The Spy Who Loved Me (James Bond, #10)

May 23, 2010 F.R. rated it 2 of 5 stars

‘The Spy who Loved Me’ is of course the ‘odd’ James Bond novel. The book which is told from a female point of view, the episode where Commander James Bond is not even mentioned until over halfway through, the one which doesn’t seem like a spy novel at all. It’s an interesting experiment, but what struck me on (re-)reading it now was how poorly conceived and badly executed it was.

Nothing in Ian Fleming’s other novels suggests that he had a great understanding or appreciation of female characters....more ‘The Spy who Loved Me’ is of course the ‘odd’ James Bond novel. The book which is told from a female point of view, the episode where Commander James Bond is not even mentioned until over halfway through, the one which doesn’t seem like a spy novel at all. It’s an interesting experiment, but what struck me on (re-)reading it now was how poorly conceived and badly executed it was.

Nothing in Ian Fleming’s other novels suggests that he had a great understanding or appreciation of female characters. Their role is to appear as sexy as hell, flirt, maybe give over a crucial bit of information and then at the end be saved by the dashing hero. It’s therefore possible to see it as brave for Fleming to throw away his bag of tricks and go for a female point of view. The problem is that Vivienne Michel – the ‘Me’ of the title – is one of the more irritatingly insipid characters in fiction.

Let me just describe her: she is gorgeous and unworldly; has had sexual experiences but never been with a real man; is resourceful, but only to a point; is brave, but only to a point; and as such is desperate for a hero to come in and save her. Even as the main protagonist of the piece, her sole role is to await the heroic man who she will worship for ever more. This therefore is the perfect Bond heroine, but that of course makes her more of a fantasy than a real woman.

And then, as the olive in the martini, we find passages like this:

“All women love semi-rape. They love to be taken. It was his sweet brutality against my bruised body that made his act of love so piercingly wonderful... I had no regrets and no shame. There might be many consequences for me – not the least that I might be dissatisfied with other men. But whatever my troubles were he would never hear of them.”

I can imagine that old Etonians of Fleming’s vintage felt that this was a true insight into the female psyche, but surely even in 1962 that passage must have raised some eyebrows.

A character like Vivienne Michel may suffice in a normal Bond novel, where the reader isn’t often given access to her thoughts. (My edition actually has her listed as the co-writer – as if she was a living, breathing person who told Fleming her story.) But for Fleming’s fantasies of womanhood to be asked to carry the whole narrative only serves to show how out of touch and lost in his boy’s own world the author was.

‘The Spy who Loved Me’ isn’t merely an ‘odd’ book, it is the ill starred backstairs child of James Bond novels.(less)

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Jan 14, 2009 Michael rated it 1 of 5 stars

Wow. This was something else. A terrible, terrible something else.

The Spy Who Loved Me differs from all of the other Bond books, in that it's written in the first person, from the perspective of Vivienne Michel, a vivacious young lady who finds herself alone, looking after a motor lodge in north-eastern America.

The book falls into three sections... the first looks at Vivienne's background and how she came to find herself babysitting an empty motel. Essentially, this is a depressing look at the g...more Wow. This was something else. A terrible, terrible something else.

The Spy Who Loved Me differs from all of the other Bond books, in that it's written in the first person, from the perspective of Vivienne Michel, a vivacious young lady who finds herself alone, looking after a motor lodge in north-eastern America.

The book falls into three sections... the first looks at Vivienne's background and how she came to find herself babysitting an empty motel. Essentially, this is a depressing look at the girl's two crashingly unsuccessful relationships - losing her virginity to a cad, and falling pregnant to a German reporter (who promptly sacks her and insists that she use her redundancy check to pay for an abortion).

You know how I'd previously observed that Fleming tended toward misogyny... yeah, this is like a nasty culmination of that line of thinking.

Anyway, Michel returns to her native Canada, decides to drive a Vespa down the east coast to Florida. En route, she finds herself being asked to look after this motel. Unfortunately, the owner plans to set fire to it with Michel still there. Oh noes. Soon, she finds herself confronted with two hired goons who plan to have some entertainment with the young lady before torching the place.

