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A review by jackjpaton
Casino Royale by Ian Fleming
4.0
A long time ago I watched a documentary about Ian Fleming, and one line from it I’ve remembered ever since: “Fleming is a thriller writer, his job is to thrill the senses”. Whenever I’ve read a so-called thriller since, this line has stuck out to me, and so far I’ve found no one who can compare to Fleming in his ability to “thrill the senses”. The plot and characters of Bond and Le Chiffre and espionage and spies is all really just an excuse to escape to a world of 50s glitz and glamour through Fleming’s glorious turn-of-phrase.
In all honestly, not a lot actually happens in Casino Royale, but we do start to get a real sense for who James Bond is. Book Bond is more human than any of his film incarnations; it is definitely never a given he’s going to make it out of this one alive, and when he gets hit, it hurts.
I wonder what it must have been like to read this book seventy-odd years ago, with no preconception of who James Bond is?
In all honestly, not a lot actually happens in Casino Royale, but we do start to get a real sense for who James Bond is. Book Bond is more human than any of his film incarnations; it is definitely never a given he’s going to make it out of this one alive, and when he gets hit, it hurts.
I wonder what it must have been like to read this book seventy-odd years ago, with no preconception of who James Bond is?