14 replies to this topic

[Qwerty]

How old were you when you first read John Gardner's Never Send Flowers--the current selection in the mblbc.gif. Was it your first Gardner Bond book?

For me, Never Send Flowers remained the most elusive of all his Bond books. Having never come across a copy in any of the used bookstores where I was able to locate pretty much all his other books, I finally got my first copy--the US Berkley paperback--online from Half.com. This must have been around 2004 or so (when I was about 17 years old).

Being the last Gardner book I read for the first time, it was actually a pleasant surprise as his later Bond adventures were definitely hit and miss. Here we had just a straightforward (a word almost never associated with his plots!) serial killer plot that kept the pages turning.

[Kronsteen]

I can't really remember how old I was. I think it must have been around 2004 when I was 19. I read it during the summer and absolutely loved every second of it, so I haven't re-read it afraid of being disappointed.

[Quantumofsolace007]

I'm reading it for the first time now so 21

[Johnboy007]

I found it in my township's library in the summer of 2003. That would have made me 14 going on 15 at the time. It was the first Gardner I read and loved every minute of it.

I'll probably reread it sometime next summer. Hopefully it will still hold up!

[dee-bee-five]

I don't recall how old I was when I read it. But I know I felt I aged terribly while I did so...

[Genrewriter]

I was probably about sixteen or seventeen.

[deth]

19

[Jim]

Also 19.

Bad book, but I suppose it could have been worse: at that age, I might have been sent to Vietnam. Never Send Flowers - marginally better than a 'Nam flashback.

One thing in its favour is its adherence to the three word title, like Death is Forever or For Special Services or AFRICAN CONFLICT DIAMONDS.

[[dark]]

Never Send Flowers was, I believe, the first continuation novel I ever owned. I probably read it when I was 16 or so. I enjoyed it at the time, but I imagine I'd be more critical of it now.

I remember reading it in class one day and our Dean of Studies, intrigued, asked me whether it was "Ian Fleming's James Bond". At the time I answered yes, but nowadays I may have given a more cynical reply.

[ACE]

ACD

Interesting responses.

My previous Gardner "How old were you's..."



I see we jumped to Never Send Flowers without doing a similar thread for the previous book, Death Is Forever. Unless I missed something.

My first impressions story for both Death Is Forever and Never Send Flowers is similar to my previous entries to this series for the Nineties Gardner Bonds. Maxim from from Murder One bookshop in Charing Cross Road notified me that they had copies in and off I trotted. I cannot quite remember whether I read the US edition first (some Gardner Bonds were published in the US months ahead of the UK) but the version did not matter. I loved the title and the bold British Hardback cover - this new series of Gardner Bond covers, starting with Win Lose Or Die, were finally coming into their own.

By now, I knew the routine. Gardner would start with an intriguing new idea only for the story and characters to take improbable yet familiar turns. After the action packed and enthralling re-run of No Deals Mr Bond that Death Is Forever was, Never Send Flowers was Scorpius-esque procedural Bond adventure. Much ridiculed for its EuroDisney finale, the Dragonpol villainy was an attempt at James Bond meets Hannibal Leckter and intriguing for it. The Swiss/German/French locations were vintage Gardner. Flicka von Grusse, Bond's squeeze, was a typical Gardner Euro-Sloane. The Schloss Drache was a fun set piece but the reveal of the target was a big "So what?!" No logic. No threat.

Re-evaluating the continuation novels in the light of Devil May Care makes me realise how important, for me, the story of a Bond novel is. However ridiculous, within the bounds of the reading experience, one doesn't want to mentally have to say, "Oh, come on!" This was one of the latter uneven Gardner Bonds. However, in 1993, Never Send Flowers was a literary Bond oasis in the depth of a 007 drought.

[Donovan Mayne-Nicholls]

Bought the US paperback in 1994 so I was 22.

[Qwerty]

I see we jumped to Never Send Flowers without doing a similar thread for the previous book, Death Is Forever. Unless I missed something.

Nope, it was my overlook. I'll get one going soon.

[dogmanstar]

Never Send Flowers was the last Gardner I ever read--completing my attempt to read them all. I think someone tipped me off about the EuroDisney finale (maybe it was on the flyleaf?) and I couldn't bring myself to read the thing. It was better, when I finally got round to it, than I expected though the Disney thing . . . . As Kurtz says, "The horror. The horror!"

[Qwerty]

Never Send Flowers was the last Gardner I ever read--completing my attempt to read them all. I think someone tipped me off about the EuroDisney finale (maybe it was on the flyleaf?) and I couldn't bring myself to read the thing. It was better, when I finally got round to it, than I expected though the Disney thing . . . . As Kurtz says, "The horror. The horror!"

I actually thought the inclusion of the EuroDisney location was one of the more original bits to pop up in a John Gardner Bond novel.

[Sbott]

39 3/4 yrs old. Certainly old enough to know better.....