So begins act two - another rather nasty series of chapters featuring said goons terrorising young Ms Michel. To be honest, by modern standards, they're not excessively brutal - there's a lot of implied threat, and they get her to make scrambled eggs for them.

But, who should appear in act three but James Bond, who saves the day. The plot picks up a bit at this point - which is just as well, because frankly it's been something of a yawn getting here. Bond joins the story for five chapters, and then sods off.

Needless to say, she melts in Bond's arms and declares the immortal line that "All women love semi-rape." I don't think I need to offer too much of a comment on that...

Oh, and for those of you hoping for Union Jack parachutes, and nuclear submarine kidnap, there's none of that... The book has nothing in common with the film, other than Bond being in it... and he's in the film a good deal more than the book.(less)

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Aug 17, 2011 Sandy rated it 5 of 5 stars

Although the fifth James Bond movie, 1967's "You Only Live Twice," was the first film in the series to radically differ from its source novel, perhaps no other 007 picture jettisons author Ian Fleming's original conception as completely as 1977's "The Spy Who Loved Me." In essence a remake of "YOLT," substituting nuclear subs for manned space capsules (check out the point-by-point comparison of the two films in Raymond Benson's excellent "James Bond Bedside Companion"), Roger Moore's third outin...more Although the fifth James Bond movie, 1967's "You Only Live Twice," was the first film in the series to radically differ from its source novel, perhaps no other 007 picture jettisons author Ian Fleming's original conception as completely as 1977's "The Spy Who Loved Me." In essence a remake of "YOLT," substituting nuclear subs for manned space capsules (check out the point-by-point comparison of the two films in Raymond Benson's excellent "James Bond Bedside Companion"), Roger Moore's third outing as Bond was a big, splashy, colorful and superbly entertaining film, sharing its title--and absolutely nothing else--with Fleming's original book. And this was quite deliberate, apparently, and by Fleming's request. The book, originally released in April 1962 and the 10th of 14 in the Fleming series, is, in many ways, the oddball of the Bond canon. It is the shortest of the 007 novels, the most sexually explicit, and, most significantly, is narrated in the first person...and by a woman, to boot! And whereas in the fifth book of the series, 1957's "From Russia, With Love," Bond didn't make his entrance until page 72, here, we must wait until page 90 (I am referring to the classic Signet paperback editions here; the run of books that was so popular during the 1960s, at the height of the "spy craze") for Bond to appear. Fortunately, it is well worth the wait, and his entrance at that point is as dramatic as can possibly be.

"TSWLM" takes the form of a manuscript that Fleming tells us was sent to him by a 23-year-old French Canadian woman named Vivienne Michel, and one that allows us to see Bond "through the wrong end of the telescope." Vivienne's manuscript is cleverly divided into three sections. In "Me," we learn of her background, including her childhood in Canada, her finishing-school years in London, and her two unhappy love affairs with men who turned out to be callous cads, leading to her decision to tour the U.S. on a Vespa and her short-term gig working at a motel near Lake George, N.Y. In "Them," we learn of how two thugs, Sol "Horror" Horowitz and Sluggsy Morant, had beaten her at the abandoned motel--for reasons unknown--and were about to sexually abuse her. And in "Him," we learn of the British secret agent who had happened by--"like the prince in the fairy tales," as she later tells us--and rescued her. Vivienne, as it turns out, is just as great a writer as Ian Fleming himself (ha ha!), and just as likely to use a plenitude of detail and product names while telling her tale. She is a very charming and self-assured young woman, who instantly gains our sympathies, and, in telling her own story, makes herself easily the most fully realized and (you'll pardon the expression!) completely fleshed-out female character in the Bond novels. Vivienne's tale is interesting to start with, despite its soap opera qualities, and turns out to be highly suspenseful and exciting by its conclusion. It affords us a look at Bond that is also unique in the novels; 007 had never before come off as so gallant, as such a white knight (the image of St. George and the dragon appears in the first section of Michel's tale as a bit of foreshadowing). And not just gallant as concerns the ladies; "TSWLM" gives us a glimpse into Bond's fair-play views on killing, too. When Vivienne demands to know why Bond just didn't shoot down the two thugs from a hidden position, Bond declares, "Never been able to in cold blood." And, in a moment that I just love, Bond tells Vivienne, "...these people are pros...By their own standards, that is." As it turns out, the two thugs are hardly a match for the man who had previously bested maniacs such as Red Grant and Oddjob, but still manage to give him a tough time. Bond, ultimately, has never seemed so appealing, as revealed in the farewell letter that he pens to Vivienne on motel stationery. No wonder Vivienne falls in love with him after just one night, and needs to be reminded by a fatherly state trooper that men like Bond, as well as the enemies they fight, are practically "a different species" altogether than the rest of us.

