2 replies to this topic

[Renix]

I've never read any Bond books but I'm finding it to be quite an experience.

I love the moments where you know Bond is human. This is a big difference from the superman Bond that I've come to know in the movies. One of the biggest "human" moments so far was after Bond was nearly killed by the bomb.

"Bond felt himself starting to vomit."

Not something I would have listed under "Bond Like." I was hit by that line almost as hard as Bond was hit by the bomb. Bond is not immortal. He's not all powerful.

"It's nothing to be particularly proud of."
"(About two people Bond had killed in the past)... Probably quite decent people. "
"It's a confusing business; but if it's one's profession one does what one's told. How do you like the grated egg with your caviar?"

I like these lines. they are something you don't hear when it comes to action or heros. I believe it could have been said by a solider and had the same effect. The last line, where he diverts Lynd's attention from his job back to the meal, really sums it all up. It's his job... and that's all.

"Vesper listened attentively, but she also watched the look of absract passion on Bond's face."

Reading about Bond explaining a game to someone also made him a bit human. The only thing that I've ever really seen Bond do with someone is interact with them, fight with them, drink with them, or sleep with them. And the way he explains it is as if it was explained to him. I mean, come on, someone had to.

While a lot of these things seem trivial and not very important to the story, I just thought that I would try and focus the differences I saw in THIS Bond and the Bond I thought I knew.

I think I will some this up with a Baccarat analogy:

If you watch Bond walk into a casino or deliever a clever line then there is nothing left up to you. Everything that is is presented to you. His movements. His facial expressions. Nothing more then the Natural Nine you were delt. You have no choice but to turn the cards over.

However, with reading about Bond there are many blank spaces and holes that you are allowed to fill in. Being dealt a Five... it's up to you as to what the next move is. In this case I believe it is always a winning hand. The man that Bond becomes is what you want him to become.

As for me... I just like knowing that James Bond is, in fact, human.

I'd be interested to know if anyone else has the same feelings about this. Or even just some feedback about the things I've pointed out.

[Xenobia]

That is what I am enjoying most about this book.

Many of the arguments made againt Pierce Brosnan, and even against Timothy Dalton, say that the actors played Bond with too much emotion.

Bond has emotion....and he even lets it go at times...he doesn't always have to be a superhero.

You expect superheroes to do extraordinary things. What makes Bond so great is that it is a human man doing those things.

-- Xenobia

[SirMiles83]

I became a Bond fan through the movies like most of us, and I just started reading the novels about three years ago. And because of the reality of the books and the intimacy with character of James Bond that the books provide, I now enjoy the books more than the films.