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Review #063: Casino Royale
FORMAT: Book
TITLE: Casino Royale
AUTHOR: Ian Fleming
01. First of all, I love the cover art for this book. It is beyond beautiful. It is beyond gorgeous. They've done all the Bond books like them now--they have paintings/drawings on the front of women and a lot of random objects that somehow tie into the story. That's basically all they sell in Barnes & Noble now, so if you go to pick one up, it'll be in that style.
02. I fail at spy jargon. Whenever Fleming sets up the case, I always lose myself amongst the names and can't remember half of them. One thing that was interesting was that the book's description of Bond (his cold-heartedness, etc) was totally matched by Daniel Craig's performance in the movie.
03. After watching Eva Green's Vesper, I have to say that the book version paled in comparison. This one was weak and pathetic; nor did she even seem remotely good at what she was doing. She just cried all the time and acted totally unprofessional. Why do I get the feeling that that's how Fleming portrayed all of his woman? I wouldn't be shocked if he was chauvinist.
04. Amazingly, I managed to follow the entire card came. Granted, it was vingt-et-un (Blackjack), but the way some people write these scenes are so hard to understand that it could be Go Fish and I would have no idea what was going on. I still don't know anything about betting, but at the very least I knew what was happening. Thank you, Fleming, for being the only author who's ever been capable of doing that.
05. One thing that surprised me was that Mathis was not a traitor. In the movie, he was, and Bond killed him; all of a sudden he's not. (Well, obviously, he's been not a traitor since the fifties, when this book was written, but still.) I like him a lot better when he's on our side. =)
06. As usual, I didn't like the handling of the Le Chiffre situation. I thought it was done poorly in the movie, and unfortunately the movie made his character about ten times more complex than the book did. All the book said was that he was broke, that he wasn't that great of a gambler (there wasn't even anything about his tell), and that at the end he was killed by a SMERSH agent who wanted money.
07. I have to say, I love the way the book is written. There's so much irony, and Fleming doesn't waste any time with purple prose or thoughtful observations. I'm sure actual spy work isn't as interesting as the book makes it out to be, but I loved reading about all the little things Bond did to protect himself. Fleming's sexism aside, it was an excellent book and I definitely wouldn't mind picking up another one.
TITLE: Casino Royale
AUTHOR: Ian Fleming
01. First of all, I love the cover art for this book. It is beyond beautiful. It is beyond gorgeous. They've done all the Bond books like them now--they have paintings/drawings on the front of women and a lot of random objects that somehow tie into the story. That's basically all they sell in Barnes & Noble now, so if you go to pick one up, it'll be in that style.
02. I fail at spy jargon. Whenever Fleming sets up the case, I always lose myself amongst the names and can't remember half of them. One thing that was interesting was that the book's description of Bond (his cold-heartedness, etc) was totally matched by Daniel Craig's performance in the movie.
03. After watching Eva Green's Vesper, I have to say that the book version paled in comparison. This one was weak and pathetic; nor did she even seem remotely good at what she was doing. She just cried all the time and acted totally unprofessional. Why do I get the feeling that that's how Fleming portrayed all of his woman? I wouldn't be shocked if he was chauvinist.
04. Amazingly, I managed to follow the entire card came. Granted, it was vingt-et-un (Blackjack), but the way some people write these scenes are so hard to understand that it could be Go Fish and I would have no idea what was going on. I still don't know anything about betting, but at the very least I knew what was happening. Thank you, Fleming, for being the only author who's ever been capable of doing that.
05. One thing that surprised me was that Mathis was not a traitor. In the movie, he was, and Bond killed him; all of a sudden he's not. (Well, obviously, he's been not a traitor since the fifties, when this book was written, but still.) I like him a lot better when he's on our side. =)
06. As usual, I didn't like the handling of the Le Chiffre situation. I thought it was done poorly in the movie, and unfortunately the movie made his character about ten times more complex than the book did. All the book said was that he was broke, that he wasn't that great of a gambler (there wasn't even anything about his tell), and that at the end he was killed by a SMERSH agent who wanted money.
07. I have to say, I love the way the book is written. There's so much irony, and Fleming doesn't waste any time with purple prose or thoughtful observations. I'm sure actual spy work isn't as interesting as the book makes it out to be, but I loved reading about all the little things Bond did to protect himself. Fleming's sexism aside, it was an excellent book and I definitely wouldn't mind picking up another one.
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