Spy Who Loved Me

When I found out that the content of this novel was entirely different from the content of the Moore flick, I decided to read the novel, and boy, am I glad I did. This is a moving, exciting, totally absorbing book, with terrific characterization and surprising tenderness. I couldn't have asked for a better "light" read, and I recommend it to just about anybody.

Octopussy, the short story by Ian Fleming is a great little story about James Bond paying a visit to a man who murdered one of his friends 20 years earlier and "taking care" of him. It's short, sweet, not too confusing and filled with Flemings trademark, quality writing. As a comic strip, which would normally focus on action, it should have been a disaster. This adaptation by James Lawrence and Yaroslav Horak is AMAZING. They succeed by using the short story and embellishing it in ways that take nothing away from the original. They add a backstory that fleshes out the characters in great ways. In the original story the murdered man was one of Bond's mentors, the man that taught him to ski among other things. In the comic version we meet his family and see that there was so much more to the man, and his relationship to 007. Action sequences are added where needed and true to Fleming's style, there are sexy moments. As if that weren't enough, this volume also contains the story, THE HILDEBRAND RARITY, originally from the FOR YOUR EYES ONLY collection. Again, Lawrence and Horak take one of Fleming's thinner stories and flesh it out to a proper length and character. Again they succeed admirably. These strips were published in the London Daily Telegraph between November of 1966 and December of 1967, but they feel as fresh today as they did 35 years ago. The stories and the art is timeless- both a tribute to Ian Fleming's work and that of Lawrence and Horak.

This is only the 5th Bond Book that I have read, but it is definately one of the best! It takes a different turn by making the whole book through the eyes of the Bond girl, Vivienne Michel. I also loved that it was plain and simple. No bio-war fare, or fancy villain plans, just two gangsters who want insurance money. Taking away the fancy plot made it easier to focus on the characters and the fantastic writing. So, BUY THIS BOOK! IT's GREAT! (even throughout the soap-opra-ish first half.)

I haven't seen the film of _The Spy Who Loved Me_, but I expect it has nothing at all to do with this book. I also suspect it isn't nearly as good as this book. It's somewhat misleading to even call this a James Bond novel. The main character is a woman, and the story is told from her perspective, in first person. She spends much of the book telling us of her first two love affairs, one with a teenage boy, and one with her German employer. She describes how each one excited her at first, and why each relationship went wrong. Near the end of the book (page 90 of 143 in the old paperback edition I have), James Bond enters, and ultimately saves, her life. She sees that he is her ideal man, but, of course, their relationship cannot last, because he's James Bond. There is some action toward the end, featuring the sort of gunfights and explosions you expect from a Bond story, but I found this to be the least interesting part, because we've seen all of that before. Much more interesting was the exploration of what women do and do not want in a man, why James Bond is the sort of man that most women want, and how many women have a deep-seated desire to love and serve a strong, intelligent man like Bond. The book was written by Ian Fleming, who was, of course, a man. Still, he seems to understand female psychology well. Undoubtedly this book, like all of the Bond novels, reflects a lot of what Fleming learned in his many worldy experiences during his short life.

I've read some very bad reveiws of the novel, which is a mystery why. No, this is not a typical 007 novel, but that is what makes it great. With 19 movies, around 25 books, it is nice to see something different. The Spy Who Loved Me is different--and change is a good thing