Though almost 50 years old as of this writing, "TSWLM" remains remarkably fresh, if a tad dated in spots. References to Jack Kennedy, Trans-Canada Airlines, cheap gas in America (Vivienne tells us that her Vespa would be able to cruise for only $1 a day!) and $8 motels seem like time-capsule items from another age, and yet, the book is as thrilling today as it must have been five decades ago. Fleming, apparently, was dissatisfied with the novel--one that almost comes off like a breather between the S.P.E.C.T.R.E. nastiness of "Thunderball" (1961) and "On Her Majesty's Secret Service" (1963)--hence his insistence on ditching the story when it was ultimately brought to the screen. It turns out that Fleming was a better writer than he was a critic, however. This is, quite simply, a marvelous, smashing tale, and one that this old Bond fan simply adores. Like the best of the Bond books, it is one that will leave readers both shaken AND stirred....(less)

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Oct 14, 2008 Lindsay Stares rated it 4 of 5 stars

It took me a long time to track down this book: I couldn't get it through the library, and I eventually broke down and bought it (a bad idea in my tiny apartment). Wow. It's totally worth the money and shelf space. Just fantastic. Be warned, it does read like a noir/romance which happens to feature (but not star) James Bond. One of my favorite things about going through and actually reading the Bond books, is that they are all different. For that, and for the narrator's perspective on Bond, I lo...more

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Sep 03, 2011 James rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: james-bond, spy, i-own-a-copy, 2-stars, read-in-teenties, reviewed

An odd one. Bond hardly appears in this novel at all, and it's the weaker for it. Fleming wrote Bond well. As his character he seemed to understand him. Other people not so much. Vivienne isn't James, and throughout the best part of the book you're waiting and hoping for Bond to arrive and start being Bond. Sadly, it's all a little too late.

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Dec 28, 2012 Frank Hughes rated it 3 of 5 stars

Considered the runt of the James Bond litter, this is actually a very interesting novel. Fleming claimed he wrote it to show that Bond was not a hero, but nearly as sordid as the people he pursued. So badly received was the book when published, Fleming insisted that no reprints be made or a paperback published during his lifetime. As for films, he insisted only the title could be used and no film should be made of the actual story. Yet it is well worth the read for any Bond fan.

In a short prolog...more Considered the runt of the James Bond litter, this is actually a very interesting novel. Fleming claimed he wrote it to show that Bond was not a hero, but nearly as sordid as the people he pursued. So badly received was the book when published, Fleming insisted that no reprints be made or a paperback published during his lifetime. As for films, he insisted only the title could be used and no film should be made of the actual story. Yet it is well worth the read for any Bond fan.

In a short prologue (missing from many editions, including the one pictured here) Fleming claims the manuscript was found on his desk and credits the heroine, Vivienne Michel, as the true author.

"I found what follows lying on my desk one morning. As you will see, it appears to be the first person story of a young woman, evidently beautiful and not unskilled in the arts of love. According to her story, she appears to have been involved, both perilously and romantically, with the same James Bond whose secret service exploits I myself have written from time to time. With the manuscript was a note signed 'Vivienne Michel' assuring me that what she had written was 'purest truth and from the depths of her heart'. I was interested in this view of James Bond, through the wrong end of the telescope so to speak, and after obtaining clearance for certain minor infringements of the Official Secrets Act I have much pleasure in sponsoring its publication.

