Pikkukuvaa napsauttamalla pääset Google Booksiin.
Ladataan... Koston hetki, James Bond! (1982)Tekijä: John Gardner
Books Read in 2022 (371) Ladataan...
Kirjaudu LibraryThingiin nähdäksesi, pidätkö tästä kirjasta vai et. Ei tämänhetkisiä Keskustelu-viestiketjuja tästä kirjasta. I was looking forward to this as I enjoy James Bond, however while it has plenty to offer to the normal Bond fan (nice flashbacks and tie-ins) I wasn't thrilled with James tossing it all to the wind and being an idiot by blowing his cover so early on and then continuing to be so. I guess I expect him to be a bit more savvy. ( ) For more reviews and bookish posts visit: https://www.ManOfLaBook.com For Special Services by John Gardner is the second entry of the author into the James Bond literary universe. Mr. Gardner was an English novelist, known for his Bond Books, as well as books featuring Sherlock Holmes’ nemesis, Professor Moriarty. James Bond, agent 007, teams up with CIA agent Cedar Leiter, daughter of Felix, to investigate a SPECTRE agent. Markus Bismaquer, an ice cream tycoon from Texas, is suspected to be involved with the criminal organization. Bond realizes that his old enemy, Blofeld is back, even though he knows he killed him. Leiter and Bond discover a sinister plot to take over NORAD headquarters so SPECTRE can gain control of America’s military satellite network. This was one of the more enjoyable James Bond books I read, and if I’m not mistaken several scenes, and themes were adapted into scenes in different movies. I really enjoy 80s Bond, and even though I read this book as a teenager, I enjoyed it much more as an adult. The plot is preposterous, the villains are demonic, and the women are exotic. So… a James Bond novel, but less original. Seems like the author was more interested in pleasing the fans, than simply writing a good story. He brings back former allies and enemies, and an older Bond to align, I assume with an older Roger Moore starring in the 80s movies. Despite all that, For Special Services by John Gardner works and the ridiculousness of it can be quickly forgiven. SPECTRE is a formidable enemy with resources to match governments, and the over-the-top plot is fun, however predictable. I have only two major complaints. The first is that the demise of the new Blofeld was done prematurely. The character was one of my favorites and it would have been nice to have an arc before they kick the bucket. The second is the character of Cedar Leiter is a fun, yet unbelievable even in the Bond universe. A 20-year-old woman, acting her age, does not make a good CIA agent and the fact that her father, Felix, almost encourages her to have sex with his best English friend comes off very cringy, to say the least. The strong plot in the first half of the book is very enjoyable but loses it in a bizarre second half. I enjoyed it very much even though the book never seems to be able to decide on its tone.
Stanley Ellin's most recent book is ''The Specialty of the House and Other Stories, 1948-1978.'' FOR SPECIAL SERVICES By John Gardner. 298 pp. New York: Coward, McCann & Geoghegan. $9.95. THE ENGLISH LADY By William Harrington. 408 pp. New York: Seaview Books. $13.95. KAMAL By D.W. Arathorn. 351 pp. New York: Harper & Row. $14.50. By STANLEY ELLIN The reviepoliceman's, is not always a happy one. Putting these three novels to the test, I was pleased to discover that two were very good. Then I was plunged from elation to depression by the realization that the third was a dud, and for reasons having nothing to do with the author's well-proven talent. The book in question is ''For Special Services,'' by John Gardner. It is a James Bond story - Mr. Gardner's second try at rattling those moldering bones - and, as the author's foreword suggests, it was inspired not by any of the nine Muses but rather by a consortium of 007's copyright holders and publishers, along with the Saab motor car company of Sweden, which now provides Bond with his transportation. At this point I will say that, after considering the extraliterary alliance associated with the venture, I don't believe any writer could have done better with this curious project than John Gardner, but it is simply a defeating project to start with. Ian Fleming was a dreadful writer, a creator of books for grown-up boys, a practitioner of tin-eared prose. As evidenced by his writings, he was also by nature a ferocious and humorless snob, a political primitive, a chauvinist in every possible area whose ideas about sexuality apparently were implanted by fevered readings of ''Lady Chatterly's Lover.'' John Gardner, creator of the inimitable and delightful Boysie Oakes among other characters, is the antithesis to all this, a writer of style and wit with a sharp-eyed, acidulous and yet appreciative view of humanity and its foibles. Fleming's shoes are simply too tight and misshapen for Mr. Gardner to wear comfortably. Fleming, however, did offer the reader one thing no imitator can possibly duplicate: total identification with and commitment to his hero and his works as the products of an uninhibited wish fulfillment. When, on film, Bond was transmuted into the charismatic and sardonic Sean Connery, we were getting a different 007 altogether; it is this cinematic Bond that Mr. Gardner, his risibilities not always in control, presents to us off and on. How else to explain a 30-foot python that is not only capable of ingesting a full-grown man but also of carefully removing the victim's indigestible shoes before doing so? Or the fact that ice cream, no special flavor noted, is the device by which the villains, having dosed gallons of it with the ultimate tranquilizer, will sieze control of the American forces guarding NORAD and, consequently, the killer satellite it operates? Yes, I did say ice cream. To put it in a nutshell, or ice-cream cone, the story is largely set in America, where Bond, partnered now by the luscious daughter of old C.I.A. opposite number Felix Leiter, is once again up against SPECTRE, dominated by what appears to be the shade of that long-dead evil genius Ernst Stavro Blofeld. There are some good things among the zany proceedings: an automobile road race described to nerveracking effect; the amusing relationship between the aging Bond and the youthful Cedar Leiter; a climax where Bond is drugged into imagining he is the woolly-headed Gen. James A. Banker, U.S.A. - all pure John Gardner at his Boysie Oakes best. This still doesn't compensate for the awkwardness of the whole project. The reader will do better to head for anything by Mr. Gardner that isn't imitation Fleming. As pure Gardner, he is quite a writer. * Sisältyy tähän:Distinctions
Bond teams up with CIA agent Cedar Leiter, daughter of his old friend Felix Leiter, to investigate Markus Bismaquer, who is suspected of reviving the notorious criminal organisation SPECTRE. Kirjastojen kuvailuja ei löytynyt. |
Current Discussions-Suosituimmat kansikuvat
Google Books — Ladataan... LajityypitMelvil Decimal System (DDC)823.914Literature English & Old English literatures English fiction Modern Period 1901-1999 1945-1999Kongressin kirjaston luokitusArvio (tähdet)Keskiarvo:
Oletko sinä tämä henkilö? |