36 replies to this topic

[The Admiral]

This thread is intended for reviews and ratings of Doctor No by members of the The Blades Library Book Club here.

Please do not reply directly to reviews in this thread, rather start a new thread to ask questions or post comments about reviews.

[The Admiral]

I thoroughly enjoyed reading Doctor No. The film followed the book closely.

The course of pain that Bond had to go through near the end, was really exciting to read, especially the

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surprise of an Octopus

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[Max Zorin]

This has always been my favorite Bond novel, just for the sheer hell it puts Bond through. I love the centipede attack. I love death race Dr. No puts Bond through. I love the "Killing Ground". I love the characters - the loyal, lovable Quarrel, the sprited Honey, the devious Dr. No (one of my favorite Fleming villains - to bad he was underused in the book.) I even liked
Pleydell-Smith. It's just a fun, fast paced adventure that was brough outstandingly to film. Five stars, easy.

[Qwerty]

It was a great one. Doctor No has always and still is to this day out of all the James Bond novels, my favorite. James Bond is just as interesting in this one as he was in the previous missions. The Hell that he has to go through in Dr. No's 'torture course' is described well.

Dr. No is a great villain and gets some great lines, especially those desrcibing him as a maniac. I also loved Honey Ryder, her entrance is, naturally, unforgettable.

It's an oustanding book filled to the brim with excitement. 5 stars without a doubt.

[007_fclmdb]

I liked it but sometimes I find the book too much descriptive.
but as a whole very good book! { 4.5 }

[Sam Fisher]

The main thing I loved about this novel is that the real reason, meaning the plot, wasn't really discovered until the beginning of the end. Throughout the book we're given fragmented clues as to what's happening and the reader is left scratching his head until he or she gets to the point where Ian made it all clear and we find James Bond in the thick of it all.

The obstacle course description was well made, i felt like I was beside Bond fighting for my life and trying to keep my senses together.

However my only gripe is when Doctor No meets his end; suffocation by bird dung? I just don't see it in my mind's eye to be honest, if it was a huge pile couldn't he have just climbed out of it?

[Blofeld's Cat]

It's my favourite Fleming so far.

It's reality with healthy doses of the bizarre.

[JKD68]

It's the 1st Bond book I read & my favorite. Favorite girl, villian, & location. Judging it just on quality alone, it's right up there with CR & FRWL. It just flows so well from chapter to chapter, setting to setting. I should mention that I haven't read the TB-YOLT trilogy, so I can't compare DN to them yet.

[B007GLE]

I think that in the past I have not given the books that served as the inspiration for the early movies their due. (Except FRWL which I have always loved.)

The movie Dr. No is so good and even adds great things not in the book -Ms. Taro, Prof. Dent, the 3 Blind Mice's end- that I originally felt that the book was "just okay".

Having re-read it now I realize just how terrific the book is. I have a quibble with M not thinking something bad happened to Strangways but beyond this it is a terrific read.

[North Scorpion]

I don't know how Bond could stay awake while Dr. No prattled on. If brevity is the soul of wit than Dr. No has none of it. The man kept talking and talking...of course it was an interesting read, but poor Mr. Bond.

I must say I did like Dr. No's death. Quite fitting and lasting legacy he left behind. To be buried under a ton of bird dung...one of the best death scenes in fiction!

[Bond Maniac]

What a surprise this novel was for me. After picking it up i couldn

[Double-O Eleven]

Hot damn, this is a great novel. I first read it in 1986 when I was thirteen, and it was the second Fleming novel I read--and it's the one that hooked me. I had previously read Goldfinger, which a friend lent to me when I was on a long vacation with him in junior high school. I am ashamed to admit that I didn't much care for it (it's still not one of my favorites, although I do have a greater appreciation for it now), but he encouraged me to then read Doctor No, which he had just finished. I still vividly remember putting down the book after reading the first chapter and looking at my friend beside me on the bus and remarking: "That was a great opening!" It was a rapid-fire read after that, and by the end of the year I had read every single Ian Fleming James Bond novel. I had a new obsession that hasn't abandoned me since.

