Book Review: James Bond series by Ian Fleming (part 1)

CASINO ROYALE by Ian Fleming

Very disappointed. It's a pathetic attempt at genre fiction/ pulp fiction.

Well I started with the very first book and the only one of Fleming I can claim to have read. So maybe it gets better as the James Bond series of novels of his progresses.

I read online that this first novel was rejected by publishers. The only reason it ever got published was through influence of Fleming's brother who was an established figure. I am not surprised.

This book would never get published otherwise.

I mean I have read cheap 30 pence paperback novels which were more thrilling to read than this one.

I would say Fleming's penpal Raymond Chandler is million times better at genre fiction. But then I have to read the later novels of Fleming to see if this series is really the legend that it is claimed to be.

This JAMES BOND is nothing compared to the tough Philip Marlowe or even the predecessor Sam Spade detective fiction.

In espionage, this pales in comparision to the Bourne series of Robert Ludlum which is a masterpiece when compared to CASINO ROYALE.

Any novel by Alistair MacLean would be highly recommended over Casino Royale.

But I will persist and go through the James Bond series of novels to see if it improves and gets better.

I am saddened deeply that the brilliant MATT HELM series by Donald Hamilton is out of print. Matt Helm is incredibly better espionage fiction than Casino Royale.


So is the James Bond legend only because of the Movie franchise? I would say yes even with just one novel of Fleming read so far by me. It has to be the movies and Sir Sean and the writers, stuntmen, technicians, music, that made James Bond into a cult icon and cultural legend.

REVIEW:
The names of the chapters in Casino Royale are unimaginative and tedious. Fleming overuses the word "directly" as well. The dialogue is nowhere close to the witty one-liners we recognise from the movie versions. Bond is very ordinary here. The chapters don't make you curious enough to go on to the next chapter. The action seems realistic but not thrilling enough to call it a Bond adventure.

Comparision with the movie: Daniel Craig certainly made a great version of this story, his thrilling debut as Bond. Many differences with the novel. Unlike in the movie, in the novel the unknown source of the drink at the Casino table is not poison and Bond drinks and plays on. Also Vesper Lynd is not that angel as portrayed in the movie. She doesn't deserve the love as per the novel. Also there is a long list of chapters after the win at the casino and after the torture of Bond - and all of it deals with his emotions for Vesper. Damn! This could have been published by MILLS AND BOONS if it had a happy ending. Also, the car chase and accident of Bond is different in the novel.

Anyways, not to give the plot away, but I don't regret having read the novel. It does give its insights.

Ian Fleming was indeed a spy and active during World War II. But I guess experience doesn't ensure literary merit.

I would say Graham Greene novels on espionage are way better than any of the ones by professional spies. A writer needs to know how to make the story entertaining and intriguing and a page-turner - and it seems professional spies, though giving us some good insights into their lives and actions - fail to make it into a classy genre fiction adventure.

But let's see how it changes or improves!

I remember reading in my childhood an adventure of Nick Carter Killmaster from AXE organisation which my mind feebly recalls as certainly better than Casino Royale, LOLz

RECOMMENDATIONS for reading something other than BOND Novels of Ian Fleming:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raymond_Chandler

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donald_Hamilton

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alistair_MacLean

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Ludlum

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nick_Carter-Kill master

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LIVE AND LET DIE by Ian Fleming

So Fleming rescues the series with this second book on James Bond. The first one (Casino Royale) had its moments of excitement but compared to the second one, it was pathetic.

"Live And Let Die" is an awesome adventure. Again SMERSH raises its communist head, this time in USA. But the Russian angle is not much explored. What Mr. B.I.G. does for Russia remains unclear except for hints about his vast obedient army of blue-collar workers.

Mr. BIG is a gigantic black man who uses the inherent fear of Voodoo among the blacks to pretend to be the Zombie of the evil Baron Samedi (Prince of Darkness and ruler of the dead). He is actually a scholarly man with great intelligence, tact, skills and creativity.

There is Florida as the entry point for smuggled gold and Jamaica as the origin.

Thrown in is a gorgeous "corker" of a damsel named Solitaire who seems to know what she wants. And CIA agent Felix Leiter who we enjoyed in the first book returns as a liaison between FBI and MI6. Many other wonderful characters, especially the black gangsters Tee Hee Johnson and The Robber. Friends include the Cayman islander and Bond's trainer/factotum named Quarrel.

The pirate Bloody Morgan or rather Sir Henry Morgan plays an important role - the long dead pirate's treasure being the point of investigation.

This book is a real page-turner. The descriptions of Voodoo and that of the scenery in New York, Florida and Jamaica bring everything to life. The adventure in the corals and the damned voracious barracuda are also exciting.

So I am happy to say, the series got a lot lot better right away with the second novel.

Comparision with the movie:
There are crucial differences with the movie version starring Sir Roger Moore as Bond. In the movie Mr B.I.G. is revealed to be a Prime Minister of a Caribbean island who also is a New York gangster. Baron Samedi is a different person, a henchmen in the movie. However in the novel Mr BIG is a legitimate businessman whose criminal activities remain to be proven and he is "Baron Samedi".

Also the death of Tee Hee Johnson happens simply in the book. There are no crocodiles in the novel. Instead there are sharks and barracudas and giant squid and poisonous sea creatures. So the daring stunt performed in the movie is completely absent - no crocodile farm - instead the book shows a "worm-and-bait factory" which has exotic fish used for smuggling gold.

So no unlike the movie, Mr BIG is not attempting any Voodoo sacrifice with dances and rituals in the novel version - though he does offer the flesh of Bond and Solitaire to the "sharks and barracudas" who play important symbolic roles in Voodoo - a myth which the locals believe and fear.

Anyways, the book is much different but with similar plot lines and characters. I would say the book is more cruel and more realistic than the movie version.


Very thrilling and I look forward to the other books in the series.