Casino Royale: A James Bond Novel

Casino Royale has had many printings. It's worth noting that the Kindle edition is not complete. Some editions had some appendices, such as a lengthy explanation of the card game from the climax, which are quite rare today. People blowing through these editions might not even notice, but the listing is straight-up incorrect when it says this edition is complete.Other than that, this is a great book. This book has some white-knuckle thrills. I don't even like to gamble, and my heart still raced during the betting scenes. The writing is quite good.And just a quick side note which is covered in the book but often missed by international readers. The name "James Bond" is a generic-sounding name. The idea is that this agent is an everyman, made special not as much from his own constitution as for his dedication to his service. British agents - as later books detail - were famously underpaid compared to their foreign counterparts. Britain relied on their people's sense of honor for loyalty, rather than buying them off. James Bond is only allotted lavish money on his missions, when he must appear as a famous debutante in order to lure information out of suspects. He regularly arranges that his winnings will go back to the service, so for the most part he lives a fairly normal life - punctuated by his dangerous missions.Any concerns that this book would be too dated are ignoring the book's own contents. James Bond is still driving a 1930 "Blower" Bentley, when this book is set more or less current to its publishing in 1953. James himself remarks on ways in which his vehicle is ancient and cumbersome. Many cultural items are just as interesting today as they would have been in that era, even if for different reasons. You find out that when money is no object and James wants to impress a lady, he orders a dessert of... wait for it... avacado. Gnoshing on avacados is still a bit of a status symbol today, even if it's not as exotic as it once was. The new cultural context actually makes this scene quite funny, as you can imagine James trying to look sophisticated and in modern times he'd be having some avacado toast. You may need an internet connection nearby to look up some of the French phrases, or long-retired cigarette and alcohol brands, but then again plenty of people at the time of publishing would have needed some help too. That's the point of an exotic, globe-spanning adventure. This story pushes your own boundaries with a dizzying array of foods, fashions, cars, and who knows what else.Much is made of this book being offensive to modern sensibilities. I think a lot of people miss ways in which the Bond books are more progressive at their core than people tend to want to give credit for. Bond is today held up as a bastion of rampant misogyny for his treatment of women, and not unjustly. But when you read the text, he specifically calls out that what he's really worried about is his own weakness. He's (rightly) afraid he'd fall in love with a woman in the line of duty, and any ties to love or family could easily get him killed. The survival rate of 00 agents is already quite poor, so Bond is mortally fearful and lashes out in severe ways. The author wasn't just hating women, he was trying to drive home points about fear and vulnerability - even if he sometimes chose poor avenues to do so.Overall, Casino Royale is a treat. There's thrill, there's a vast array of cultural artifacts waiting to reveal themselves to you, and above all there's some truly excellent writing. Ian Fleming's works are a treat, and I hope the dated morality doesn't keep people from enjoying an otherwise amazing book.

