Binding: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 813
EAN: 9780141186801
ISBN: 0141186801
Label: Penguin Classics
Languages: Array
Manufacturer: Penguin Classics
Number Of Pages: 640
Publication Date: 2002-04-04
Publisher: Penguin Classics
Studio: Penguin Classics

The arrival of James Bond in Modern Classics at last acknowledges Fleming's remarkable place in British fiction. The creator of an entire genre and the inventor of the most widely recognised figure in British literature since Sherlock Holmes, Fleming has a presence and flair now denied to most other writers of the 1950s. These three novels show Fleming at his peak - it would be hard to argue whether "Rosa Klebb", "Dr No" or "Goldfinger" have greater grandeur or repulsiveness - with three plots ofderanged implausibility and many of the dazzling set-pieces that made the early films so memorable.

Customer Rating:
Summary: one of the better Bond novels
Comment: I'd recommend this book or Casino Royale if you're curious about the 007 series but don't want to read more than one or two. "From Russia with Love" showcases Ian Fleming's background in military intelligence (MI5) for the British navy during World War II. The movie stays pretty much true to the book -- except for the ending. JFK was right to praise this book. It's macabre to note that Bond novels and movies -- especially this one -- sometimes have mild anti-Communist themes and that Marxist subversives (Oswald and Sirhan) killed both Kennedys in the '60s.

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Customer Rating:
Summary: One of the best Bond novels
Comment: Ian Fleming's James Bond novels are certainly not the mixed bag that the films are, but some are certainly better than others. From Russia with Love is, along with Casino Royale and On Her Majesty's Secret Service, among the best.

From Russia with Love starts off on a different foot than most of the other Bond novels. Bond himself doesn't appear until part two, 95 pages into the story. Until then, the story centers on the deadly operatives of SMERSH, Soviet Russia's spy-killing organization. It's this first part that sets up the main plot of the story--a Russian scheme not only to assassinate James Bond, but to do so in a way that will scandalize the English public and shame the Secret Service. One of the more famous Bond girls, young Tatiana Romanova is suckered into posing as "bait" for Bond, and unbeknownst to her, both she and Bond are set up to die at the hands of Irish psychopath Red Grant.

With those pieces in place, the plot proceeds methodically from point A to point B. Fleming was never a master plotter, but that's not the point. Having all the parts set up and ready for action generates enormous suspense--when, for instance, is the serial-killing Grant going to make his inevitable and violent appearance? Even for those who have seen the film version, there's plenty here to surprise and lots of white-knuckle thriller chases, fights, bombings, and near-misses.

The book does have flaws. Bond is a bit too obtuse and more of a pawn than usual, and Tania is just a bit too wide-eyed and innocent, which I suppose is the point. But the book moves so briskly from the opening setup through the building suspense and action that one hardly has time to criticize the characters--the world is moving just as fast for them.

From Russia with Love is one of Fleming's best not only because of his signature pace and action, but because, in this novel, he takes the time to develop menacing villains and show us, before Bond ever steps onstage, just how dangerous they are. The androgynous Rosa Klebb and giant, moon-crazed Red Grant are well-developed and certainly among the best of Bond villains.

On a final note, upon reading this novel have Doctor No, the book's immediate sequel, on hand, because Fleming's ending is so abrupt and laden with ambiguity that you'll want to jump right into the next book. This is either a weakness or a strength. I'll go with strength.

Highly recommended.

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Customer Rating:
Summary: Great story, tight writing
Comment: I just finished reading FRWL a 2nd time, with 10 yrs between readings. It's a nice contrast to the rambling texts that litter today's best seller lists. Again I enjoyed the crisp, tight prose; the delayed introduction of Bond's character; the villians and heroes; the "cultural" drama of the Cold War. It's truly an espionage tale "par excellence." I concur with other 5-star reviews -- stop reading here and pick up the book!

