Secret Paper-Work

mrwoodpigeon · November 2006

Have just started reading Moonraker, and only 4 chapters in I am really enjoying it. The first chapter is wonderful. Bond isn’t carrying out some delicate sniper duties, or anything exciting like that, he is just at his desk in the office reading files, worrying about his fellow 00 Agents (of which, including Bond, there are only three active).

I love this detail, a side you never see of Bond – He is always on some assignment, and I was much pleased to read this. Setting up to be a good read

darenhat · November 2006

One of the great aspects of the books, IMO, is the continual switch from the mundane to the fantastic. Bond doing paperwork, or Bond convalescing in a hospital tend to bring out the introspetive and moody Bond. The lack of action always tends to frustrate him and give him a disdain for, well, just about everything. Once the action kicks, and he's involved in some wild adventure, the reader begins to understand why.

caractacus potts · November 2006

those 1st chapters are cool
with books 1 and 2, we always see our hero off on his adventure, with brief flashbacks to Ms office in each case
this time Fleming shows us almost everything we'll ever need to know about that office,
we learn all about the Universal Exports building,
we meet Bonds secretary Leola Ponsonby
(with significant info on the personal cost of being "wedded" to a life in the secret service, which is reprised in the ironic ending of this book, and the tragic ending of one of the later books)
we see the inside of his apartment and learn about his housekeeper
Bond also spends several chapters having a night out with his boss:
this is probably the biggest dose of M content in any book

I wonder: if after 2 books Fleming realised he needed to give us more background detail into the organisation our hero works for, and who he is when he's not saving the world
many of these details would be referenced in future books but we never get so many pages devoted to them again

also: those files bond has to read, theyre kind of funny
almost a satire of the type of info youd expect a professional spy would have to assimilate
imagine a building full of spooks who officially dont exist spending their whole lives writing that sort of stuff

Johmss · November 2006

Moonraker i a great book, and what a finale!... i really love this book (except one chapter)

The first chapter does something obvious, gives info about Bond between assignments, which isn`t very common. Fortunately, is the last time we read that (after, we`ll see some again, sadly not as detailed)

P.S. Wouldn`t be great to see this in a film... kinda boring but great.

Loeffelholz · November 2006

I think they should do this---a minute or two of screen time would yield a priceless insight into Bond's character.

I also think we also should see his Chelsea flat (or its modern equivalent), his treasured Scottish housekeeper, May, see him fret over his personal vehicle...his morning exercise routine, the way he likes his eggs done for breakfast, etc...

superado · November 2006

Loeffelholz wrote:

I think they should do this---a minute or two of screen time would yield a priceless insight into Bond's character.

I also think we also should see his Chelsea flat (or its modern equivalent), his treasured Scottish housekeeper, May, see him fret over his personal vehicle...his morning exercise routine, the way he likes his eggs done for breakfast, etc...

Loeffs, what's wrong with you?!? James Bond should never be too realistic!

)

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I guess the closest Bond onscreen ever encountered a social phenomenon contemporary to our generation was seeing him empty his desk, though a cardboard box instead of a satchel would have been perfect!

Anyway, some of Fleming's unused writing, from: http://www.ajb007.co.uk/articles/007/scrapbook/

“In the early morning, at about 7.30, the stringy whimperings of the piped radio brought visions of a million homes waking up all over Britain... of him, or perhaps her, getting up to make the early morning tea, to put the dog out, to stoke the boiler. And then will this shirt do for another day? The socks, the pants? The Everready, the Gillette shave, the Brylcreem on the hair, the bowler hat or the homburg, the umbrella and the briefcase or the sample case? Then "Dodo", the family saloon out on the concrete arterial, probably with her driving. The red-brick station, the other husbands, the other wives, the clickety-click of the 8.15 round the curve by the gold course. Hullo Sidney! Hullo Arthur! After you Mr Shacker... and the drab life picking up speed and flicking on up the rails between the conifers and the damp evergreens. Bond switched on his electric blanket and waited for his hot water with a slice of lemon and contemplated the world with horror and disgust.”

I love this kind of stuff! That happens to him too? It makes me related to 007 on a personal level.

mrwoodpigeon · November 2006

Love this. From The 'Shiner' chapter:

"And what could the casual observer think of him, 'Commander James Bond, GMG, RNVSR', also 'something at the Ministry of Defence', the rather saturnine young man in his middle thirties sitting opposite the Admiral? Something a bit cold and dangerous in that face. Looks pretty fit ... Tough-looking customer. Doesn't look the sort of chap one sees in Blades."

Daniel Craig anyone?

superado · November 2006

mrwoodpigeon wrote:

Love this. From The 'Shiner' chapter:

"And what could the casual observer think of him, 'Commander James Bond, GMG, RNVSR', also 'something at the Ministry of Defence', the rather saturnine young man in his middle thirties sitting opposite the Admiral? Something a bit cold and dangerous in that face. Looks pretty fit ... Tough-looking customer. Doesn't look the sort of chap one sees in Blades."

Daniel Craig anyone?

From critical feedback so far, perhaps in characterization that's reportedly excellent...but for me, that's where it stops.

Secret Paper-Work

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