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3.27 AVERAGE
3.27 AVERAGE
I listened to Dan Stevens’s audio recording of Casino Royale and was interested in the ways in which that first James Bond story veered into somewhat unexpected territory—musings on the determination of who are the “good guys” and who the “bad guys,” and Bond’s confronting of the potential frailty of his self-ideal of masculinity and power. Much of that first story was far from “action scenes,” with more chapters of a contemplative nature than I’d anticipated. It didn’t make me love Bond or anything, but I was interested in his character development.
So I moved on to Live and Let Die, read by Rory Kinnear. Where Casino Royale was rather pulpy but with hints of a more sophisticated story, the second Bond story is all pulp. I was encouraged early on by the story seeming to continue on from the first book, with Bond still working through his feelings about Vesper. But very soon all of that disappeared and left no trace on the next adventure. This story expands Bond’s scope from one location in Europe to multiple locations from Harlem to Jamaica. And there is pulp at every stop along the way.
In the first book, Bond was a bit condescending. In Live and Let Die, Fleming loses not a single opportunity for condescension and racism. It may be slightly amusing to observe Bond as he receives his American wardrobe, cataloguing what a Brit calls each item of clothing and what the hopelessly uncouth Americans call it instead. This trope quickly grows very thin, however; Americans have destroyed the pleasures of driving, Americans have no idea how to make scrambled eggs, and on and on it goes. Then Bond and Felix Leiter are forced to spend time in Florida amongst “oldsters,” retirees who seem (to the agents) to be some kind of vision straight from the lowest circle of hell itself. It constantly reminded me of the great scene in Tenet, when the Protagonist says to Michael Caine’s character, “You British don’t have a monopoly on snobbery, you know,” and Caine replies, “Well, not a monopoly—more of controlling interest.” (This is, incidentally, just one more thing that I love about Tenet—it’s a James Bond–type story that lets a Felix Leiter–type character take the central role.)
The condescension is tedious, but the racism is outright disturbing. Especially in the first half of the novel, it is relentless. It’s no excuse to say “You just have to overlook it. Ian Fleming was simply a product of his time.” No, there were plenty of people living at the same time who were not racist; this was a choice Fleming made, and it was as bad at the time of publication as it remains now. It often felt like an attack as I was listening to the book. I kept listening, in hopes that perhaps this would be a character development for Bond, moving from an assumption that Black people are good for absolutely nothing to seeing them as equals. But that’s not how the story plays out. Those people for whom Bond comes to feel any affection or respect are those who know their place—that is, subservient to the white British guy.
The other thing that made this novel so much worse, to me, than the first is the brutality. There are some grim moments in Casino Royale—well, really just the torture scene—but Live and Let Die drastically ratchets up the cruelty and violence. Especially troubling is the fate of poor Felix, who will apparently survive his shark encounter, but to what kind of life afterward? It felt senseless and horrible. This scene highlights another criticism of the book: Bond has learned nothing from his previous mistakes. The number of times he does something completely, ridiculously stupid is mind-numbing. The biggest example is leaving Solitaire (already established as having clairvoyant abilities) alone in a hotel room when she tells him she has premonitions that something bad will happen to her if he leaves her alone in a hotel room. He pats her on the head and leaves anyway . . . and something bad happens to her. *facepalm* This happens over and over, just like in the first book. It makes the character, and the story overall, very difficult to take seriously.
The audio version was okay to listen to, though I think Dan Stevens was better than Rory Kinnear at differentiating character voices. Strangest is that Kinnear seems to have missed that Leiter is Texan. Many of Kinnear’s American voices sound the same, and none of them sound American; Kinnear really struggles to produce a natural-sounding American r. And though it’s not Kinnear’s fault that he, a posh white British male, occasionally has to do voices for streetwise Harlem females, it’s still very, very uncomfortable to listen to.
I’ll continue on to Moonraker only because Bill Nighy reads it, and he’s the reason I started listening to these in the first place. But I’m hoping for some significant improvements in the next story. I found Live and Let Die extremely difficult to get through. I don’t recommend this book to anyone.
So I moved on to Live and Let Die, read by Rory Kinnear. Where Casino Royale was rather pulpy but with hints of a more sophisticated story, the second Bond story is all pulp. I was encouraged early on by the story seeming to continue on from the first book, with Bond still working through his feelings about Vesper. But very soon all of that disappeared and left no trace on the next adventure. This story expands Bond’s scope from one location in Europe to multiple locations from Harlem to Jamaica. And there is pulp at every stop along the way.
