Customer Reviews

Casino Royale

5 star:		(14)
4 star:		(11)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Having never read an Ian Flemming novel, I felt it would be best to read his first book in the James Bond Series and the only one not yet made into a feature film. If you're only now beginning to read the novels, Casino Royale is the perfect book to read because it gives a bit of information about the James Bond Character. Through reading we find out how he became the man many of us know from the movies; such as his love of cars and how he obtained the 00 label. It's expected that the future Bond Film which is based on this book will also act as a prequel, so what better way to prepare yourself for the feature film then to read this fun novel that you can finish in about a day, and will certainly want you to follow up by reading the other novels in the series.

This is where it all began, a very simple, unadorned tale of a British spy sent to destroy a Communist agent at the baccarat table. The first 007 story presents a nasty, misogynist, misanthropic Bond-a government assassin who is highly ambivalent about the role he plays in the Cold War. There's even one remarkable scene in which Bond asks what makes his government right, and what makes it moral for him to kill Britain's enemies. Unfortunately, his cynical self-examination is brushed under the table by his new CIA pal, Felix Leiter, and that's the last we hear of that! We learn that in the war, Bond killed a Japanese spy in New York (although the circumstances described strain credulity and common sense), and knifed a Dutch double-agent, earning him the 00 "Licensed to Kill" designation. Here, he's asked to break the bank of a French Soviet agent who has been gambling with his Moscow-provided bankroll.

Bond is sent to the fashionable French casino of the title to pose as a playboy gambler, and with the aid of beautiful British assistant Vesper Lynn, a French agent, and the CIA's Felix Leiter, ruin Le Chiffre at baccarat. Once you get over the sort of obvious question (if Le Chiffre is that dangerous an agent, why not just kill him yourself instead of going through this dangerous gambit of trying to bankrupt him, thereby forcing SMERSH to kill him?), the buildup and eventual battle on the green baize is quite gripping. Fortunately, the rules and strategy of baccarat are explained (it's a very very simple game), so that the reader can follow along, blow by blow. There's loads of atmosphere and tension, but the structure is a bit awkward and there are some rather bad flaws. One of these is that there's absolutely no reason for Vesper to be in the book other than to serve as a plot device and sex interest. All she does is get in Bond's way and distract him, and it's hard to imagine why she would ever really be given the assignment to back up Bond. It's also rather strange to find the Le Chiffre affair concluding 3/4 of the way through the book, with the last quarter devoted to the Bond/Vesper romance. And I won't even get into the lame "saved by the bell" device that occurs at the climax. All in all, the book exhibits the excellent eye for detail and atmosphere that characterize most of the Bond books, but Fleming is clearly just learning pacing and structure at this stage.

A final point of clarification, the Frenchman "Le Chiffre" is not an agent of SMERSH, as many reviewers seem to think. The fictional SMERSH, with its motto "death to spies", is an internal Soviet agency dedicated to counterespionage and making sure Soviet agents don't stray. As is explained early, Le Chiffre is forced to gamble because he's afraid that SMERSH will kill him if they discover he's blown his party funds on a bad business deal.

I'm not the world's biggest fan of the James Bond movies, although I do enjoy them a bit. I've seen a handful of them in the cinema, and will gladly watch one on TV on a Sunday afternoon if there's no football on. But I'd heard good things about the novel series that the movies were based on and I was curious to see how James Bond worked in print. I'll probably read more books in the series, because I liked the style, but my overall impression of CASINO ROYALE, the first James Bond novel, was negative.

The plot revolves around the need for government agent James Bond to beat a Russian spy decisively at the Baccarat table in a ritzy casino/vacation resort. It doesn't get much more complicated than that, although the sections of the book involving the initial stakeout and the game itself are satisfying and competent. They seem to be very influenced by the pulp thrillers that had come in years past, though they bring little new to the table. They're fun though. My main problem came once the initial conflict has been resolved, all the way at the two-thirds point. The final third of the book involves a bizarre romance and an even stranger set of ruminations on good vs. evil. This section is, to be frank, childishly inept, and ruins any good will I had stored up from the casino plot. Yes, deliberations on what separates agents working for the "good" guys and spies working for "evil" governments is an interesting idea and one which has sparked numerous thought-provoking debates and discussions. But this isn't one of them.

