Book Club - From Russia, With Love
Jan. 30th, 2016 07:39 pm![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
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Book club is designed to be a place where you can go beyond the Bond movies and delve into another medium with our favorite secret agent. We have questions to help get things started, but there are no set discussions. If you have anything interesting that you want to discuss about your reading experience, comments on the text, or how reading the book might have changed your view on the characters in the movies, then do share!
Questions to get us started:
1) What did you think of Kerim Bey?
2) How did you feel about Bond's romance with Tatiana?
3) Did Bond's face-off with Red Grant live up to your expectations after Fleming's impressive introduction of his character?
4) What was up with the last scene in the book?! Were you satisfied with the book's ending?
This is a spoiler-friendly zone! Everyone is assumed to have read the book at this point, and the comments below will reflect this.
Happy discussing!
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no subject
Date: 2016-01-31 09:14 am (UTC)1) What did you think of Kerim Bey?
I was pretty neutral about him, to be honest. He was a sympathetic character, but I wasn't terribly devastated when he died.
2) How did you feel about Bond's romance with Tatiana?
I surprised myself by approving of it. I was highly sceptical at first, but then they met - in the most ridiculous way possible, one might add - and I was sold.
3) Did Bond's face-off with Red Grant live up to your expectations after Fleming's impressive introduction of his character?
Some people might have found it a bit anticlimactic, but I wanted to strangle Grant during the entire scene, so I actually enjoyed it because it meant that the book had done its job.
4) What was up with the last scene in the book?! Were you satisfied with the book's ending?
And here's the million dollar question. When I finished the book, my first reaction was to Google for answers and my search consisted mostly of "???????". What I ended up with as a result was the fact that apparently Mr. Flemming left the ending open in case he decided that he didn't want to write any more of those, so I am now angry at him 59 years into the future.
Also, I can't help but point out a few quotes which really stuck with me because of various reasons.
"The night breeze felt wonderfully on his naked body. (...) He bent to switch off the lights on the dressing-table. Suddenly he stiffened and his heart missed a beat. There had been a nervous giggle from the shadows at the back of the room."
That's an... interesting - if a bit unfortunate - moment for Tatiana to lose her cool.
"Don't think I'm going to take you on the part of the train that goes through Bulgaria, or I shall think you want to kidnap me."
I would love to find out what Bulgaria ever did to Ian Flemming, because he likes to paint us as either guns for hire, savages or a mix of both ever since Casino Royale and I am offended.
(about 'Nash')
"Nash means 'ours'. (...) And this man calls himself Nash. That is not pleasant."
Bond laughed. "Really, Tania. You do think of extraordinary reasons for not liking people."
Maybe listen to your sidekick for once and save yourself a lot of trouble, James.
"He felt a surge of tenderness and the impulse to gather her up in his arms and strain her tight against him. He wanted her to wake, from a dream perhaps, so that he could kiss her and tell her that everything was all right, and see her settle happily back to sleep."
This man is the embodiment of the Jerk With a Heart of Gold trope and I love it so much, honestly.
Castillon02
Date: 2016-02-01 02:06 am (UTC)Even though Bond has been technically fighting against "Redland" throughout the novels, I mostly got a sense of Bond as fighting against individual villains (mano a mano) rather than the looming shadow organization of SMERSCH/the USSR. It was really Kerim's character that helped give me a sense of that obsessive zero-sum game that was being played out between the "Reds" and the West back when the books were being written.
ALSO: HIS AND BOND'S SPY FLIRTING. I was charmed by Bond's fondness for Kerim and by Kerim's warmth toward Bond. Kerim really does seem like that kind of rakish, amoral five-night-stand kind of fellow--the kind of man Bond would enjoy being with temporarily, despite his commitment to London and possibly slight reservations about the man's general sanity (though not his competence).
(Side-note: It has been super interesting to see how carefully Fleming has handled those times whenever Bond has had to switch commanders for whatever reason, like with Scotland Yard Guy and even with Drax in Moonraker, and now here in FRWL with Kerim. There's always some diplomacy involved, Bond learning to trust the new guy and the new guy learning to trust Bond, and IDK, Fleming never just slides over it--there's always this process in which Bond is almost...seduced?...into loyalty for this other leader, though it's never above his loyalty to M.)
2. I thought Bond's romance with Tatiana was funny and cute. Both of them set up to love each other by their own governments, and then they succeed! But I also felt a little sad because it also seemed like such a flash in the pan--like Bond comments, they've got those few days on the train, and then Tatiana is whisked away for some friendly interrogation and possibly a new passport to Canada. :(
Also, Bond, OMG, you fall in love so fast sometimes, it's ridiculous. (Then again, he was coming off of a bad break-up with Tiffany. He probably didn't INTEND for Tatiana to be the rebound...but it feels like that's the way it's going to have worked out by the time we get to the next book.)