So Doctor No holds a special place with me. But its power is much more than nostalgia; it really is Fleming at the height of his powers, and it's the most imaginative and outrageous of his books. This most recent re-read (probably the fourth time) was just as exciting as the first time I read it, when I had no idea what would happen (I had not seen the movie at the time). It has the speed and action of Live and Let Die but also benefits from Fleming's greater literary maturity and handling of characters. It succeeds better than almost any of the other Bond novels of removing the reader from the everyday world and throwing them into a fantasy of sun, sex, violence, exoticism, and mad villainry.

And the centipede sequence

Edited by Double-O Eleven, 11 September 2006 - 08:12 PM.

[Lazenby880]

A thouroughly engaging post, Double-O Eleven, and one of the best reviews of Dr No I have read. I must confess that I did not find the novel *quite* as exciting as you did, for me there are pacing issues in the last section of the novel. I absolutely agree, however, that the novel is probably the most successful of Fleming's in taking the British heterosexual male of the 1950s and throwing into a mad world of sun, sex, exoticism and general oddness. Moreover, Dr No is probably the novel that betrays the most overt similarities to the American pulp tradition; at the very least, it seems, Fleming did take a degree of inspiration from the tradition.

What I enjoy most about Dr No is the sheer energy and that element of the bizarre, so fundamental to Fleming's writing. In the novel Fleming succeeds in taking an adventure story and imbuing it with a greater degree of danger and fantasy and weirdness. What emerges is one of the most gripping Bond thrillers, and some masterful prose.

Once again, a most articulate review.

Edited by Lazenby880, 11 September 2006 - 09:08 PM.

[Double-O Eleven]

Thanks for the kind words, Lazenby880!

The general craziness of Doctor No definitely is one of its appeals. I myself am an avid collector of American pulp stories, and am a big fan of Doc Savage. Doctor No shares much in common with Doc Savage. It's especially a strange book considering that it follows From Russia, with Love, which is a genuinely "European"-style thriller, grounded in very down-to-earth excitement and adventure. Doctor No, by comparison, is almost lunatic. I'm mean, it seriously sounds like it should be ridiculous; but Fleming is too good a writer to make this into some silly camp. He is able to so launch the reader so deep into his fantasy setting that you can't help but take the ride and wonder what strangeness will come next. A giant squid and a villain dyinging under a pile of guano wouldn't have worked as a finale to a novel written in a more realistic style, but at that point in Doctor No, you're damned near ready for anything to come flying at you. It's a great example of conditioning the audience.

Edited by Double-O Eleven, 11 September 2006 - 10:10 PM.

[dajman_007]

I was told that this would be one of the best Fleming novels. I'm not saying it was bad, because it definately wasn't. But up until the dinner, I was going through the book just to get it over with. When I was reading LALD i had to turn the pages because I was so enthrawled. I read CR in 2 afternoons I was so into it. It took me two weeks to punch through Doctor No. Again I think it would have been a much better read in the mid 50s but having watched Dr. No 50+ times, I knew exactly what was coming, without a hint of foreshadowing. Predictable? Hardly. After Bond Meets Dr. No the movie veered from the novel, therefore the novel took on a life of its own. Now I read the last quarter of the book in one night. Bond's Death Trap was non-stop action and I didn't know what was coming. I think this is another one of Fleming's brilliant works. And it's no one's fault that the movie followed so closely to the book. If anything its a due compliment to Fleming's work that the films rarely give the author anymore.

[Qwerty]

And it's no one's fault that the movie followed so closely to the book. If anything its a due compliment to Fleming's work that the films rarely give the author anymore.

Certainly not. As you say, it's a compliment and a treat for Bond fans as its one of the few that stays relatively loyal to an already outstanding Fleming novel.

[MystikTK]

This is about as good as it gets for me. The central locale might turn some people off, but it didn't bother me because of my love of Jamacia.

I also think that the final sequence is among the best that Fleming ever wrote.

[Qwerty]

This is about as good as it gets for me.

[CJB]

I just finished reading it a few days ago, and what can I say, it was sheer brilliance. Ian Fleming is truly a master of writing.

The sequence with the centipede was just so tense and well-written. The locations are great, and Fleming's love and knowledge of Jamaica really shines through. Dr. No is an excellent villain. I love his little speech on "maniacs". Honey is a very nice character. She possesses a child-like innocence which I guess must be a quality Bond liked about her. The scenes involving Dr. No's course were just marvelous. You could just feel the searing pain Bond felt. Very well written.