James Bond himself isn't terribly developed yet; I assume his persona would become better established in subsequent novels. He's humorless, moody and drab. I never really felt there was enough to get a grip on the character. The rest of the cast are sketchy as well. Of course, since most of them are lesser agents who only show up when they have a plot point to fill, that's to be expected. Bond's love interest receives more characterization from her slinky portrait on the cover than from anything that appears in the pages.

To be honest, I'm faintly surprised to hear rumors of Hollywood producers wishing to film this (on the premise that it's the last James Bond novel that hasn't been faithfully adapted to the screen). It seems to me it would be rather dull after the excesses recently displayed in the movies. There's only one explosion, a relatively tame car chase sequence, no helicopters, jet-planes, or space vehicles. In short, it's comparatively tame. Hopefully they'll adapt the better parts of the book (the gambling and casino intrigue) and cut out the bad (the last sixty or so pages). Merging the book's successes with the better-established characters may result in an entertaining film, but it has its work cut out for it if it wants to be great.

I enjoyed this book BECAUSE of some things that others seem to have had trouble with. Bond's falling in love characterizes him as a more complete person than the womanizer of later books and films. Le Chifre's relatively early demise worked okay for me because of the romance. It had a mystery element all its own. And,of course there were plenty of the usual James Bond antics: car chases, elegant evenings, martini drinks, and the inevitable scene where James is tied up and abused by the bad guys. Bravo for this first novel. And good to know that, despite Mr. Fleming's passing, the genre lives on. I am impressed that newcomer Thomas Hopp, with his debut book The Jihad Virus, may be picking up the mantle of Fleming complete with car chases, love, bullets, and a hero tied up and tormented. The two stories are very similar in effect, if not in plot.

"Casino Royale," which appeared in 1953, was Ian Fleming's first published novel. It introduced readers to James Bond, a character who is now firmly ensconced as an icon in the popular imagination. So how does it hold up now, 41 years later, after the character of Bond has been reduced to a self-regarding poseur in film after film? Unfortunately, not that great, especially when compared with the stronger novels in the series.

Here we have Fleming finding his voice, and also feeling out the character of Bond, who is not fully realized. The brilliant descriptive gifts that Fleming shows later in the series (it is already more pronounced in the second novel, "Live and Let Die," published in 1954), the ability to bring characters to vivid life, to capture the tension of Bond's life as an agent--in other words, the techniques that a novelist acquires with practice--are seen here in rather primitive form. The plot is disjointed, with the villain eliminated only two-thirds of the way into the book. And the last third--well, it contains some writing that is downright embarrassing, especially compared with the talent Fleming shows in later works like "Doctor No" and the magnificent "You Only Live Twice." Again, this is an apprentice novel.

As for the character of Bond, he is most unappealing here. He lacks the humor and personal likeability that Fleming gave him as the series progressed; here, he is a humorless, dour, arrogant man, and when Fleming injects the last chapters with bogus melodrama, it makes Bond even less interesting.

That is not to say that "Casino Royale" doesn't have its good points, but they are relatively small compared to its shortcomings. This is worth reading for Bond fanatics only.

First off, the literary character of James Bond as first imagined by Fleming is vastly different from the movie superspy with which most audiences are familiar. In "Casino Royale" Bond is all too human and even (gasp!) falls in love with his leading lady. Naturally, this is a doomed romance, but for the sake of those who have not read the story, there will be no further elaboration.
The story itself is fairly strait-forward. Bond goes to the infamous Casino Royale in an attempt to bankrupt a SMERSH agent. The book is more realistic than many of the films, in that some of the things Bond does (planting a hair in a drawer to make sure it has not been tampered with) are things a real spy might do.
My only problem with the story is that it seemed to drag on long after the main plotline has been resolved. I got the feeling that the final nine chapters of the book could have been resolved in two and an epiloge.
Still, it was an enjoyable book, and I plan to read most if not all of the other novels in the series, as I have been waiting a long time for these to become available again.

"Casino Royale" is Ian Fleming's first book featuring James Bond, unlike the movie series, where "Dr. No" is the first. I wanted to read Casino Royale because it is the only Bond book that was not made into a movie - if you don't consider the spoof movie with Peter Sellers, David Niven and Woody Allen.