Most of the the one and two star reviewers of this book were sadly disappointed, expecting that the glitzy movie version of Bond would be found in Fleming's actual books. But, with the exception of Sean Connery's Bond in the first three movies, and Daniel Craig's back-to-basics interpretation in the first three of the current series, the movie Bond character for the most part has been nothing more than escapist fantasy. The literary Bond isn't the superhero of the movies. He's a flawed, cold killer in the service of his country in a dangerous time.Written during the height of the Cold War, Fleming's Bond novels were based on actual people and operations that Fleming had first hand knowledge of because of his highly placed role in British Naval Intelligence during WW II.Rather than judge Casino Royale, or any of Fleming's Bond novels, by what you've seen in the movies, instead first learn about the real Operation Goldeneye; the real Operation Tracer; the real Operation Ruthless; the real No. 30 Commando Unit; the real Special Operations Executive; the real 10th Light Flotilla; the real "Smyert Shpionam"; the real Dusko Popov. The tradecraft, operations, units, events, and involved individuals were the very real WW II sources that Ian Fleming used in creating Bond and the world in which he moved. In chapter four of "Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy", John Le Carre also alludes to a small group similar to Fleming's 00s as: "...about a dozen men, they worked solo, there to handle the hit-and-run jobs that were too risky" for Secret Intelligence Service agents stationed abroad.Fleming's romanticized works have a ring of authenticity recognizable to anyone familiar with or who may have participated in events that occurred during those times. Read Casino Royale; travel back to a time when French was the only international language; a time when Joseph Stalin and the Soviet NKVD represented a very real threat; a time when people feared that threat; and a time when the governments of the Free World had very real people on the payroll like Fleming's fictional James Bond to counter that threat. Perhaps you'll see the same things in it that caused the first three printings to sell out quickly in the U.K., and that later made it a favorite of a Harvard graduate who happened also to be President of the United States.At the time of Casino Royale (1951), Bond is about 30 years old and has held the 00 number for about six months. He earns the U.S. equivalent of about $5,600 annually (or about $50,000 in 2016 value), and drives a supercharged 1930 Bentley coupe that can reach 100 mph on a good day.He spends what he earns. He knows that statistically he will have at least 10, probably 20, and as many as 30 very tough assignments before the mandatory 00 retirement age of 45. Too many. He knows the odds of his surviving the coming ten years are slim to none. And that depresses him. How do I know? Ian Fleming tells us so in Chapter One of "Moonraker" (third book in the series).That's the Bond that Ian Fleming created. Much more interesting and gritty and real and human. That's the Bond Sean Connery portrayed until the Hollywood idiots ran amok after Goldfinger. It's the Bond Daniel Craig resurrected until the new crop of Hollywood fools screwed it up again with November 2015's Spectre.I'll stick with the books, thank you very much!Fleming's writing style, while perhaps not rising to the expectations of modern pedantic poseur literary critics, is easy to read and follow. As would be expected from a successful journalist writing for educated U.K. citizens of the 1950s, his audience would have been quite comfortable with his style; his adding color by use of some French terms and phrases in a novel that, after all, takes place in France; and whom would not have needed sub-titles to understand their context. I didn't find that aspect disruptive at all to the flow of the narrative.If you want entertaining glitz, stick with the movies; if want something more, read the books! I've enjoyed them all immensely in the context of the time period in which they take place.Bond fans may want to check out flemingsbond.com, a treasure trove of factual information upon which Fleming relied in writing the Bond novels, and "Ian Fleming's James Bond: Annotations and Chronologies" by John Griswald.

Well written, good plot, introduced the character of James Bond excellently. A brunt ending, and not as much action as you would expect-etc in a James Bond film. I do enjoy the post World War II setting.

This is a smooth and exciting story by Ian Fleming. I was surprised how similar it was to the Daniel Craig movie of the same name. Quick read. Loved it.

Queria comparar com a edição em português e com o filme. Fiquei totalmente satisfeito

Très bien, reçu en temps et en heure. livre bien emballé.

I'm about 2/3 in and enjoying it very much. As a big fan of the films I decided to give the books a shot and started with Casino Royal. I will read more of them after this. It gives you a sense of James Bond, everything is described in great detail. The story is exciting and reads with ease.

En estado perfecto.

Casino Royale es una novela audaz y elegante que resuena a un glamoroso pasado en donde tenemos a un espía británico de nombre James Bond quien va a detener a un miembro de SMERSH (acrónimo de "Muerte a los espías" en ruso) adicto al juego en un casino en Francia. La novela es diferente que la película de acción de 2006 en donde se olvida de todo ese dejo romántico de la guerra fría y la lucha de Bond contra los comunistas (antes de la aparición de SPECTRE en Thunderball) y se centra en las patadas, la acción y todas esas genéricas cosas que tienen las películas hoy en día. Lean la novela y siéntase en el sofisticado mundo de los espías de antaño.