Now, Dr. No's death. To be honest, I didn't like it. Getting crushed by bird dung just didn't seem very fitting for such an excellent character. It would've been nice if Bond showed some real ruthlessness and killed him with his bare hands.

I thought the plot was very good. I did kind of miss the down-to-earth thriller feel of Casino Royale and From Russia, With Love, but I guess a bit of variety keeps the series interesting.

Overall, a brilliant, exciting novel, and I can't wait to start reading Goldfinger.

[Agent Carter]

The main thing I loved about this novel is that the real reason, meaning the plot, wasn't really discovered until the beginning of the end. Throughout the book we're given fragmented clues as to what's happening and the reader is left scratching his head until he or she gets to the point where Ian made it all clear and we find James Bond in the thick of it all.

The obstacle course description was well made, i felt like I was beside Bond fighting for my life and trying to keep my senses together.

However my only gripe is when Doctor No meets his end; suffocation by bird dung? I just don't see it in my mind's eye to be honest, if it was a huge pile couldn't he have just climbed out of it?

I imagined it as a massive pile. An bit of irony I thought since Dr. No was so clean and such a perfectionist to be buried in guano.

It also describes Dr. No's body being bent back under the weight.

[Byron]

The main thing I loved about this novel is that the real reason, meaning the plot, wasn't really discovered until the beginning of the end. Throughout the book we're given fragmented clues as to what's happening and the reader is left scratching his head until he or she gets to the point where Ian made it all clear and we find James Bond in the thick of it all.

The obstacle course description was well made, i felt like I was beside Bond fighting for my life and trying to keep my senses together.

However my only gripe is when Doctor No meets his end; suffocation by bird dung? I just don't see it in my mind's eye to be honest, if it was a huge pile couldn't he have just climbed out of it?

I imagined it as a massive pile. An bit of irony I thought since Dr. No was so clean and such a perfectionist to be buried in guano.

It also describes Dr. No's body being bent back under the weight.

Not a great way to die is it? Never thought about the irony in that death.

Maybe being put through a crusher a la Dario may have been too graphic for the 60's.

[forever bond]

Talk all about the novel Dr. no

Edited by forever bond, 30 April 2007 - 07:19 PM.

[MHazard]

I'm in favor of discussing Fleming's novels. It's been a little while since I last re-read Dr. No, but I'll start with some observations:

1. It seems to me that DN and GF are the two most over the top (least plausible) in terms of their plots and the villains' evil plans.

2. I think I read somewhere a long time ago that one criticism of Bond the character is that he's not that swift at figuring things out and that the person who wrote this essay used the fact that it seemed Bond should have figured out Dr. No was up to no good and had killed Strangways long before he did, that it was pretty obvious.

3. I like the movie version, but here's some things I think the book did better (I usually judge movie quality by how much of the book they incorporate): Dr. No's death by guano-more fun than being flung in an atomic reactor; Dr. No himself-hooks for hands and his overall physical appearance and story. I thought Joseph Wiseman did a good job, but he didn't really bring the book version to life (as I feel Gert Frobe pretty much did in GF); the octopus fight-just aint there; and finally, in the novel, there is a good explanation and reason for Bond being subjected to Dr. No's obstacle course. It's the climax of the book but in the movie all you get is he escaped out a ventilator shaft and why is it hot in there and why is there water?.

4. Overall, a darn good read. I consider it, along with FRWL and GF to be mid-period Bond, the Bond most people think of when they think of Bond. I think of the previous books CR through DAF as early Bond and post GF as late Bond leading to the trilogy of the final three novels.

Anyway, my contribution. Does anyone have any thoughts on the literary version of DN?

[Qwerty]

[Moderator's Note: Topics merged]

[00Twelve]

I concur with most of your points, MHazard, including the way you judge most Bond films.

Yes, it would have been nice to see a lot of the abandoned elements onscreen. It almost pains me to see such great sequences left out. Of course, most of the abandoned material would have required an effects budget on a Cecil B. Demille scale. The obstacle course is one of the great suspenseful highlights of the series, and the "killing ground" sequence is the kind of fantastical stuff that seems more appropriate than space stations and spacecraft-eaters. Of course, I think even more people would react with a "Whhhhaaaaat?" to the squid than even to things like laser space battles. Hilariously enough, I think there'd be a lot of people exclaiming "Over the top!" about that.

