›

Which Bond novel are you currently reading?

1…777879808183»

Comments

  • ColonelAdamskiColonelAdamski UK
    edited May 16 Posts: 1,141
    Reflsin2bourbons wrote: »
    Benson's dialogue is really the poorest part of his novels: Bond sounds like a teenager and not a pleasant one at that. It's probably the result of being a new writer; even some of his descriptions are lifted from travel brochures (or so I've heard).

    I agree about the often very clunky dialogue. I usually put it down to Benson being American. Gardner does Bond dialogue much more convincingly . I'm just about halfway through Never Send Flowers at the moment, and I'm honestly finding the dialogue a treat.
  • RevelatorRevelator
    Posts: 2,958
    I'm surprised that in the recent discussion of Bond continuation novels no one has brought up John Pearson's James Bond: The Authorized Biography of 007. While not a conventional novel, it's certainly a work of fiction, and written with more intelligence, wit, and verve than most conventional Bond continuations. Pearson knew and worked for Fleming before becoming his biographer; his simultaneously close and distant perspective on Bond was different from that of every other person who has written a Bond continuation novel. It's a neglected book that deserves a much larger audience.
  • Reflsin2bourbonsReflsin2bourbons
    Posts: 394
    Yes I've read that one too and it's quite serviceable in its job. It gives an interesting backstory on James Bond and expands on stories that Fleming only hinted at in the novels. And the present-day narrative with Honey is quite interesting as well.

    The nature of the story (as a a biography of the "real" James Bond and not the literary one) allows for departures from Fleming in ways I don't exactly believe: the complete ficitionalisation of MR, or even things such as Bond having a brother don't exactly ring true to me.

    I don't think I'd pick it up over any continuation novel though; there isn't really a narrative that drives the story and ultimately it exists as a cool companion piece (along with Amis' Dossier and Benson's Bedside Companion) to the other novels
  • rollsgoldenrollsgolden
    Posts: 9
    When I finish the Fleming run, I'll check out those books. Just started From Russia...
  • echoecho 007 in New York
    Posts: 6,706
    Reflsin2bourbons wrote: »
    Yes I've read that one too and it's quite serviceable in its job. It gives an interesting backstory on James Bond and expands on stories that Fleming only hinted at in the novels. And the present-day narrative with Honey is quite interesting as well.

    The nature of the story (as a a biography of the "real" James Bond and not the literary one) allows for departures from Fleming in ways I don't exactly believe: the complete ficitionalisation of MR, or even things such as Bond having a brother don't exactly ring true to me.

    I don't think I'd pick it up over any continuation novel though; there isn't really a narrative that drives the story and ultimately it exists as a cool companion piece (along with Amis' Dossier and Benson's Bedside Companion) to the other novels

    I enjoy it as well. It is very meta and reads more like a commentary on the original books. Hard to take it seriously as a narrative, although the kangaroos are not far off from the plot of For Special Services.
Sign In or Register to comment.