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Customer Rating:
Summary: Chess Match Turns Deadly For 007
Comment: Though it ends with as sharp a period as any Ian Fleming ever made, the operative punctuation in 1957's "From Russia, With Love" is found in its very title, a comma. "From Russia" is not an end but a turning, from the lighter Bond adventures Fleming penned at the start of the series toward twistier, more complex yarns.

It's also one of the most captivating of Bond stories. It opens with an image of a well-built naked man lying face-down on a rose-hedged lawn. He looks dead but is very much alive, dangerously so, as we discover. Red Grant is not only powerful, he is madly homicidal, a combination that endears him to his Soviet masters. Grant's latest assignment, part of a larger operation to embarrass the British secret service, involves the killing of one of only three Britishers who hold the dread double-0 distinction and thus is kind of Grant's opposite number: 007.

"English spies we have captured speak highly of the man", one Soviet spymaster notes. "He is certainly much admired in his Service. He is said to be a lone wolf, but a very good-looking one."

To demoralize the British and reverse a string of losses, head Soviet spykiller General G. commands Bond not only be killed, but "killed with IGNOMINY". Enter Tatiana Romanova, a beautiful, mild-mannered government clerk who becomes both pawn and queen in the chess game against Bond.

The build-up is great, and once Bond enters the scene, like a matador the last to enter the bullring, Fleming kicks the story into an even higher gear. Buying the cover story that Tatiana has fallen in love with him from a file photo and wants to give him a secret Russian decoder, Bond travels to Istanbul and meets Darko Karim, the British secret service's chief Turkish ally. Fleming bathes us in atmosphere, and takes us from a gypsy catfight to a nighttime assassination to a hotel-room seduction in a classic example of "the Fleming Sweep."

"Near the airport a dog barked excitedly at an unknown human smell," Fleming writes. "Bond suddenly realized that he had come into the East where the guard-dog howls all night. For some reason the realization sent a pang of pleasure and excitement into his heart."

"From Russia, With Love" may well be Fleming at his least politically correct. Tatiana is little more than a plaything, while Darko Karim regales Bond with his un-Western notions of romancing a woman, which involves chaining her to a wall and feeding her table scraps until she falls in love with him. But this is part of "Russia's" dark charm, presenting such awful ideas so palatably in the form of Karim, one of the best characters in the 007 series with his fatalistic charm and suavity.

"Russia" comes up short only in the adventure department, with Bond little more of an active player here than he was in "Diamonds Are Forever" and getting a ludicrously detailed rundown of the enemy plot before his "liquidation". The ending is definitely improvable (and was in the subsequent screen adaptation, the best of all the Bond movies).

I'd call the earlier "Casino Royale" and later "On Her Majesty's Secret Service" the best Bond novels, but "Russia" lays down the groundwork of the entire 007 concept with unrivaled drama and passion. It can be seen today as the moment when James Bond went from diverting pulp fiction to essential cultural touchstone.

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Customer Rating:
Summary: Unexpected and Fun
Comment: They couldn't write a book like this today. For example, the main character--Bond--doesn't even show up until page 123! The entire first third of the book is a detailed following of the villains plotting Bond's death. It's not until we get to the execution that we meet James Bond.

Be that as it may, I found it to be an interesting change of pace, and I was never bored. There is more espionage than action, but when the fighting occurs, it is quick and brutal. Fleming can make you cringe with his viscious descriptions of down-and-dirty combat.

Aside from the lengthy intro without Bond, the movie version seems to have followed the book rather closely (especially compared to some others). However, the Bond of the books is a different man than the Bond of the movies. He's fallible, and prone to getting his heart broken. This, I like. But as another reviewer mentioned, he makes some pretty serious mistakes that nearly cost him his life. It can be hard to root for him as a secret agent at times like this. Still, I do.

And, at least once in each Fleming Bond novel, there seems to be something "inappropriate" by today's standards. This is half the fun of reading them. (In "From Russia With Love," Tania asks Bond to beat her if she overeats and gets fat, and Bond readily agrees. Hilarious!)

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