally unfriendly poison to obtain it, and later turns up murdered...the dead fish is the murder weapon. Btw, the rich bastard's name is Milton Krest and the name of his cruiser is the Wavekrest. These two names were used in the Bond movie Licence to Kill.
- THUNDERBALL [First published in 1961] It's no wonder this novel seems much more like the cinematic Bond: it was based on a 'screen treatment' by Fleming and two others. This might also account for certain stylistic curiosities, such as an annoying over-use of parenthetic sentence construction in the chapter in which Blofeld is introduced. And it might account for the nearly grotesque character Felix Leiter has become here. The story is well told, although it does begin with a gross coincidence (Bond is sent to a health spa after getting a less than perfect medical report and there runs afoul of a member of SPECTRE). The plot is also less fantastic seeming after recent events in international terrorism. Bond's love-interest is mainly memorable for the vital role she plays in the climactic chapter (this is just one of several echoes of previously used plot elements). Fleming packed in the detail this time, but he didn't let it get in the way of the action. Well worth reading, but I can't see it making my list, or even my short-list, of favorite Bond novels.
- THE SPY WHO LOVED ME [First published in 1962] A co-author, 'Vivienne Mitchell', is claimed, but she seems to have been invented by Fleming - at least, I can find nothing about her on the Web. Why would Fleming invent a female co-author? - because this Bond novel is told from the point of view of its female protagonist, one Vivienne Michel. Most of the first half of the story is biographical, then our heroine gets in a fix, in which she is menaced and maltreated by two rather cartoonish villains. Then, quite fortuitously, JB turns up and saves the day, or rather the night. Of course, our heroine falls in love with him, and, of course, he enjoys her as the spoils of victory and then vamooses. I suppose we have to admire Fleming for having the balls to write a Bond novel from the Bond Girl's viewpoint; he may even have thought he was making appropriate concessions to feminism. It would be interesting to get a female take on this one. Lbangs, do you know any gals who've read this?
- ON HER MAJESTY'S SECRET SERVICE [First published 1963] This was the first Bond novel to be written after the first Bond movie (Dr No) was released, so it's amusing that Bond's ancestry is revealed here as Scottish / Swiss. It's also amusing that when the movie of OHMSS came to be made Bond no longer had Sean Connery's robust Scots accent, played as he was in just that movie by an Australian actor. The novel itself is one of the three Best of the series I've read so far (the other two being From Russia With Love and Dr No). Fleming achieves near perfect pacing here. The reader is never even close to being in danger of boredom. The characters, themes (e.g. biological warfare), and detail are all fascinating. Furthermore, adventure, romance and humor are neatly tied up with tragedy. Bond is probably as close as he could be to being a convincingly human character here. If you are only ever going to read one Bond novel, this should probably be the one.
- YOU ONLY LIVE TWICE [First published in 1964] This novel has a very high detail-to-plot ratio. I mean a lot of detail clothes a very slender plot. The detail is largely about Japanese culture. The plot is that Bond, deeply depressed after recent tragic events, is sent to Japan on a 'diplomatic' mission, meets M's Japanese counterpart, Tiger Tanaka, finds his arch-enemy Blofeld (in a new identity, 'Dr Shatterhand'), wins the heart of one Kissy Suzuki, gets his revenge on Blofeld, loses his memory and is kidnapped / adopted by Kissy and her family. He is believed to have been killed in action and his obituary is published in The Times (it isn't as informative as I would have liked). Very readable, even though almost all the action occurs at the end. Oh, and this is a remarkably anti-American Bond novel.
