The Seventh of the Original Ian Flemming Bond Novels is also, at least because of it's movie counterpart, the most famous. Indeed, I would say, baringThe Seventh of the Original Ian Flemming Bond Novels is also, at least because of it's movie counterpart, the most famous. Indeed, I would say, baring the cultural impact of 'Goldeneye' and it's assosciated Video-game, this is the Novel that most deeply charecterizes the 'popular' imagination of Bond.
That being said however, the Movie and the Book have some differences, and like all the prior bond books, it was published in the 1950's, this one in 59'. As a basic overview my opinions on the Bond series stand; it is intriguing as a historical artifact. It is a contemporary book written in and of it's period, and it's interesting to see aspects of base culture that have changed so much, and also unspoken assumptions of the author that shine through now more than a half-century on.
The Book is broken into three parts, favouring a famous quote which it's titular villian uses in the course of the book; Happenstance, Coincidence, Enemy Action. Mirroring the times Bond interacts with Goldfinger.
We start with Bond in Miami, coming off some bad business with Mexican drug smugglers. Bond has had to kill a man and is often the case of book Bond, he is a bit morose. He encountered a man he met far earlier, at the table of 'Casino Royal' who draws him into a peculiar problem. The Man has been gambling against a rich British Businessman and is losing in a way that is impossible improbably. He can't figure out how the man is cheating. He enlists bond to do so.
Bond quickly does his business and this man, 'Goldfinger' is exposed, and yet doesn't seem to take it too badly, and this, along with other qualities, impress on Bond that the man is dangerous. He learns just how dangerous when he returns to England and is instructed to investigate the man; Goldfinger is a Gold Magnate; operating dozens of jewellery places and pawn shops throughout the country. Seemingly obsessed with Gold. This being the era of the Gold Standard, the British, still recovering in the aftermath of the WWII, are terrified of gold flowing out of the country they can't account for, and they believe this Goldfinger is doing it.
Bond engages in a game of Golf with the man, at which he determines, once again, that Goldfinger is cheating. He barely manages to beat the man through some cheating of his own and then starts out to track him down.
Here, in Europe, bond encounters the books 'Bond Girl'. The Sister of a Girl he slept with earlier in the book who had been Goldfingers accomplice, and whom it appears goldfinger had killed later on in a fit of pique. This particular Bond girl isnt' at least to me,a s intersting as some of the previous ones, and is also... problematic, for reasons I'll get to later.
So Bond and the girl are captured, and Goldfinger transports them to America to help in his grand scheme. It turns out that Mr. GOldfinger works for SMERSH, the Russian intelligence agency, and that he is a sort of Genius of Crime, and has come up with the grandest plot of them all. Using a relatively low yield atomic device, and poisoning the water supply to the area, he will first disable the people of Fort Know, then break into it and with the assistance of several American Gangsters, make off with it's supply of Gold, damaging the west, enriching the Soviets, and making Goldfinger the owner of more Gold than any single person has ever owned before.
The plot is the book is solid; it's fast, and it's three sections are very complimentary. The ending is a bit nerve wracking; even though you know Bond isn't going to die, it's structured in such a way as to sustain suspense, something Fleming seldom seems to have trouble with. It has all the things I've enjoyed about the bond books; Copius attention to material matters, such as food, drink, cars, clothes, and in this case, Golf apparel. It's interesting to see the world of 1959. One in which the financial system is so deeply tied to a single commodity. Goldfingers schemes are actually rather clever, and his orchestration(how he is for example getting the gold out of England without anyone detecting it) is quite engious.
The book suffers, however, as the previous ones have, from being racist, Sexist, and in this case, also glaringly homophobic. Goldfinger is served by a small army of Koreans, and they are described in brutally racist terms and with the worst sort of racial stereotyping(A Cat is eaten at one point for example). One must remark that several times now we are dealing with villians with a degree of physical deformity(Goldfinger is described in very unflattering terms as basically a beach-ball with a pumpkin for a head and spindly arms and legs) served by a generally faceless army of a particular ethnic/racial 'type'.
Pussy Galore is introduced later in the book as one of the 'Mob Leaders' helping Goldfinger. She is the Lesbian head of a Lesbian mob and here you see the naked prejudices of the time. The 'Bond Girl' from the middle of the book is also revealed to be a Lesbian; blamed on some earlier trauma of course. While Pussy is more protrayed as a sort of 'political' lesbian. Being one because she likes being dominant and taken seriously in a 'mans world'. None of the portrayels are flattering honestly. It is only interesting in a look into how these things were portrayed and understood.
