Casino Royale is the first Ian Fleming novel introducing James Bond.
I have a hardcover copy from 1953, and thought it would be interesting to read the first, as well as a newer Bond novel, Carte Blanche. The other Bond novel I have read was The Man With The Golden Gun, and I was surprised at the lack of action in it. Compared to the movies, the story was simple, the villain not outrageous, and Bond more self-conscious than he was portrayed on screen. I can see how his fastidiousness for detail and desire for the finest things would appeal to a reader of Casino Royale in 1957.
Bond arrives in Royale-Les-Eaux to confront LeChiffre, a SMERSH controlled trade union treasurer and member of the Russian Secret Service. LeChiffre has taken from the coffers and must win to cover the losses. The game: high stakes Baccarrat.
Bond is assigned as a rich Jamaican playboy to bankrupt him with help from MI5 agent Vesper Lynd and Felix Leiter of the CIA. The atmosphere of the casino and all it's intricacies is fascinating and the game itself is page-turning and fabulous.
It was fascinating to learn about Baccarat, which seems to be simple, if you have the nerves of steel to outwit your partner. You play against your opponent, the banker, who calls the amount of the play. If you accept, you match this amount and you are dealt two cards as is the dealer. Number cards are worth the number, tens and face cards worth zero and aces 1. The player with a number closest to 9 wins. A hand of 2 and 3 equals 5, but a hand of 6 and 7 (equaling 13) is the last of the two digits, a 3. You can ask for one other card in hopes of increasing towards 9. If you have 9 right, you win automatically as in Blackjack. The skill is in the bluff between you and your partner.
With millions of francs on the table, the game at Casino Royale rides hand to hand and gets intense. The story continues involving the kidnapping of Vesper and Bond's attempts to rescue her in a wild nighttime car chase. Bond is captured as well and brutally tortured, on his rear end with a switch. How will he escape and save Vesper Lynd?
Being the first Bond novel, Fleming also introduces his classic dry martini, in a deep champagne goblet. "Just a moment. Three measures of Gordon's, one of vodka, half a measure of Kina Lillet. Shake it very well until it's ice-cold, then add a large thin slice of lemon-peel. Got it?" The drink is his own invention, unnamed until he meets up with the enchanting Vesper.
What strikes me about Fleming's James Bond is his meticulous nature. The way he prepares his clothes, dressing in a certain fashion, a certain order. Sure, he has excellent taste and orders from the Maitre'D, who relays the order to the chef. Classy, but bordering on obsessive. Naturally, coming from the time this was written there are dated ideas, but while he does work with Vesper, he makes various comments about women doing men's jobs and getting in the way. Probably from the period, but the surprise for me was how the comments were part of his personal outlook. I thought with his international lifestyle, and proclivity for seducing beautiful women of all races, he was above the misogynistic thoughts that seem to be a part of his character. Bond seemed to fall deeply in love with Vesper, and the romance took up a good portion of the book. So, I was surprised by the rather famous final line of the book.
Like The Man With The Golden Gun, Casino Royale was relatively short, and more character driven than the films. Felix Leiter of the CIA is a great addition to his team of other spies enlivening the scene and Vesper Lynd was an unusual and appealing "Bond girl".
Ian Fleming has said that he created Bond to be an extremely dull, uninteresting man to whom things happened. The name James Bond, he thought to be masculine, brief and unromantic. "I thought, by God, that's the dullest name I ever heard."
Not a superhero, but a real man with problems who confronts evil. Gentlemanly and knowledgable, cold and controlled. Fleming has created a character that continues to grow and it may be because of these flaws he remains so.
1953 / Hardcover / 187 pages
Comments