I was irritated that Tatiana got drugged into unconsciousness for the final battle on the train. I get that Fleming wanted the whole Red Grant vs. Bond isolated showdown thing, but still! I missed Tiffany carrying Bond's broken arse across the desert. I enjoyed Tatiana, particularly in her 'get to know you' chapter in the beginning, and going through with her part in the plot and enduring those awful commanding officers takes a lot of bravery and endurance, but in some ways she also feels like the most passive Bond girl we've had so far--or maybe just the youngest? Anyway, I hope she gets to do lots of lovely ice-skating with cute guys in Canada post-book!
Castillon02
Date: 2016-02-01 02:45 am (UTC)Also, OMG, how was British security really that terrible? Truly a more naive time with regard to passwords.
That said, I enjoyed the fact that Grant almost got the better of Bond (always here for Bond being at the villain's mercy at some point, which is good bc that's where Bond always ends up), and I was glad that Bond's deus ex machina case got a chance to help him save the day!
4) Could not believe that was the ending. My initial reaction was to think that the online book people had missed some kind of epilogue. But no! It was Fleming pulling a Conan Doyle, trying to kill off his popular character! Only he half-assed it (no Sherlock plummeting to the death over a waterfall here). In general not a fan of this ending--I think writers should go the whole hog (death+shamelessly ridiculous escape from a later retcon) or not flirt wishy-washily with killing off their characters at all. No one says you've got to kill the character off to not write another book about him!
Castillon02
Date: 2016-02-01 03:03 am (UTC)I totally didn't make the connection between Bond bending over and Tatiana giggling, haha. Love it!
RIGHT. What IS Fleming's thing about Bulgaria? He must've had a bad steak there once and held a grudge against the entire country.
And YES. OMG. It's like an unwritten Bond rule that Bond has to stupidly ignore someone who's hitting him over the head with a clue that Something's Not Right. He even does this with Kerim too! Like Bond himself even comments, he has this ridiculous need to see the game through.
(Sidenote: "Tania"! Already at the cute nicknames stage, aww.)
Bond often seems happiest when he's made everything "all right" for someone he loves/cares about. <3 Of course, what happens when there's nothing to fight against/no problem to solve? (Answer: Bond gets bored and cranky and difficult to live with.)
(Sidenote: Bond has all this affection that he feels and wants to express--for Kerim, for Tatiana, etc.--but for whatever reason he doesn't or feels he can't express that affection as openly as he might want. I really think a dog would be therapeutic for him. You can wake a dog with a hug whenever you want and then watch it settle happily back to sleep! Whereas with a human they'll probably glare at you and tell you to let them sleep. :P)
Re: Castillon02
Date: 2016-02-01 05:28 pm (UTC)(You're probably right - he's got all those emotions he wants to deal with somehow but doesn't know how, so it just comes out very puzzling to the people around him who are trying to figure out what the hell is he trying to achieve. And the image of Bond taking a dog out for a walk is the best thing ever, anyway. ;D)
Re: Castillon02
Date: 2016-02-01 05:33 pm (UTC)04. The half-assness of it was what made me think that maybe it wasn't the end after all and maybe it continued in the next book, but I've already taken a peak at Dr. No and it doesn't look like there's anything there about it - Fleming just retcons it and moves on. I was so frustrated, honestly.
no subject
Date: 2016-02-02 05:31 am (UTC)Darko is a dick, but then, so is Bond, so I can't really hold that against him. like Bond, I like how full of life he is - which, of course, meant I was very angry when he died. me @ James Bond: THIS IS WHY YOU CAN'T HAVE NICE THINGS. seriously, can he just have a friend who doesn't die or get eaten by something?
2) How did you feel about Bond's romance with Tatiana?
I thought it was nice that they managed to become genuinely fond of each other, and I love that both of them had to seduce the other without letting them suspect that it wasn't genuine - oh how the tables turn! or something
3) Did Bond's face-off with Red Grant live up to your expectations after Fleming's impressive introduction of his character?
I love how Grant's overconfidence and inability to shut up about his victory was what brought him down in the end - also, they both had gadgets to use against each other, which was cool. the actual fight was a bit anticlimatic? I can't remember exactly why I thought that, though
4) What was up with the last scene in the book?! Were you satisfied with the book's ending?
I love that the last fight in the book was between Bond and a scary Russian lady, seriously it's so great! and technically, she won! I think the first time I read FRWL I thought someone had torn the last page out of the copy I was reading, or something, though. yeah, Fleming tried to pull a ACD...
Castillon02
Date: 2016-02-02 05:51 am (UTC)4) Fleming actually mentions Bond's convalescence during chapter two of Doctor No! I just got to it. M is all cranky about Bond not being THAT badly off--only ALMOST POISONED TO DEATH, HONESTLY. WALK IT OFF, 007. :P