So a Good adventure tail all around, though I think of the two I liked 'Dr. No' better. It will be intriguing, as I have crossed the half-way point, to see how the later half of the series fares compared to the former. ...more
It's hard to believe I started this series nearly a decade ago; Life and a side of complications got me through the first two rapidly, then only got mIt's hard to believe I started this series nearly a decade ago; Life and a side of complications got me through the first two rapidly, then only got me to the third last year. I had intended to finish the series this year and I still will, though I'm still behind schedule.
The Fourth book in a series is difficult to review; if you've read the prior three, you kind of know what your in for at this point, and unlike the finale, you can't do a recap and decide whether the author 'stuck the landing' or not.
That said, I really enjoyed this series; it's great to be back in the thick of it, and it has such interesting and... well unusual things for a history series.
So as things stand; Cithrin, the girl raised by the Bank, who has operated through guile and innovation through the prior three books has fled from the place she was sent to be apprenticed after having utilized the affection of the Dictator Regeant of the Antean empire to her advantage to help refugee's escape.
Marcus and the acting trope have discovered the Last dragon, and travel back to the main 'area' of action, bringing with them knowledge and... well a Dragon.
Clara, former Baroness, then outcast, now risen in position again as Geder raises her son Jorey to be a caommander, continues her campaign against Geder.
Geder himself is struck by betrayel; Cithrin's absense can only be taken one way; she has snubbed him romantically, broken his heart, and used his affections to help his enemies. He will diverse forces to chase her.
In another book this could be leading to some sort of climax or turn; and in a way it does, but not in the way you expect. It is by the books end through that we learn the Truth of the Spider Cult, and the way they will try to beat them;
The Spiders make those they infest absolutely certain; and give them the ability to convince others through speech. These were not tools of conquest; they were tools meant to destroy the dragons slaves. Because while for a while, there can be unity; as soon as the spider cult spreads over too great a distance, small disagreements appear and when you are absolutely sure of everything, small disagreements can only lead to holy war. Even if Geder's armies succeed in conquering the whole world; they would only lead to schisms as spider priests become factional, each convinced they are the true speaker of their non-existant god.
War, then, battles, are not how they can win; And Cithrin has come up with something to try and stop them and it's kind of genius, and kind of insane and once again, makes Banking the focus of the story in away that I've never seen before.
The line that held me was something like "Priests and kings lie... prentending Battle brings glory and Wars are exciting and not just boring and horrifying. Banks pretend that business is boring, and safe and not-risky."
If you've enjoyed the series to this point, you shouldn't stop now, I'm certainly not going to. ...more
Umberto Eco is perhaps most recently known for his essay on 'Ur-Fascism' which has, rightfully, become all the rage in the 'Is this or that becoming fUmberto Eco is perhaps most recently known for his essay on 'Ur-Fascism' which has, rightfully, become all the rage in the 'Is this or that becoming fascist?' discussions as of late.
Though until our present political moment, he was perhaps best known for this work, the Name of the Rose.
Simply put; this is a Medieval Monk mystery novel. The main characters are an English Franciscan Monk and former Inquisitor who is a thinly disguised Sherlock Holmes, with a young Benedictine as his Watson.
They have been brought to a Northern Italian Monastery during a time of tribulations; some Franciscans are courting the edge of Heresy. Extolling the poverty of Jesus and his early disciples and the necessary 'poverty' of the Church. These are interesting as the political backdrop of these medieval religious schisms inform all that comes.
A Young monk is found having seemingly jumped to his death; and yet the Abbot suspects something is awry. We are confronted with a small list of characters, suspects, and then some among the closed environment of the Monastery, and surrounding it's fabulous library, which is the heart of the institution.
The Book has a fabulous sense of the mysterious; from the Library, built in such a way as to make actually accessing books difficult, to the twists and turns of the members of this monastic community. Who is pious? Who is not? Who is a heretic? Can the murderer be found or will the weight of the Inquisition descend and obscure truth behind a need for 'moral clarity'.
The tension rise as one errant death spirals into another, and another. Is it a conspiracy? A sequence of accidents? Or a Devil stalking the halls of the pious.
The unravelling of the mystery is as enjoyable as the historical bits, which Umberto cleaves to with a skilled applications, making one 'feel' of the time.
I'd very highly recommend it to all lovers of mystery and history....more
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