Ian Fleming, The Spy Who Loved Me, Prologue"

It is the only one of his Bond novels written in the first person, albeit not by Bond but by the heroine of the piece, a French Canadian girl working in an out of the way motel near Lake George, NY. Much of the first half of the book is her life story, a woman's point of view written with sensitivity and insight by Fleming, a man considered by many to be a misogynistic womanizer. (He probably was, and may have been exorcising some personal demons through his jaundiced view of the men who abuse poor Vivienne physcially and emotionally.)

The books two villains, Sluggsy and Horror, are a trifle cartoonish, but the unique view of James Bond through a woman's eyes, along with Fleming's usual dead on, amusing descriptions of the Lake George area and the corruption of Troy, New York in the early 1960's, make this a fast, fun read. (less)

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Aug 01, 2012 Arjun Mishra rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: literature

Here is an interesting turn of events. Fleming writes an incredibly short yet excruciatingly insightful Bond book from the point of a view from a growing woman with various heritages and identity issues. Despite avowed hatred from the Bond fan and critic community at the time - a backlash so strong that Fleming moved to abort his experiment and cancel future publications - I love this book. It is not a disaster; it is far from it. It is an excellent coming of age story told from a Bond girl who...more Here is an interesting turn of events. Fleming writes an incredibly short yet excruciatingly insightful Bond book from the point of a view from a growing woman with various heritages and identity issues. Despite avowed hatred from the Bond fan and critic community at the time - a backlash so strong that Fleming moved to abort his experiment and cancel future publications - I love this book. It is not a disaster; it is far from it. It is an excellent coming of age story told from a Bond girl who is not a Bond girl in any sense of the term. She is not a bimbo, a gangster hire for seduction, or secret agent. She is an ordinary woman whose life has received many cruel twists and turns that have shaped indelibly the way she has experienced the world. Vivien grows up an orphan with only aunt and convent help; when she is thrust into the world, she is thrust into a world of hurt. She is taken advantage of for her beauty. She is used by men who seek to impose their dominance upon her because they can and double standards proliferate. Fleming can be accused of his era's misogynism in most of his escapades, but he cannot here. In addition to a first hand account of a Bond story from a non-Bond character, we have a deeply perspicacious look into trying to be an independent woman in Britain, the United States, and Canada. There are various struggles, travails, and obstacles that are complicated by our female protagonist's warped life resulting from masculine dominance (she did lack a strong male presence during her childhood, and thus maybe she was vulnerable to such advances).

The action when it finally comes in the name of JAMES BOND is some of the most intense and cerebral of the whole series. Bond is in my favorite region of the entire world - Upstate New York (though, I do not care too much for the Adirondacks region; I am merely glad it is there as part of the package - and Fleming describes it in character. Glen Falls, Lake George, etc. play host to Vivien's preliminary meanderings through the United States en route to Florida. This trip is supposed to cement herself as a fiercely independent and strong woman, until it all goes awry with the horribly perpetrated crime of insurance fraud ! Luckily, our man Bond is there to save the night, her life, and insurance through a cerebral game against the thugs and his usual heroics.

Fleming writes this as an homage to Bond but also as a caveat to us readers who glorify and idolize him. Not only is he not real, but not all aspects of the man are worthy of extol. He introduces some of the darker aspects of the secret agent and Bond. He stresses and goes to great pains to show that Bond is a shade away from being a thug, even though he definitely is not. Vivien initially confuses him for being part of the crime operation. The police captain of Albany makes sure to emphasize to Vivien that Bond is not all that he is made out to be; while he is everything to her, she is nothing to him.

Inside Bond's head is fun and makes for a usually decadent adventure. Change of pace and experimentation is not only much appreciated and needed; it brings another dimension of Bond into play through the lenses of a distantly but possibly relatable narrator. This was fun, captivating, and necessary. (less)

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Aug 25, 2011 Martyn rated it 1 of 5 stars Recommends it for: 'For Bond Addicts Only'

Shelves: fiction, 2011, room101, ive-been-expecting-you

This book is so awful that it leads me to one of two conclusions - firstly, that it was written, despite its release date, very early by Fleming and was an extended short story that was never meant to be a novel. Or secondly, that Fleming didn't actually write it at all and published it as a favor to an admirer or in payment for something.

