Reviews - Live and Let Die

501 reviews for:

I actually liked this one much better than its predecessor, Casino Royale. Bond's character is more consistent and the story simply more vibrant and interesting (though my fascination with marine life is probably partly to blame for my absorption with it). Live is without the odd final drag that kept Casino from being a favorite of mine, but has all the same snap and style that makes Fleming's work indisputably engaging. Looking forward to Moonraker.

lee_foust's review against another edition

2.0

Not a whole lot to say about this one. Plot-wise for a thriller it worked ok. It does have one super memorable dark moment in the Bond series, which hits home and stayed with me. The black super villain is mostly a racist bugaboo, even as Fleming tries to make it something of a compliment: as the black race begins to throw up geniuses in all fields of course it will also produce a super criminal, says the text. Hmn. Kind of left-handed compliment. Which also doesn't temper the condescension of considering all of the dark-skinned people on the globe somehow children compared to the white Europeans, just because they didn't decide to use gunpowder to make weapons, enslave half the world, and build a series of planet-destroying industries which will undoubtedly kill us all sooner rather than later. Somehow I always think of non-European peoples as more intelligent, given their ability to live with rather than endlessly destroy the world around them. Also the voodoo stuff is silly--but, hey, it's fairy tale stuff so I could forgive it that mostly.

Of course the movie is ludicrous. Bond and his American counterpart going to Harlem in the early '50s is one thing, but an aging and rather effeminate Brit like Roger Moore going there alone in the 1970's was just beyond the pale. Gil Scott-Heron would have whipped his ass.

Although it does have one of the best Bond theme songs--although I've always cringed at the three ins in "IN this ever changing world IN which we live IN."

phinewines's review against another edition

3.0

adventurous mysterious medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Complicated

Flaws of characters a main focus: No

Dash of misogyny here and there (not as bad as casino royale, but still not great), and racist tropes abound make it hard to love this book. Slower than casino royale, with some clunky pacing but generally entertaining and straight forward adventure story. Thin characters, but the Bond/Leiter team is fun, and so are Flemings disgruntled descriptions of American food/culture.

birdmanseven's review against another edition

3.0

I enjoyed this more than I did the movie, but not one of my favorites.

Special podcast spotlight on James Bond: https://soundcloud.com/allthebooks/episode-11-books-all-the-books

wonderscout1's review against another edition

2.75

adventurous tense slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

imaginarytiger's review against another edition

2.75

adventurous tense fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: No

tcc82's review against another edition

4.0

mysterious fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

pulpmonkey66's review against another edition

3.0

An interesting listen. Being written in 1954 the views of women and other races was... not good. That said, it was an interesting story and I like Fleming's writing.