superadoRegent's Park West (CaliforniaPosts: 2,656MI6 Agent
edited November 2013
I managed to read my borrowed copy of Solo within the 3-week loan period of my library, yippee! My brief thoughts on Solo: I’ll start with the good. I liked Bond at age 45, mature and much experienced in the world, but not crotchety or pathetically dated. I also like the subtle evolution of Bond’s world, like the details of his wardrobe changes and the retirement of May (though with not so many years having passed in the timeline of Fleming's Bond, I would have rather kept her around). I loved the Interceptor! See the link below to see it in action under the Saint’s skillful driving. Then, it gets bad.
The whole African civil war episode was dragging and Bond was underused IMO, so underwhelming considering what he was capable of doing. Even the supposedly more impressive sequences like Bond’s personal military contribution were summarized in 1st person narrative. This part of the story reminded me more of the Dogs of War (both novel and movie) and The Wild Geese, though the protagonists in those were more formidable than Bond in terms of action.
Bond seemed inept and just plain sloppy in terms of ensuring security for the people close to him, like Donalda and Bryce Fitzjohn, especially how he just left her unprotected at the end of the book, already knowing that it was Kobus Breed who was lurking around her house (and considering what he did to Blessing).
The M that was portrayed seemed like a stranger, though Boyd inserted a few known mannerisms like his self-absorbed indifference and calling Bond, “James” when something delicate was being discussed. Apart from that, the character was shallow IMO.
Lastly, I didn’t like how Felix was portrayed. He, like M, seemed more like a stranger in terms of characterization although Boyd brought up how they’ve remained close friends, etc. Felix seemed more like a professional colleague with whom Bond did not confide in 100%, unlike in the Fleming books in which their friendship seemed to even transcend their official allegiances to their respective services. I didn’t like the profanity-laced exchanges between Bond and Felix, which made it seem that Boyd was trying to emulate the more “realistic” authors like Tom Clancy or some other post-Fleming writer.
Sorry to be so negative, but what I can say is that at least Boyd is in good company with the recent continuation Bond authors after John Gardner, (with the exception of Charlie Higson, whose Young Bond books were excellent IMO), whose Bond novels IMO have fallen short even of the most generous consideration that they were not Ian Fleming; by Jove, with the exception of Raymond Benson, you guys are supposed to be award-winning writers!
The "New" Saint's Jensen Interceptor, on which show was the first time I became aware of this beautiful car: http://youtu.be/4xLbk28rk3E
"...the purposeful slant of his striding figure looked dangerous, as if he was making quickly for something bad that was happening further down the street." -SMERSH on 007 dossier photo, Ch. 6 FRWL.....
Over the weekend I picked up this book from a stall in Soho:
It's a corking read, even if in effect a bunch of magazine style interviews/features with the likes of Ian Fleming, Sean Connery and other Bond associates, including an imaginary meeting between snob Fleming and grammar school lad Len Deighton.
The Fleming and Connery interviews are v good really. Connery says TB is the best Bond story, okay he is promoting the movie when this book came out, but it's interesting in view of how he became embroiled in plotting the remake.
Fleming talks about his tastes in women:
"Asked what type of woman bored him, he replied: 'The slinky vampire type. Fashion models. Actresses. You could only conceivably think they were sexy if you had no experience of them. They are always so frightened of getting bent or bruised in any way because they think it will affect their careers... Unless you fit into their careers, they aren't really interested.'
Of course, Boyd has Bond going after an actress in a horror series... perfect, eh?
Anyway, I agree with superado's review in the main.
This part of the story reminded me more of the Dogs of War (both novel and movie) and The Wild Geese,
Indeed, though Shannon in DoW did more work in his guise as Keith Brown, ornithologist, in Zangaro. And North, the journalist, actually did attempt some reporting of news.
I don't recall Bond doing anything in Africa other than get pissed, certainly didn't file news-copy. Oddly, no one seemed to notice or care (including, it would seem, Boyd)
superadoRegent's Park West (CaliforniaPosts: 2,656MI6 Agent
This part of the story reminded me more of the Dogs of War (both novel and movie) and The Wild Geese,
Indeed, though Shannon in DoW did more work in his guise as Keith Brown, ornithologist, in Zangaro. And North, the journalist, actually did attempt some reporting of news.