My reasons for the first conclusion are simple - the dialog, action and even the psychological aspects of Bond are so different from any of the other novels th...more This book is so awful that it leads me to one of two conclusions - firstly, that it was written, despite its release date, very early by Fleming and was an extended short story that was never meant to be a novel. Or secondly, that Fleming didn't actually write it at all and published it as a favor to an admirer or in payment for something.

My reasons for the first conclusion are simple - the dialog, action and even the psychological aspects of Bond are so different from any of the other novels that this feels like a starting point or workup for the character; it feels like it could have been the very first thing that he wrote around Bond. Now, the reader could say that that is obvious because Bond is being described by another character and not Fleming - but that wouldn't affect his dialog, or the evident self-doubt, a quality which is present in other tales but not so cloyingly as here (unless we are to see Viv as a dubious narrator). Also, it would seem to me, that with the editing and loss of about a hundred pages or so, there would be a very good Bond short story here - very similar to those in the 'For You Eyes Only' collection. In fact if you were to start reading this novel at Part Three and stop after Bond leaves you would a. not have missed anything important to the plot and b. would have read a fairly good Bond short. In short I didn't recognize the Bond portrayed here and so I'm fairly convinced that Fleming didn't either, which suggests that he was still formulating the character at this point. Or...

My second conclusion is just a hunch. Ian Fleming has been reported as disliking the novel enough that he would only sell the film rights if the studio promised not to use anything other than the title, which they duly did. If you take his own dislike and add in the rather strange 'disclaimer' at the beginning naming his main character, Viv, as the co-author then thoughts start to pop up. Obviously I don't mean to suggest that Viv is real in any sense but there could have been many reasons why Fleming published a book under his own name written, or half written by someone else. I have no proof whatsoever for this theory - it would just explain some of the more shockingly bad elements of the book. This novel reads, after all, as if a fan had attempted to write a Bond book as an experiment - the 'plot' itself is weak and vacillating, the lead character's back story is dull and provides no pay off whatsoever to the plot, the villains are annoying, the dialog grating and Bond is strangely off kilter in a way that he never seems to be before or after.

Not good at all. If you adhere to conclusion one above then this is a strange blip in the middle of some strong and atmospheric spy thriller writing. If you like the sound of number two then ignore this as a 'non-Bond' and move on to the infinitely better 'On Her Majesty's Secret Service'.

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Feb 18, 2013 Nicholas Doyle rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: books-without-pictures

A few years ago, I read this great blog post about the various cover designs for Ian Fleming's James Bond novels, and decided that I wanted to read them - I'd never really cared about James Bond before (the first Bond movie I ever saw was Casino Royale, and that was right before Quantum of Solace was released) but the covers for the 100th anniversary editions were cool, so I thought "why not?" I was really surprised at how much I enjoyed them, and was even more surprised at how different they we...more A few years ago, I read this great blog post about the various cover designs for Ian Fleming's James Bond novels, and decided that I wanted to read them - I'd never really cared about James Bond before (the first Bond movie I ever saw was Casino Royale, and that was right before Quantum of Solace was released) but the covers for the 100th anniversary editions were cool, so I thought "why not?" I was really surprised at how much I enjoyed them, and was even more surprised at how different they were from how the movies (or my idea of the movies) presented James Bond. The 007 of the books is not the super-smooth spy with all sorts of gadgets and geegaws; this Bond is a bit of a lout, and while he is very good at his job, he also screws up a lot. A whole lot. I do have to admit I easily fell for Fleming’s writing style; he’s great at describing everything – the food, the girls, the clothes, the action – these are pulp novels of the highest order, regardless of how the movies may have changed them.
But, to be honest, after reading through the first 9 novels over the last 2+ years, I was getting a little burned out, and I was not really looking forward to The Spy Who Loved Me – according to Fleming’s Wikipedia page, he was not happy with the book and tried to distance himself from it once it had been published. The completist in me won out, however, and I’m honestly glad it did because this is actually one of my favorite books in the whole series! This is the first Bond book I’ve read that’s written in the 1st person – not James Bond, but a woman named Vivienne Michel. It’s really an odd little book – the first third is pretty much just Michel reflecting on her life up to the present, the second third is where the action starts, and 007 finally shows his face in the final third of the book. This is the first book where Bond really seems in control of the whole situation and knows exactly what he’s doing. Maybe it’s because he’s being viewed from an outsider’s perspective, but it really is thrilling when he shows up, especially considering what’s happening when he does. I finished the entire book in about 2 hours, and am actually looking forward to the next book in the series.
My only real complaint about it is the very end, where (of course) Michel quickly falls in love with the dashing English spy (it’s not really a spoiler if I say that Bond totally gets laid, is it? I mean, it is common knowledge that this is inevitable, right?) After reading 10 of these things, I still can’t really tell if Fleming actually thinks women are that easy, or if he just assumes that Bond is just so attractive that no one can resist his charms.
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Jan 15, 2012 Wellington rated it 1 of 5 stars

