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A review by celestehurst
Casino Royale by Ian Fleming
adventurous
dark
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
I'm baffled by how much I liked this book. Before I read it, I expected it to have decent writing and an intriguing and fast-paced plot at best. I've only seen one James Bond movie and it was over twenty years ago, but I feel like the cultural osmosis from the franchise painted James Bond as an intelligent womanizer in my mind. And he definitely is those things in this novel, but what I wasn't expecting was the exploration of his character. And I certainly wasn't expecting this book to be a tragic romance.
It's hard to tell how much credit to give to Fleming for the nuances I saw while reading Casino Royale. Is it a commentary on the fact that underestimating a woman is what ends up hurting Bond the most, or is the narration really trying to say that trusting a woman is the worst thing you can do? Are we supposed to come to the conclusion that a cold man like Bond was stupid for falling in love, or are we meant to see the tragedy of Bond falling back into being a machine like Mathis accuses him of?
In either case, I wasn't expecting to be given a front-row seat to Bond's thoughts and emotional state. Yeah, his fantasies of essentially raping Vesper are hard to read and are not excusable. But then he apologizes for being too rough with her and backs off when she says no and spends hours lying on the beach looking up at the sky and realizing that he's in love with her. This book gives us a very human Bond who struggles with his emotions and the implications of his actions as a spy, and I wasn't expecting that.
It's hard to tell how much credit to give to Fleming for the nuances I saw while reading Casino Royale. Is it a commentary on the fact that underestimating a woman is what ends up hurting Bond the most, or is the narration really trying to say that trusting a woman is the worst thing you can do? Are we supposed to come to the conclusion that a cold man like Bond was stupid for falling in love, or are we meant to see the tragedy of Bond falling back into being a machine like Mathis accuses him of?
In either case, I wasn't expecting to be given a front-row seat to Bond's thoughts and emotional state. Yeah, his fantasies of essentially raping Vesper are hard to read and are not excusable. But then he apologizes for being too rough with her and backs off when she says no and spends hours lying on the beach looking up at the sky and realizing that he's in love with her. This book gives us a very human Bond who struggles with his emotions and the implications of his actions as a spy, and I wasn't expecting that.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Sexism
Minor: Rape