First, let me say that I love a book that was written in different times. I LOVE Anthony Trollope though the typical happy future for the women is marriage and my life would be insanity to them.
I love Bulldog Drummond because um….he goes by Bulldog and when he talks the dialoging is fantastic.
I even read much of Varney the Vampire which was terrible but fun.
What I’m saying it that I don’t have a problem, generally, with old pulp-y fiction. I have–in fact–been known to seek it out.
I assumed that I would LOVE the Bond Books. Cheesy spy, crazy, unlikely action. Etc. Etc.
What I found was this quote when talking about having sex with Vesper. It’s Bond–so they’re definitely not making love.
“Each time [would] have the sweet tang of rape.”
No I did not make that up. Yes, even in the 60s, I think I would have found that offensive. Rape = one of the worst things you can do to a person that while have long reaching emotional, physical, and sexual complications. It can and has ruined many a life. It is NOT a special flavor of sex.
Casino Royale — though it had good pieces here and there, though I read Chitty Chitty Bang Bang the same day and assume based on the utter delightfulness of that book that Ian Fleming wrote those stupidly offensive words in order to color the character of James Bond, I don’t know that I’ll get past those words and that idea. Sometimes you just have to draw a line in the sand.
I’m of two minds. Mostly because of the recommendation of another friend who had read other of the Bond novels but not Casino Royale and because I am not exaggerating when I say that I thought Chitty Chitty Bang Bang was an EXCELLENT and delightful piece of children’s fiction.
So….I might give him another chance, but I’ll never read Casino Royale again.
That being said–when I decided to read Bond I decided to start a Hero Vs Hero campaign again. Who is the worthier book crush? Bond is the first hero going up against no one. I think I’ll take no one.
~Amanda
Amanda A. Allen 