What was that? This is different from the other Ian Fleming James Bond books because it was written from the first person from the female point of view. It read more like a young adult teenage romance ... It was a murderous beginning of a dumbstruck girl looking for love. Unfortunately, it was the only book I brought with me to the airport and so I stuck with it.

James Bond would make his entrance 2/3 into the book to save the girl and the book. Well, he saved the girl and should have let the boo...more

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Jan 06, 2013 Jessica rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: spy, thriller

While there are certainly some, shall we say, less-than-progressive views on women on display here, I appreciate Fleming's effort to present Bond in a different light. Vivienne may be a dip, but it amuses me to see 007 through the eyes of a fangirl.

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May 20, 2013 Jason rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: fiction-adventure

I rented this Bond novel as an audiobook from the library.
For James Bond, it was an unusual book, told from the viewpoint of one of the Bond Girls, Vivian "Viv". The story starts with the background of Vivian's life, and it's ups and rather serious (especially for the time period this book was written) downs, before becoming an innocent bystander a plot from the criminal underworld. Viv's story is somewhat long; for a while I'd check the CD to make sure I'd gotten the right item in the box!

How...more

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May 15, 2013 Anton rated it 3 of 5 stars

“The Spy Who Loved Me” is a very unusual James Bond novel. It’s narrated in the first person, and it’s told from the point of view of the ‘Bond girl’ of the story (some editions of the book begin with an introduction by Fleming who claims to have received the manuscript from a girl who had a real life encounter with Bond which he felt obligated to share with readers).

The first part of the book gives us the backstory for our narrator, French Canadian expat Vivienne, and takes us from her days in...more

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Feb 09, 2013 Cory rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: read-in-2013

This is, as others have said, more a romance story than a spy story. I liked Viv; I liked the way she was constructed in some aspects, particularly the feeling of safety that she associated with being alone in a storm (and the obvious parallels that made to the descriptions of Bond later in the book). I even liked the utter ridiculousness of falling into bed with Bond; there's some quite sexy stuff in this one, although I still have the somewhat discomfiting feeling that I'm reading Ian Fleming'...more

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May 27, 2013 Paul Lyons rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Very odd installment of Ian Fleming's James Bond series. The first 93 pages have nothing to do with James Bond at all. In fact, there were several times when I wondered if I was reading the right book. Instead of reading about another exciting 007 adventure, we get 90-plus pages of chick-lit. We learn about all about Viv, her life, her loves, her career. How and when she lost her virginity, her outsider status as a Canadian living in the United Kingdom...how she survives a thunderstorm. It was a...more

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May 22, 2013 Andrew rated it 2 of 5 stars

This is barely a James Bond novel at all! 007 appears from page 119 (in a short 198 pqges)& is close to a deus ex machina,used only to give Fleming a way-out of this farrago of a plot involving the story of Vivienne Michel,a superficially uninteresting Canadian girl (as if there are any interesting Canadian girls!) who proves to be an almost disastrous magnet for unreconstructed male chauvinists (& I include Bond in this ubiquitous category!). The two 'hoodlums'in the isolated motel scen...more

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Feb 11, 2013 Erin Cataldi rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2013

It's hard to go wrong with a classic like this and Ian Fleming didn't disappoint. It's a fast paced action adventure and the low page count makes it impossibly fast to read.

It is one of the shortest and most sexually explicit of Fleming's novels, as well as a clear departure from previous Bond novels in that the story starts off the the perspective of the "Bond girl." In fact, most of the book is from her perspective and takes place before she ever meets 007!

