The Spy Who Loved Me (James Bond Novels) by Ian Fleming
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Book Reviews of The Spy Who Loved Me (James Bond Novels)
Book Review: Refreshingly different Bond story
Summary: 3 Stars
An unusual Bond novel because written in the first person voice of a woman. Perhaps more than any other Bond novel this is nothing like the film of the same name. Bond only comes into the narrative in the final act to save the heroine from a nasty fate at the hands of two viscious gangsters holed up in a run down motel in the Adirondacks. The suspense builds well and it's quite a page turner. Hitchcock always wanted to make a Bond film and this would have been the one for him to do, with its American setting, creeping claustrophobia and damsel in distress. This Penguin series has a cool (though racy) set of retro covers that draw on elements of the story. My copy came from the local IGA store in Kingaroy, Qld, so you never know what little treasures you'll find among the supermarket novels.Book Review: Super Reader
Summary: 3 Stars
The Spy Who Loved Me is very different from the other books, as the story is told from the point of view of a woman, who eventually runs afoul of a couple of gangsters.
A long way into the book Bond turns up and has a confrontation with the crims and gets the girl. With SPECTRE finished, they are still looking for Blofeld.
Book Review: thinly veiled smut. Dont buy a name... look for quality
Summary: 2 Stars
Though I've seen several James Bond movies, and did take note of Bond's somewhat loose morals with the ladies, the action packed thrillers usualy outweighed and overshadowed his less than chaste ways.
This was the first time I'd read a James Bond book as I tend to stay away from fiction and truly after reading this the saying that "truth is stranger than fiction" is true indeed.
This book seems off the beaten path for a James Bond story as Bond doesn't make an appearance until well over half way through the book! So one has to conclude or at least suspect that Flemming's got a mission or motive for this. Ostensibly it's to create the lead charachter, but I realized as I was reading that it seemed he was giving a message to loose women, that thier hearts and charachters are in the balance when they let men have their ways with them just to be nice and not loose their men, and it's they who pay the price by their change in attitude and heart towards love and affection. And I guess he does accomplish this, though with somewhat slightly more "visuals" then is nessesary...though he tells the story through her mind so this might be excusable. If he left it at that he might have made a good point in this almost universal truth. But then he repudiates it all after the hero makes his entrance and cleans up the problem by then turning the book into a bit of light porn. And to top it off his attempt to set the girl straight through the policemans little lecture only makes the whole point of the book seem empty and without any solid life lesson to cling to but rather a more worldly pointless lase fair exposition on her experiences. and it left me with the feeling that it really should have been called "The Spy Who Shagged me"
at 15 years old I'd read a book as I thought I should read stuff to be more learned and stopped when I realized the book I'd picked at random was just smut, and this book returned that same feeling, and I determined, reguradless of what I thought of Ian and his background in espionage, I wouldn't read any more of his works. ( Though I might if the book is a true story and give him one more chance) The only reason I give this a 2 stars is it was kind of fun when Bond does finaly make an appearance in the book and the situation they found themselves in...though I still found some incongurities in the words used by the characters as seeming out of charachter. Furthermore the things the bad guys DIDN'T do in light of what their "mission" was also seemed in retrospect highly unlikely.
When one considers that this was written in 1962 or thereabouts, it's clear to me that Flemming is pushing the envelope on social standards, bringing the world down to his level, by making heroes of sleazes.
Book Review: A Somewhat Flawed Bond Novel Experiment
Summary: 2 Stars
Ian Fleming's tenth James Bond number is a departure from the usual mold of a Bond story:the entire tale is told from a female viewpoint. The first third of the novel details two past love affairs of Vivienne Michel's (the main character) life. Twice she is burned by men, and she eventually decides to go to America to start a new life. There she finds employment at a cheap motel where she works as a desk clerk. This first part of the novel is probably the best part, it is a very interesting in-depth character study. Although Fleming's efforts to understand female psychology are to be commended, it just doesn't work well in a Secret Service story. The second part of the story is definitely the worst. It introduces the "vilians", actually small-time thugs. They characters may seem scary to Vivienne but a Bond reader expects more. Some readers appreciate the change from the usual super-villain, and this is welcome, but the thugs could have been much better drawn out to be made into more menacing characters.
In the final third of the story, Bond arrives. It seems almost pointless to include him in the story at all. BOnd has no character in this novel, he is simply a "night in shining armour". He is as two-dimensional as cardboard. All the fleshing out of his character throughout the books since CASINO ROYALE seems to dissappear here, as if it never happened. Althoug this part of the book is the most thrilling, it does not measure up to Vivienne's flashbacks. Some readers criticize the gunfight at the novel's end as "just the usual, nothing special", etc. This is not true. The battle is cleverly thought out. For the first time since perhaps the fight against The Robber in Mr. Big's warehouse in LIVE AND LET DIE, Bond must plan his strategy carefully. Certain routes are covered by enemy gunfire, and Horror and Sluggsy's efficient tactics even get the reader thinking, "How is James going to get out of this one?" It simulates an actually battlefield experience. The scene with Sluggsy attempting to assassinate Bond and Vivienne at the end is quite horrifying as well.
I won't lie: I couldn't put this book down. It's pretty good. But not as a James Bond story. His inclusion seems unnecessary, and contrived. It takes away from what could have been a genuinly great suspense tale about a girl trying to survive on her own against two vicious thugs. As it stands, it's just an action/romance tale on a very small scale.
Book Review: Fleming's Worst
Summary: 2 Stars
I have read all of Ian Fleming's James Bond novels and this novel was the least enjoyable. It almost seems as if Fleming was having sometime of life crisis or personal issue while writing this book.
The book is written in 3 parts, like 3 separate short stories. The main character is not James Bond, but a 20-something woman named Vivienne Michel. The first part of the book is about her past, the second part is about her present situation, and the third part is about her rescue.
You read through half the book before James Bond makes an appearance. What is unusual is that the book is mostly written from Vivienne Michel's point of view.
Usually I can read one of Fleming's Bond books in 3 to 4 nights because they hold my interest. This book was a struggle to get through. All the novels written before and after this book were far more superior. Not sure what happened to Fleming when he was writing this novel, but I am glad some resolution came before his next book.
If you want to get to the action, read the last chapter of the second part and the entire 3 part. If you are having trouble sleeping, start at the beginning (good luck and sweet dreams).