- THE MAN WITH THE GOLDEN GUN [First published in 1965] Fleming must have known his days were numbered when he wrote this, his last Bond novel. It's the shortest of the novels, but none the worse for that. Where YOU ONLY LIVE TWICE is long on detail and short on plot, the reverse is the case here. A lot happens. We learn how Bond, suffering from amnesia, leaves Japan for Russia in search of his past, is brainwashed by the KGB, and sent by them to London where he...but that would be telling. When he's himself again, dear old M sends him after the Man of the novel's title, an extremely dangerous assassin who has already wasted several of Bond's fellow British agents. Back in the saddle again. Best thing for him, really. You old bastard, M. Jamaica again. Felix Leiter assists again. This time, as was the case in the very first novel of the series, the Bond Girl is one of Bond's colleagues in the Secret Service. This brief novel is intense and a very good read while it lasts. I see no reason for supposing that Fleming didn't write every word of it.
- OCTOPUSSY & THE LIVING DAYLIGHTS [First published in 1966] Like FOR YOUR EYES ONLY, this is a collection of short stories:
- "Octopussy" [Copyrighted 1965] This story is not about Bond, who appears only briefly to tell a retired member of the Service that a crime he committed during WW2 (murder, and theft of gold) has a last been found out. The criminal is dying anyway of heart disease, and Bond leaves him to do the honorable thing. In this case the honorable thing involves a poisonous fish and an octopus. Strange, but interesting.
- "The Property of a Lady" [Copyrighted 1963] This is rather poor. There is a female double agent sending intelligence to the Russians from Secret Service headquarters. The Service has been onto her from the start and has been feeding her disinformation. But the Russians are pleased with her and send her a jewelled terrestrial globe by the famous jeweller Carl Faberge. This is her reward, and she seeks to convert it into cash by selling it through a London auction house. It is supposed that the unidentified head of the KGB in Russia's London embassy will bid at the auction in order to drive up the price. Bond suggests to M that they can identify the Russian spymaster by attending the auction and watching the bidders carefully. Bond is assigned and his plan succeeds. It seems to me there are two fatal improbabilities in this story. (1)Would the Russians pay one of their spies this way, with a unique and famous piece of jewelry? (2) Why would the KGB man attend the auction in person when he could easily and securely have an agent do his bidding for him via telephone?
- "The Living Daylights" [Copyrighted 1962] This is one of the best Bond short stories. A British spy who has long been in Russia gathering a rich haul of information about Soviet nuclear technology is coming in from the cold. He will cross from East to West Germany. The KGB knows where he will cross and has a sniper waiting to take him out. The Secret Service knows where the sniper will be shooting from, and Bond's assignment is to snipe the sniper before the sniper gets off a shot. The story begins with Bond practicing to use a sniper rifle that has been specialy made for him. I won't spoil the ending, but it's a good one.
- "007 in New York" [Copyright 1963] This very short piece was first published in a New York newspaper, then in Fleming's book Thrilling Cities. It was not published in Britain until 1999, and was added to Octopussy & The Living Daylights in 2002. In it Fleming damns New York with faint praise. It barely qualifies as a Bond story.
Author Comments:
I recently purchased all fourteen of the James Bond books at a bargain price. They will be my light reading for some months. I have started reading them in the order in which they were originally published, and I intend to post mini reviews of them here.
I read Casino Royale in third grade and fell in love with Fleming's novels. I've read them all at least once. I love your reviews!
I have to add that Live and Let Die is probably the most violent of all Fleming novels. I try remember very clearly the scene involving Mr. Bond's finger. Although, granted, for a single scene, it is hard to beat that Casino Royale ending.
Another interesting difference between the novels and the films - Bond doesn't really develop a sense of humor at all until Dr. No or Goldfinger, and even then, it is never the slick wisecracking sense you get in the films.
I can't wait until you hit From Russia With Love, my favorite.
Shalom, y'all!
L. Bangs
Well, try above should be still...
Shalom, y'all!
L. Bangs
Ah, Moonraker. Certainly one of the lesser Fleming Bonds. It never really tops that card game, eh?
Fleming had a way with writing about gambling. He could explain a complicated game in perfect, simple detail. Heck, even in elementary school, I learned how to play Baccarat and Chemin de Fer from him!