A young Canadian woman by the of Vivi...more

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Feb 28, 2013 Seth Madej rated it 3 of 5 stars

It's unfortunate that the most interesting thing about The Spy Who Loved Me is that Ian Fleming wrote it at all. Told from the point of view of a woman who crosses path with James Bond, who doesn't appear until the last third of the book, it's really a romance novel, in the Harlequin sense. The narrator Viv recounts her failed affairs with men she loved but who only used her for her body, explicitly for a 007 book. Then it's on to the standard slight setup of the lady getting into trouble with b...more

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Mar 14, 2013 Betsy rated it 4 of 5 stars

As many other reviewers have noted, this is a different Bond novel. At first, I was startled by it but then settled in to the story. It is resonant with his collection of five short stories, entitled For Your Eyes Only. What it shares with that collection is an urge to tell Bond stories from differing vantage points than the classic guy-on-a-mission stance. And I very much appreciate these experiments. They tell me that Ian Fleming was out to create a three-dimensional, somewhat broken and yet t...more

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May 21, 2013 Collette rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

As a dedicated Bond-film admirer, I didn't know what to expect when I picked up Fleming's original visions. (Though I had long wanted to.) This work was completely unexpected (and slightly confusing at first), but unlike most of the reviewers here I actually enjoyed it. With so much focus on the Bond girl as a sex symbol and her consistent use as an expendable, yet indispensable plot tool, it was intriguing to finally see her version of events. Bond isn't necessarily the hero we want him to be,...more

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Apr 13, 2013 David Williams rated it 3 of 5 stars

This interesting book in the James Bond series is narrated in the first person by a young woman from Canada. The first third of the book is simply her telling about her life, loves, and woes. The next part sets up the story as she is accosted by two gangsters. Who should come on the scene by accident? Why none other than British Secret Agent James Bond. Of course Bond saves the day and beds the girl. What else could he do?

This is not the best of the Bond novels. Bond only makes an appearance in...more

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Dec 15, 2012 Andrew Webb rated it 4 of 5 stars

I read all of the other Bond books and short stories before I read this one, some multiple time. I enjoy Flemings prose and like to point and laugh and how whiny 007 is and how racist/sexist/horrible Fleming appears to be. This installment definitely stands out from the rest.

The book is a fictional memoir of the heroine, Vivienne. The first half of the book details Vivienne's formative experiences in school and especially in love. These chapters are surprisingly effective coming from Fleming. Le...more I read all of the other Bond books and short stories before I read this one, some multiple time. I enjoy Flemings prose and like to point and laugh and how whiny 007 is and how racist/sexist/horrible Fleming appears to be. This installment definitely stands out from the rest.

The book is a fictional memoir of the heroine, Vivienne. The first half of the book details Vivienne's formative experiences in school and especially in love. These chapters are surprisingly effective coming from Fleming. Let us not mince words: taken as a whole, the Bond canon is probably the most racist/sexist in popular 20th century literature. However, I had the sense the Fleming was really trying in this novel. In Vivienne, he has created a very strong female protagonist. She is independent, confident, and fights back when kidnapped by criminals in the novel's climax. In a strange way, parts of this novel read like a Lifetime movie occasionally inflicted upon me by a co-worker, the difference being that I enjoyed reading the book. Vivienne is a very well developed character but is the only one in the book who appears to be three dimensional. Most others fill simple roles, but roles which exist far too often in real life-- lousy boyfriends, creepy bosses, and murderous criminals. The men in Vivienne's life are pigs, with one exception.

(spoilers below)

Because the story is not from his point of view, Bond appears purely as a knight in shining armor, the perfect man from a soap opera or the above mentioned Lifetime movies. Bond does the things that he usually does, kills the criminals and beds the nearest woman, but this time we see the aftermath from the woman's point of view. It is probably unrealistic when applied to 9 out 10 women in a similar situation. But I really think that Fleming was trying.

