The first novel about James Bond, the 00 agent, takes place at the Casino Royale. He has to outplay a French/Russian operative to take money away from the communists.
If Bond fails in his mission by losing at the card table, then British government will be directly funding communists. No pressure.
I have a thing for Bond. Cool under pressure, fast cars, looks fabulous in a tux…
I thought I would like this a lot, but I didn’t. I don’t think the story has aged well.
The best parts of the tale took place in the casino itself, the bar or the dinner table.
“Bond had always been a gambler… above all, he like that whatever happened was always one’s own fault. There was only oneself to praise or blame. Luck was a servant, not a master. Luck had to be accepted with a shrug or to be taken advantage of up to the hilt. But it had to be understood and recognized for what it was and not be confused with faulty appreciation of the odds. For, at gambling, the deadly sin is to mistake bad play for bad luck.”
Bond certainly knows how to order a drink:“A dry martini,” he said. “One, in a deep champagne goblet… three measures of Gordon’s, one of vodka, half a measure of Kina Lillet, shake it until its ice cold and then add a large thin slice of lemon peel. Got it? … I hate small portions of anything, particularly when they taste bad. This drink is my own invention. I’m going to patent it when I can think of a good name.”
His attitudes about women were particularly depressing: “As he drove, whipping the car faster and faster through the night, with the other half of his mind, he cursed Vespa and M for having sent her on the job. This was just what he had been afraid of. These blithering women who thought they could do a man’s work. Why they hell couldn’t they stay at home and mind their pots and pans and stick to their frocks and gossip and leave men’s work to the men?”
This blithering woman is going to put down the book now and back away slowly…
Recommended for… not blithering women?
I believe I’ll stick to the films from now on.
Thanks for reading!
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