Interesting about the film Moonraker. At the end of The Spy Who Loved Me, For Your Eyes Only is listed as the next Bond film. It was supposed to be, but then, in the late 70s, Star Wars and Close Encounters exploded, making sci fi the hip happening thing. The producers looked through the books to find a science fiction plot, but found none. Moonraker, however, *sounded* like it could be sci fi, so in the end, they took the book's title (and little else) and boom - the birth of the worst James Bond film ever.
You probably already know that, of course, but some might not...
Shalom, y'all!
L. Bangs
Shalom, y'all!
L. Bangs
Sorry I'm late getting back to you. I neglected to defragment my - whatever it is that gets fragmented - and my IE pretty much seized up.
Thanks for your comments - interesting and informative. Yes, I hadn't realised how different a creature the Bond of the books is from the Bond of the movies. He is rather grim, and one wonders about his motivation and early life. I'm hoping for more depth of character to come.
I've almost finished Diamonds Are Forever, so stay tuned.
The character does get fleshed out quite a bit, especially starting with Goldfinger, where you actually get a near-stream-of-consciousness passage of Bond's thoughts! (I think it is Goldfinger; it has been a few years!) IRCC, it is the highlight of the book (not one of my favorite entries in the series; I hate to say it, but Diamonds are Forever is one of my very least favorites...).
Of course, not only do you learn more about Bond, but the character is dynamic and does change quite a bit (however slowly) as the series progresses. The Bond of, say, You Only Live Twice, is a slightly different man from the Bond of Dr. No.
Timothy Dalton claimed to have read all the Fleming novels before playing the character, and I think it shows. It doesn't necessarily mean his Bond films are the best, but I think he certainly is closer to being the 'Fleming' Bond than the other actors. Of course, that is part of the very reason he flopped with fans following up on the breezy, joke-popping, refined Roger Moore.
The films with Connery are still tops, for the most part, but I really believe Dalton *was* the literary Bond. I'll be curious to see if you agree after reading the series...
Keep up the great work!
Shalom, y'all!
L. Bangs
Great review! One of the sadder facts of the series is how many people, remembering how much they love the film Goldfinger, pick that book up first out of the Fleming series and never really get beyond that. It is certainly one of Ian's weakest novels (although of the above, Diamonds would probably when my 'weakest so far' award).
The good news is that Thunderball is quite good, and On Her Majesty's Secret Service rivals From Russian With Love, as does its follow-up, You Only Live Twice.
Enjoy!
Shalom, y'all!
L. Bangs
You Only Live Twice is a favorite of mine. Odd, atmospheric, and engrossing. Raymond Benson, in a short story published in Playboy around 95, addressed the, er, rather obvious hanging thread at the end of the novel which Fleming never lived long enough to explore, if indeed he would have.
Are you stopping with Fleming, or will you give Kingsley Amis' Colonel Sun a shot? The middle drags, but the beginning and ending are terrific, if obviously by a different author.
The Gardners can nearly be skipped wholesale, but Benson's are quite good and strongly in the Fleming tradition, even if his writing skills are not nearly up to Ian's.
Again, I really enjoy this excellent list.
Shalom, y'all!
L. Bangs
Ummm...there's still two Fleming books to go: The Man With The Golden Gun and Octopussy / The Living Daylights. I've already started TMWTGG and I must say Fleming gives poor old Bond a really rough time in 'rescuing' him from Kissy.
If I can find a copy of the Amis I probably will read him. I probably won't be able to resist sampling a Gardner (again, if I can find him).
Sure, but you are nearing the end of the road, and I was just curious...
I'll be interested to hear your opinion of The Man with the Golden Gun. There is a load of debate over how much of the novel Fleming actually did write before his death. That's all I'll say about that for now.
The film The Living Daylights always reminds me a bit of Total Recall. Both films do (in my eyes) an admirable job of writing second and third acts to short stories that never intended to include either. The film was very classy to have included it. Ah, the Dalton years...