I don't recall Bond doing anything in Africa other than get pissed, certainly didn't file news-copy. Oddly, no one seemed to notice or care (including, it would seem, Boyd)
Good points, any self-respecting regime would have a proper propaganda ministry, even a fledgling spin-off replublic like Dahum, so wasn't the coverage of the civil war being closely scruitinzed? It's not like the Adeka regime had a lack of resources, which was the opposite case. It's no surprise that Bond wasn't found out sooner considering the carte-blanche he was given up to that point.
Speaking of titles, that one would have been more appropriate than "Solo," which I forgot to add earlier. The "Solo" aspect was so underdeveloped and seemed just an afterthought in view of the lengthy African episode and the factors leading up to Bond's decision to go "Solo" seem so half-baked, that his resolve was not convincing. I never thought I'd say anything like this, but Boyd could have borrowed from the films, namely LTK, to depict circumstances that would drive Bond to genuinely go "solo," which was tantamount to him almost loosing it. These recent continuity authors remind me of college kids cramming for their papers if judging by the titles alone (Devil May Care, Carte Blanche and Solo), so much so that EON has been doing a better job with making up titles.
"...the purposeful slant of his striding figure looked dangerous, as if he was making quickly for something bad that was happening further down the street." -SMERSH on 007 dossier photo, Ch. 6 FRWL.....
This part of the story reminded me more of the Dogs of War (both novel and movie) and The Wild Geese,
Indeed, though Shannon in DoW did more work in his guise as Keith Brown, ornithologist, in Zangaro. And North, the journalist, actually did attempt some reporting of news.
I don't recall Bond doing anything in Africa other than get pissed, certainly didn't file news-copy. Oddly, no one seemed to notice or care (including, it would seem, Boyd)
Good points, any self-respecting regime would have a proper propaganda ministry, even a fledgling spin-off replublic like Dahum, so wasn't the coverage of the civil war being closely scruitinzed? It's not like the Adeka regime had a lack of resources, which was the opposite case. It's no surprise that Bond wasn't found out sooner considering the carte-blanche he was given up to that point.
Speaking of titles, that one would have been more appropriate than "Solo," which I forgot to add earlier. The "Solo" aspect was so underdeveloped and seemed just an afterthought in view of the lengthy African episode and the factors leading up to Bond's decision to go "Solo" seem so half-baked, that his resolve was not convincing. I never thought I'd say anything like this, but Boyd could have borrowed from the films, namely LTK, to depict circumstances that would drive Bond to genuinely go "solo," which was tantamount to him almost loosing it. These recent continuity authors remind me of college kids cramming for their papers if judging by the titles alone (Devil May Care, Carte Blanche and Solo), so much so that EON has been doing a better job with making up titles.
To be honest, Bond's motivation for going "Solo" was one that didn't jar so much because by the time Boyd had had me meander aimlessly through Africa I had pretty much lost interest in Boyd's "version" of Bond. I knew from Boyd's nature Bond wasn't going to be emotionally driven as in in say LTK. It was almost as if Boyd decided to take two stories together to make one; Bond wakes up in Scotland, perhaps has a look at the miserable weather, and then decides he's going to take the mob from Africa down. Like a genteel Dirty Harry. Why? It's illogical. Particularly after operation Bedlam, where Bond had preferred to get married rather than finish the op by tracking Blofeld down.
But these inconsistencies are ok, right, because Fleming's Bond and Boyd's Bond are not the same?
Agree with some of the points above. I think SOLO has generated the most discussion and split in views since Gardner. In Boyd's world, Bond seems happy as long as he has his fags, booze, black coffee, sex and eggs. And for a change that's alright with me. It's amazing that Bond gets through the novel without dying as he appears to be losing his touch a tad. But I've read the book twice now and for me it's a good novel, slightly silly but good enough for me.
"Thank you very much. I was just out walking my RAT and seem to have lost my way... "
Agree with some of the points above. I think SOLO has generated the most discussion and split in views since Gardner. In Boyd's world, Bond seems happy as long as he has his fags, booze, black coffee, sex and eggs. And for a change that's alright with me. It's amazing that Bond gets through the novel without dying as he appears to be losing his touch a tad. .
Not agree with you much on SOLO but I find myself in total agreement here. -{
Had Boyd not pulled the contrived shocker of Bond going Rambo for no sensible reason...