To my surprise, in the books Bond is not the ultimate undestructible human being. He's a common enough person, who almost vomits when he sees the remains of a man who just exploded. Also, he is not that comfortable around women, he thinks about quitting his double-oh position, and he has a problem about being good or being evil. Surprising, huh? The biggest surprise is that he doesn't kill a single person in the entire book.

What I liked about "Casino Royale" was watching the developing of one of the greatest characters of the 20th century, as the author imagined him. The story is simple enough, about financialy breaking a communist agent in a french casino. Fleming writes simply, directly to the reader. There's a touch of the "noir" fashion - the sarcasm, the perfect women - and an unquestionable feeling of the fifties.

"Casino Royale" is a fast, simple read, and necessary to understand the Bond-universe.

Grade 8.0/10

CASINO ROYALE introduced the world to James Bond, and James Bond introduced the world to a style of living which, although fictional, is just SO attainable---just---that there isn't a man who hasn't tried or at least dreamed.

Ian Fleming's Bond is spare and tough, a kind of Spartan in a sack suit. In that regard he has influenced the cinematic Bond, but has never been the same character as portrayed by Connery, Lazenby, et. al. Fleming's writing is uncomplicated but finely crafted, and the story is dark and mordant with a strong central thread of tension and suspense which never wavers.

This earliest novel has an almost 1930's feel to it, with a healthy dose of immediate postwar Cold War paranoia. Things are never as they seem. CASINO ROYALE immediately introduces us to two of Bond's favorite preoccupations---women and casinos. Bond is paired with the incredibly sensuous Vesper Lynd, and the two set out to foil the plans of LeChiffre, the Russian agent fallen on hard times who is desperately trying to recoup some Moscow-funded business losses to the tune of 50 mil.

Bond beats LeChiffre at the gaming table and then LeChiffre beats Bond, who is naked and tied to a chair at the time. While the language is restrained, Fleming leaves us in no doubt as to our hero's predicament. Unlike his modern-day counterparts, Fleming doesn't have to be cartoonish or pornographic to draw us a prose-picture, and that, more than anything, recommends his work.

After so many years of being out-of-print in the U.S., Penguin finally had the verve and the nerve to release the complete Fleming ouevre in an attractive set with some really dynamic cover art.What a pleasure to see the Master returned at last.

Having grown up as a fan of the movie series, I decided to actually read one of the Fleming books. I was happy I did so. I enjoyed it far more than I had anticipated, thinking it had the strong potential to be extremely dated, given current political global realities (not to mention the realities of "political correctness"). Having rarely dipped into the espionage genre, I suspect Fleming was one of the first Cold War spy writers, and from that aspect alone, it makes this an interesting read. But the story, as well, is great fun. This is NOT heavily character-driven stuff. We don't know a great deal about this character, James Bond, from Fleming's writing, no delving into his childhood, why he became a spy, what motivates him. None of the ingredients that LeCarre might include. But perhaps that's the point. Bond is a man of mystery, as deep and mysterious to the reader as he is to his compatriots. The plot is a fun one: Bond must outlast the Soviet spy based in France, Le Chiffre, in a game of bacarrat. Fleming's pacing and suspense are well doled out. The chapters are short and the ending has a twist. What could possibly be better on a cold winter's night. Pass the gin and olives.

Just as Sean Connery is the only real Bond, Ian Fleming remains the only real Bond author. For various reasons, I have not been as enthusiastic with all of the Fleming Bond novels, but I was very pleased to have just read this initial Bond book. The differences between the movies and the books are as different as the actors who have played the British secret agent. The book version of 007 gives us a much more human character. His confidence some times shakes, and he is left with much self doubt. Instead of a witticism at the sight of an antagonist's violent death, he becomes ill. He is harmed, and he cries. This is a "man's" book that I did not hesitate to offer to my wife to read.
This book did not become a traditional movie. Instead the owner of the book rights (not the author) turned the story into a spy farce. There are important aspects of the book, however, that will be noticed in the true Bond movies. The story is different from Fleming's other stories, but the reader will not be disappointed. If nothing else, you will learn how to play the game of Baccarat, and how to make the famous Bond martini.