Of course, any Bond fanatic would also have to find a used copy of Fleming's Thrilling Cities, a travelogue with a non-essential yet fun Bond story tacked on. It even has Bond's recipe for scrambled eggs (hint: Lots of butter)!
The hoops Fleming sends Bond through at the opening of TMWTGG are quite odd, to say the least...
Enjoy!
Shalom, y'all!
L. Bangs
Great list! We agree on much here!
I am a bit surprised you didn't find The Man with the Golden Gun more jarring. Fleming would write a Bond book by tearing through a first draft (to preserve a forward rush of sorts), then he would spend months going back and fleshing out sections, adding details and smoothing out rough spots. I suspect he finished the first draft and died before 'finishing' the book with a second go-over. The book lacks much detail usually present, and many of the characters are handled (IMHO) much cruder than usual. That, of course, is simply my hunch, aided by a bit of research.
For whatever reason, that final novels strikes me as the weakest Fleming novel (but then I also disliked Diamonds are Forever, so hey) and oddly out of sorts with his usual style.
I was unaware that the Bond NYC story was now printed up with the final short story collection. That's nice to see, even if the story is fairly disposable as these things go.
Good luck finding a copy of Colonel Sun! I suspect you will enjoy most of it! The beginning few chapters are especially fun.
Your reviews of the final three short stories were especially apt and excellent.
I confess, I am a bit sad this list is now complete. I rather enjoyed waiting on each new installment!
Shalom, y'all!
L. Bangs
Lbangs, I really appreciate the interest you have shown in this list, and not just because you are the only one who has bothered to comment so far. The extra information and opinions you have provided have enriched my experience of Fleming's Bond. Much thanks.
I'm glad I undertook this series, it was no chore, and it provides a fascinating contrast with the cinematic Bond. I see what you mean about Timothy Dalton being the most 'literary' of the Bonds. Grim and determined. I especially like him in LICENCE TO KILL (even though that movie only uses bits and pieces of Fleming). By comparison, Roger Moore's portrayal is more of a betrayal, a travesty, really.
Indeed, GOLDEN GUN is jarring in its lean and hungry look, coming as it does after the lavishly detailed LIVE TWICE. But if it's actually only a first draft it's a very impressive one. I really didn't mind the brevity. More scope for one's own imagination. My motto as a reader is that what you get out of a book is proportional to what you put into it.
If I happen to get hold of the Amis I'll review it here, but don't hold your breath - it could be next week or next year.
I'm going to miss Fleming's Bond. As the cover blurb says, one of the great fictional icons of the twentieth century. Bond was probably almost nothing like a real secret agent, but he sure was fun.
As a very young person reading the novels, Fleming's Bond was a very unique experience for me. Not only the fictional world of spying, but the entire world of the 50s was still pretty new to me. Not long afterwards, I fell in love with 40s screwball comedies and Homer. Is there any doubt why I am so permanently out of time?
I confess, as an uncertain fifth grader, those books helped me gain confidence. Any time a situation went awkward or uncomfortable, I would imagine that I was really undercover, on a mission, and in control behind the scenes. No doubt, there are probably better role models out there, but at a time in my life when I needed to stop caring about what my peers thought about me, Bond helped me do that. I soon moved on to other role models, and later largely dumped the entire concept altogether, but talking to friends, I realize how lucky I was to travel through junior high with confidence and without pressures to fit in or be liked.
Of course, picking the books back up in my mid-twenties and discovering they are still quite fun was an added bonus!
Great series; your lists and comments riveted me the way very few ever do. Thanks!
Shalom, y'all!
L. Bangs
Howdy bertie, I haven't commented because I haven't had anything constructive to add beyond, "I'm really enjoying this list and I read it avidly!" Now that it's over let me say that I really enjoyed it and read it avidly. Someday (but probably not soon), on the inspiration of this list and the lists on Listology that review and rank all the movies, I'll sit down with the books and the movies and read/watch them together.
LOL, Jim! The squeaky wheel gets the oil. Complain and gain. Thanks for your comment, slightly snide though it may be.