Indeed, had Boyd had Bond wake up in Scotland, decide he'd got out of Africa lightly after a pretty silly, pointless op, that those African Johnnies really weren't much after all, and that he was going to treat himself to a cracking night on Prince Street in Edinburgh before heading home for more sloth and ennui, it would have been more in keeping.
And had Boyd then have the African mob come AFTER BOND in London, forcing him out of his life of bored luxury, it would have been far more impactful... (It need not have been another NO ONE LIVES FOREVER)
Hell, Boyd showed what might have been with his Breed-as-the-new-Baron-Samedi ending....
I liked the opening of Solo, it begins with Bond having a vivid dream about a flashback to his time in Normany after D-Day. It's brilliantly evocative to anyone who has watched the documentary The World At War, or the film The Longest Day or Atonement. Or even that comedy series Private Schultz... Marching along the country tracks, abandoned chateaus... Generally I'd prefer Bond's wartime exploits to be sketchy, a sentence here and there, but his is done well.
However, it contrasts badly with his present day 1968 situtation, celebrating his 45th birthday by having a night and then breakfast at the Dorchester. It seems a bit soft, self-indulgent, like something a single woman of a certain age might do, while checking out the spa (which is very good, I understand). I can't buy it, and it doesn't seem to be done as ironic contrast to his earlier tough times. If Boyd had to start it like that, he should talk about how Bond 'as a whim, which he soon regretted, decided to postpone his return to his Chelsea flat, opting for a night in the Dorchester. But he found that hotels, like women, are always best experienced when there is something else in the ether, and this single solitary experience only emphasised the pathos of his ill-advised celebration."
From then on, Boyd drops the ball. I'd imagined his wartime memory might have some bearing on the story, but it doesn't really, nor does the woman he encounters in the breakfast room, so he is just faffing about. Ditto his following her and by now notorious breaking and entering, dearie me, okay when he's on a mission but he isn't really now is he? Again, you could do this if he had better grounds for worry, or there had been recent agents reported as being caught out this way... As for leaving a jokey note saying he had been there, it's a bit Frank Drebbin, who carefully picks up a gun using a stick in the nozzle, then places it in his naked hand.
I agree that M is just a stereotype and if you can't believe in M, you don't have a story really.
The next bit is out in Africa, problem being that really it is just not an enjoyable location and you can't believe Fleming would have bothered with it. I realise Fleming may have been unPC, but you can't have Bond going to that neck of the woods and have no attitude about the people or culture or anything, it's all just terribly bland. Most of us go on holiday and come back with an opinion of sorts about the locals or the customs or bureacracy.
So far there isn't a villain, so as with Deaver's book we have some nasty types who are not villains, just annoying pipsqueaks like the sexist journo Bond crosses swords with, and promptly beats up! Nice going. It seems he's doing this just cos he's annoyed with himself. I suppose you can imagine Craig doing this, not having any charm to ease himself out of the situation.
To be fair, the read rattles along and I got thru it in two sittings, albeit like wolfing down a tube of Pringles. Also, Boyd is better at the sex stuff than I thought, though it's all a bit too obviously consensual, and nothing naughty or challenging there.
So fast was my reading I got no impression that Kobus or whoever was white, though he is described as such a few times on first meeting. Somehow I thought he was black, but he's a character who just does his thing, you don't really get to know anyone too much, it's the plot, stupid. And as with Faulks and Deaver, it's all based around twists, so it feels a bit of a confidence trick, a shaggy dog story of sorts. It's not satisfying imo.
It does get better in terms of description when Bond goes to Washington, and it feels Flemingesque, but I did sort of go off it anyway. It's like Boyd is just racing for the finish line and I'm not sure he gets into any great scrapes does he, save getting shot by a woman on his own side - and how could she be sure he'd be saved? That was only by chance, that he was found by another journo.
I cannot even be sure about the twist, and who the villain was, and who was being caught addicted to heroin and mistaken for the brother. It was all a bit rushed and I didn't care. It sounded like an old Saint short story I recall.
I did generally get the sense that Boyd was sending up Bond a bit, as Faulks did, trying to show him in a bad light. There just didn't seem to be that depressed side to Bond that we saw in Fleming and Pearson's book or hinted at in Wood's novelisations. The sense that Bond indulges a bit simply to get away from that darker sensibility, not because he's some pampered priss.
