Casino
Royale, Ian
Flemming (3.0)
This is
the first James Bond book and clearly he is not yet the worldly spy who has it
all under control. He has just recently
become a ‘00’, which happens when you’ve killed two people on orders (not in
self-defense). This becomes more
important later in the book as he becomes quite philosophical (and engages in
foreshadowing) about how to decide who is good and who is evil. I enjoyed meeting Bond from this perspective
and want to read further to see how he progresses to become the more worldly
Bond we know from the movies. There were
several minor plot differences from the recent ‘Casino Royale’ movie, with only
one major change. The main characters and elements remain nearly the same. My
only disappoint with this book had to do with a couple of scenes where Bond has
a particularly Cro-Magnon attitude towards women – worse than in the
movies. He even has one musing about a
potential assignation with a woman that he compares favorably to rape (‘the
conquest of her body… would each time have the sweet tang of rape’). Except for
these jarring excerpts, the rest of the book was quite enjoyable, albeit
without the playfulness of the movies.
I think the author using the phrase "sweet tang of rape" does not mean the same as we might think in today's politically correct era. Personally, I don't read a lot into Bond's character from this term.
ReplyDeleteI thought the book was much more serious than the movies without a hint of campiness that the movies have. I really enjoyed the book.
Unfortunately, I had the Sean Connery image of Bond in my mind's eye as I read the book. I guess Daniel Craig didn't make much of an impression.