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8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Look Cubby! Bond with no gadgets and no women., August 26, 2005
Ian Fleming penned 14 Bond adventures before his death in 1964. He lived to see the first few movies made, was hopelessly smitten with the young Ursula Andress, and fortunately did not live to see the excesses of his sucessors.
This book is a compilation of three short stories in Octopussy, The Living Daylights, and Property of a Lady. There is no real resemblance to the similarly titled films, but some of the scenes and characters from the short stories made it to the big screen.
These stories show what Bond would do on a slow day, no gadgets or romance involved. Bond does not entertain three women per story, in fact, he meets none. He is smitten at a distance with a cello player, but nothing develops romantically, and the female lead of the third story is described as unattractive.
Bond simply closes out a few files, as one might do in a short week before heading out on holiday. Of course, M and Ms. Moneypenny appear here, with M and the unnamed Chief of Staff providing Bond with his orders and accoutrements.
Octopussy is the best of the lot here. In fact, Bond barely appears in the story set in Fleming's beloved Jamaica about 15 years after the war. A British army major comes into a treasure in the closing chaotic days of the war in Europe. His techniques included murder and eventually he is tracked down by 007 who had been an acquaintance of the "Good German" victim.
The Living Daylights features a challenge between two trained assassins, which will be familiar to viewers of the Timothy Dalton film. Fleming very cleverly sets the scene at Checkpoint Charlie just before the Wall went up. Both sides use innovative cover to muffle their killer's sounds and movements. We get a real sense of the unpleasant side of the business, as Bond's portfolio is murder. He does not relish the assignment, in fact, he speaks of a preference for demotion, drinks whiskey before the event, and fails to complete all parts of the assignment.
Property of a Lady is a primer on Faberge with the famous auction scene, brought to the big screen in a Roger Moore film. Rather than lamely stealing the real article, Bond uses the event to better ends. Here Bond shows more initiative and insight than M in flushing out an important Soviet agent while keeping a useful double agent in place.
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7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Bond's "regular" assignments, January 5, 2005
Octopussy and the Living Daylights is a terrific collection of stories that show some of James Bond's smaller, more ordinary assignments. Of course since he's Bond even his more routine stuff is thrilling reading. First out is Octopussy which has nothing to do with the horrible Roger More movie. This story was really about a retired English major who once had a fine career in military inteligence. At the end of the war the major makes a terrible decision and years later in his middle age a man named Bond shows up at his Jamaican home and makes him pay for it. This story is very well written and shows that Ian Flemming had a real knack for characterization.
Property of a Lady shows Bond on a pleasant but serious assignment. For a change he never has to leave London or even break a sweat but he manages to expose one high ranking Russian spy and wryly observes a low level double agent playing the spy game badly.
Living Daylights in my favorite of the stories. Bond has been ordred to Germany to take out a sniper so an agent can escape to the West. This is not a nice job and Bond spends a surprising amount of time considering his distaste about the job. The little details about Bond's preparations, his school marmish old contact, the velvet snipers uniform and walking and eating around Germany are all fascinating. And in the end Bond makes a decison about the Russian sniper and his fellow agent whom he's been sent to save.
The last story and the shortes is Bond in New York. He's been sent on a mission of mercy and plans to enjoy himself in Manhattan. We learn of Ian Flemming's opinion of frozen food and that Bond once had an apartment in Manhattan!
I wouldn't buy this short story collection first. Try the full length novels and then this one because it's all so much about showing the other side of Bond. This is a treat for serious Bond lovers, old and new.
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13 of 16 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Bond Without Gadgets...REFRESHING!, April 10, 2004
I guess this is as good a place to start as any when discussing the Bond books prior to Albert Broccoli's cinematic intrusion. The short stories are small glimpses into the life and mind of the original James Bond...his refined taste in food and drink...his appreciation of beautiful women...his knowledge of weapons and cars. If there has to be a wellknown actor to put a face on James, it is definitely the young Sean Connery. I believe the second actor to play Bond was George Lazenby, a male model who couldn't act, followed by Roger Moore, a foppish caricature of the real James Bond. I stopped watching subsequent "Bond" movies after the gadgets took over and the plot was shoved under the rug. That is why I prefer rereading the re-released novels. One can get a true sense of the many sides of James Bond, a Cold War Era hero who is cool under pressure, deadly, suave, and who also has some flaws. I think the best of the stories in OCTOPUSSY is "The Living Daylights." James is ordered to kill a top KGB sniper when he is sent to Berlin before the sniper can eliminate a British spy coming in from the cold. You can almost imagine Ian Fleming as he sat at his typewriter in Jamaica pecking away and smiling as he dreams up yet another dangerous mission for 007. And it all works without a single exploding car. The books are believeable and far more exciting.
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