In the first book, Bond was a bit condescending. In Live and Let Die, Fleming loses not a single opportunity for condescension and racism. It may be slightly amusing to observe Bond as he receives his American wardrobe, cataloguing what a Brit calls each item of clothing and what the hopelessly uncouth Americans call it instead. This trope quickly grows very thin, however; Americans have destroyed the pleasures of driving, Americans have no idea how to make scrambled eggs, and on and on it goes. Then Bond and Felix Leiter are forced to spend time in Florida amongst “oldsters,” retirees who seem (to the agents) to be some kind of vision straight from the lowest circle of hell itself. It constantly reminded me of the great scene in Tenet, when the Protagonist says to Michael Caine’s character, “You British don’t have a monopoly on snobbery, you know,” and Caine replies, “Well, not a monopoly—more of controlling interest.” (This is, incidentally, just one more thing that I love about Tenet—it’s a James Bond–type story that lets a Felix Leiter–type character take the central role.)
The condescension is tedious, but the racism is outright disturbing. Especially in the first half of the novel, it is relentless. It’s no excuse to say “You just have to overlook it. Ian Fleming was simply a product of his time.” No, there were plenty of people living at the same time who were not racist; this was a choice Fleming made, and it was as bad at the time of publication as it remains now. It often felt like an attack as I was listening to the book. I kept listening, in hopes that perhaps this would be a character development for Bond, moving from an assumption that Black people are good for absolutely nothing to seeing them as equals. But that’s not how the story plays out. Those people for whom Bond comes to feel any affection or respect are those who know their place—that is, subservient to the white British guy.
The other thing that made this novel so much worse, to me, than the first is the brutality. There are some grim moments in Casino Royale—well, really just the torture scene—but Live and Let Die drastically ratchets up the cruelty and violence. Especially troubling is the fate of poor Felix, who will apparently survive his shark encounter, but to what kind of life afterward? It felt senseless and horrible. This scene highlights another criticism of the book: Bond has learned nothing from his previous mistakes. The number of times he does something completely, ridiculously stupid is mind-numbing. The biggest example is leaving Solitaire (already established as having clairvoyant abilities) alone in a hotel room when she tells him she has premonitions that something bad will happen to her if he leaves her alone in a hotel room. He pats her on the head and leaves anyway . . . and something bad happens to her. *facepalm* This happens over and over, just like in the first book. It makes the character, and the story overall, very difficult to take seriously.
The audio version was okay to listen to, though I think Dan Stevens was better than Rory Kinnear at differentiating character voices. Strangest is that Kinnear seems to have missed that Leiter is Texan. Many of Kinnear’s American voices sound the same, and none of them sound American; Kinnear really struggles to produce a natural-sounding American r. And though it’s not Kinnear’s fault that he, a posh white British male, occasionally has to do voices for streetwise Harlem females, it’s still very, very uncomfortable to listen to.
I’ll continue on to Moonraker only because Bill Nighy reads it, and he’s the reason I started listening to these in the first place. But I’m hoping for some significant improvements in the next story. I found Live and Let Die extremely difficult to get through. I don’t recommend this book to anyone.
James Bond does battle with a man who dubs himself "the first great negro criminal" and apparently the entire black population of the Americas, who are controlled by their unshakable belief in voodoo. Other aspects have aged slightly poorly; Mr Big, the hulking gangster/Communist agent faced by Bond, is presented by Flemming as refined, dignified and brilliant, a depiction at odds with the rudimentary nature of the treasure-smuggling scheme that 007 must disrupt. Solitaire, in contrast, must rank as one of the least-consequential Bond girls of all time, with her predilection for fortune-telling barely utilized by Fleming and appearing almost as an afterthought in the course of the plot. Nevertheless, the second Bond novel gives introduces us to some important staples of the series; travel to exotic locations, physically-deformed arch-villains and the staging of elaborate of execution when a simple bullet would suffice.
adventurous
tense
fast-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
Content Warnings
Moderate: Racism
adventurous
mysterious
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Попринцип харесвам Джеймс Бонд и историите му, но тази беше някак скучна. Всичко се развиваше много бързо и самата книжка беше много малка. Да, книгата е пренаписана в по-разбираем вид на английски, за да се чете от деца, за упражнение и прочие, но очаквах много повече.
I wish I could give it three and a half stars instead of four, but I did like it better than Casino Royale. Good listen, not overly complicated, kept me interested but predictable.
Such an excellent book! the story throbs with atmosphere and makes your heart beat faster and your breathing become ragged. The story crackles out of the pages and is so realistic that I delayed reading it before I went to sleep in case I dreamed of the sharks it contains...
fast-paced
Acceptabilă. Un Bond mult mai fragil, cu mult mai mult sens decât filmele. Acțiunea te prinde după o vreme dar începutul poate fi enervant.