Offensive note: There is one seriously offensive remark in this book regarding "semi-rape" which Vivienne explains that all women want. However, I read this on the tails of Goldfinger, the most offensive book in the series, and so this remark did not mar the progressive tone of the book as strongly.(less)

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Jul 27, 2008 Billy rated it 1 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Absolutely no one

So bad it actually makes the movie seem like Masterpiece Theatre.

Favorite line: "These men were Dynamite from Nightmare-land." It takes a rare talent to write something that bad.

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Apr 01, 2013 Katie rated it 1 of 5 stars

Shelves: highschool-reading

There was one summer in my teens when I read a lot of Ian' Fleming's 007 novels. It seemed the thing to do at the time; the early Bond films were popular in the cinema, and the books were light reading between shifts at the resort hotel.

I remember thinking this one was pretty dreadful, even though I had enjoyed most of the others. Fleming writing in a woman's point of view? Oh, please! As young as I was, the whole thing rang false, and I felt that the author wasn't fond of Vivienne Michel, his c...more

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Nov 01, 2012 Jeanette added it · review of another edition

Shelves: all-fiction

Finished Oct. 20, 2012.

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Apr 29, 2013 Lacey Lane rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Yep, this one was definitely odd. Not a badly written story but definitely not a Bond story. And I'm sure Bond has never had to appologize to anyone about being "off his game", especially not 3 different times during this book. Come on, this is 007, I'm pretty sure he wouldn't assume someone trying to kill him was dead just because the car went into the lake. Don't think he would have then gone back to the motel to have sex and then go to sleep like nothing happened. I could have skipped this bo...more

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Jan 13, 2009 Kristiana rated it 1 of 5 stars

Craptacular.

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Jun 16, 2013 Magali Najarian rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: the-eclectic-reader-2013

So let me start of by saying that the book was enjoyable and fun but it lacked a couple of things in my opinion. First of all I would have given it a better rating if I wasn't such a die hard fan of the James Bond movies and if The Spy Who Loved Me wasn't an exceptional movie (not my favorite but very close).
So let's talk about the plot. The story is told from the Point of view of one of the main characters, Vivian Michael. We get to know her background, where she's from etc., but there's a foc...more So let me start of by saying that the book was enjoyable and fun but it lacked a couple of things in my opinion. First of all I would have given it a better rating if I wasn't such a die hard fan of the James Bond movies and if The Spy Who Loved Me wasn't an exceptional movie (not my favorite but very close).
So let's talk about the plot. The story is told from the Point of view of one of the main characters, Vivian Michael. We get to know her background, where she's from etc., but there's a focus on her love life and her heart-breaks. And those heart-breaks lead her to Canada and then to the US were the important part of the story happens. She finds her self at a small motel where things go for the worst.

I didn't mind her even though sometimes she felt a bit whiny and too naive. But you could relate to her specially with her failed relationships because let's face it we've all been through those. And I thought the story was not that bad even though the movie's premise was far more exciting and completely different. However there were 2-3 things that really annoyed me. First of all, James Bond doesn't appear till about 45% of the book. Being a James Bond book I would have expected him to appear sooner or to be mentioned at least during the first half of the book. Secondly he was so rusty. He was not the Bond that I expected and that all the Bond lovers enjoy and want to see. And he even says it in the book that he's loosing his touch and I totally agree. It was also missing the gadgets that make the man. And lastly, the book was so slow pace during the first half talking about Viv's personal life and her relationships and all the action starts at the second half of the book and that's when it gets exciting and fast pace. I wish there were more of that and earlier in the book.

I would recommend it but only if you haven't seen the movie yet because you'll dive into this book with very high exceptions concerning Bond specially and you will probably be disappointed. (less)

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Oct 10, 2012 Stewart Harding rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: classics

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Feb 03, 2013 Ian rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Fleming was a real pioneer, you know. The Spy Who Loved Me is ground-breaking, you know. Because it’s a Bond novel, but Bond isn’t the protagonist! He doesn’t even appear until about a third of the way in! And, get this, the entire novel is narrated by a woman! I know, shocking. So the title doesn’t refer to some KGB temptress who falls for 007′s manly charms, as it does in the film. Bond is actually the spy of the title. But he doesn’t really fall in love with the narrator. And she knows it – i...more

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The Spy Who Loved Me (James Bond (Original Series) #10)

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