Also, the guano operation might be lost on a rather large group of casual moviegoers. Though feasible for the kind of island Dr. No occupied, it seems a rather unlikely and fanstastic cover for the toppling operation. Still, I'd also rather have seen that than the sci-fi reactor room (with all due respect to Ken Adam, of course).

I agree that Wiseman's Dr. No didn't quite achieve the full potential of the literary character. However, he played the part brilliantly and to the letter; the flaws are due to script changes. Hands for hooks (not realy a big deal), and the true background of those hooks is woefully replaced by a more "common" explanation.

I also miss the little things, like the poisoned fruit (that's still begging to be included in a film) and the violent "sickness" after the centipede ordeal (I can understand the change to a spider; it's more readily visually threatening to folks who don't know centipedes). Not to mention, I like the literary Quarrel much better, as his continuation from LALD makes him more endearing and sympathetic, and it hurts more to see him killed.

I also admire the choice to give Honey a broken nose, and to only mention in passing that she'd be going to have it fixed, and Bond actually regrets that! Very interesting character trait, his attraction to near-perfect women.

This is probably my second favorite novel, behind the novel to which it is most directly connected, LALD.

[MHazard]

Very good points. The broken nose on Honey makes her a much more interesting and appealing character. Similarly, Quarrel, much better in both books In the movie Bond does get sick after almost being bitten by the tarantula and goes into the bathroom to vomit and, if memory serves me correctly, they do attempt to poison him (maybe it was vodka instead of fruit, I haven't watched the movie in a while). How do you come down on the question of DN being one of the two most over the top books, particularly compared to LALD which seems more down to earth.

[00Twelve]

Oh, DN is definitely one of the most OTT books, right there with its successor, GF.

Yeah, in the film, Bond just rests his hand on his stomach and weakly meanders into the bathroom, and before I read the book, I just thought he was like, "Well, now that I'm up, might as well go pee." A scene like the CR poisoned martini scene is what I'd have liked there, only without the appropriate trippy cinematography. Or at least just had him scramble for the bathroom like someone who is about to be violently sick, and left the rest to our imaginations.

There's a hint that the vodka's poisoned, but blink and you'll miss it. Plus, he half expected it, as he already knew someone had been in his room and tampered with his things. In the book, he gets suspicious as to the motive of Gov't House sending him another "welcome" greeting, and so takes out a jeweler's eye and sees the pin pricks, only to find out later that there was enough cyanide in each piece of fruit "to kill a horse." That was pretty chilling to me, to have the suspicion confirmed and it be worse than what you thought. Oh well!

[MHazard]

Well I think we're in agreement that the book was better than the movie (which shouldn't be controversial, but on other threads would be). In any event, what do you particularly like about DN that makes it your second favorite Bond book? By the way, if anyone else has any DN comments...

[00Twelve]

Hmm.

I guess the suspense was fantastic in general in this particular book, and the revenge agle was good, and the characterizations weren't lacking, and Dr. No's character was one of the better villains of the series to me.

But I can definitely say that the obstacle course and killing ground sequences are among my very favorite scenes in the whole book series. Dr. No pushes Bond right to the limit, and he has to get really down and dirty like he never had before just to survive. I mean, he was gleeful at the chance to finally drown! Great sequence, and it rivalled the best that any of the other books had to offer in terms of suspense and action (IMHO).

I guess that's the bulk of it, as to why it's my second fave.

[Byron]

Well I think we're in agreement that the book was better than the movie (which shouldn't be controversial, but on other threads would be). In any event, what do you particularly like about DN that makes it your second favorite Bond book? By the way, if anyone else has any DN comments...

If i may, you and 0012 are spot on about Quarrel. A much more vivid and interesting ally in the books (my favourite one in the series, yes more than Felix). Quarrel is given a history as well as a character, as illustrated by this line - "he is a Cayman islander and his grey eyes are a reminder of his distant Cromwellian English parentage". I really felt his demise in DN.

This is a testament to Fleming and his skills of characterization.

Lik you MarkH my fave book is LALD and DN is in the top 5.