So fast was my reading I got no impression that Kobus or whoever was white, though he is described as such a few times on first meeting. Somehow I thought he was black, but he's a character who just does his thing, you don't really get to know anyone too much, it's the plot, stupid.
Hang on.
It's 1969. African republics are struggling for independence after years of oppression by the evil colonial power. Breed is a Rhodesian mercenary "officer". He is a psychotic murder = in the left of centre world of Mr Boyd he is straight out of clichéd Central Casting: he's a nasty white Southern African, obviously. -{
Okay, fine, but really I can't visualise him much, but you couldn't say that about Fleming's villains, any of them. Their speech, habits and ways are embedded with their looks, but that was also a style of writing where the author is pouring you a drink and you sit back and enjoy the yarn. You might have two paragraphs indulging a description of the villains and his or her ways (Big and Klebb for instance, certainly Red Grant) but with this writing it's all snatched and in a hurry.
Okay, fine, but really I can't visualise him much, but you couldn't say that about Fleming's villains, any of them. Their speech, habits and ways are embedded with their looks, but that was also a style of writing where the author is pouring you a drink and you sit back and enjoy the yarn. You might have two paragraphs indulging a description of the villains and his or her ways (Big and Klebb for instance, certainly Red Grant) but with this writing it's all snatched and in a hurry.
Oh, I'm not excusing Boyd; his villains are under-drawn nobodies, as thin as his plot. Bit like Deaver's cyphers. Make one realise how classic a villain Dr Julius Gorner was.
Guess, though, that most scribblers of the level we're talking about would fail compared to Fleming's rich description of the baddies.
Which is why Boyd uses clichéd Central Casting for Breed. He can't describe him, probably feels he doesn't need to, because he's simply a Southern African 60s mercenary. Therefore, Germanic looking, tall and blond and rugged, but, obviously, not good looking, with a far away psychotic glint in his eye.
I personally don't have a problem with the Breed character. Okay he isn't Mr Big but he's written as a nasty character which works without being too rounded or fleshed out. I think Boyd's idea was to make this book totally about James Bond with every other character (especially the women) throwaways. Is that a good thing? Probably not but it's down to personal opinion. My one real gripe is the way Bond attacks Breed at the climax (seems a bit too savage for Boyd's Bond) but then Boyd has a crippled Breed sneaking around an English garden in the early hours. That part just didn't work for me and Bond's realisation that he couldn't allow love to enter his life seemed nicked from the ending of The Man With The Golden Gun.
But as I've said before, I like SOLO.
"Thank you very much. I was just out walking my RAT and seem to have lost my way... "
I just want to say my piece here. Since Benson stopped writing the continuation novels we have had three attempts at Bond stories that seem like auditions rather than serious attempts at continuing the line. I have to say that I haven't been overly struck by Devil May Care, Carte Blanche, and Solo.
I suggest a return to one author continuing the series. It's very clear that each continuation author wrote to whoever was the current cinematic Bond - Gardener had Moore and Dalton - mostly Moore, Benson was definitely a Brozzer fan, whoever picks up the baton can write DC centric novels in the continuity. That formula seemed to work well and sell books.
But these inconsistencies are ok, right, because Fleming's Bond and Boyd's Bond are not the same?
That's the interesting thing. In the books preface or introduction (I don't have the book anymore), Boyd made an emphatic emphasis that his version of Bond is strictly based on the continuity of Fleming's Bond, implying that continuity created by any of the other authors do not count. So, quite frankly, he set pretty high expectations by doing that.
"...the purposeful slant of his striding figure looked dangerous, as if he was making quickly for something bad that was happening further down the street." -SMERSH on 007 dossier photo, Ch. 6 FRWL.....
But didn't Deaver try and write his 'own' Bond, without writing Fleming's character and that blew up in his face. I think Bond does work better when authors carry on from Fleming's stories.
"Thank you very much. I was just out walking my RAT and seem to have lost my way... "
superadoRegent's Park West (CaliforniaPosts: 2,656MI6 Agent
But didn't Deaver try and write his 'own' Bond, without writing Fleming's character and that blew up in his face. I think Bond does work better when authors carry on from Fleming's stories.
That indeed was a greater transgression. It seems that Carte Blanche was a free range attempt to modernize the Bond character, similar to what's going on with the film series nowadays. Nonetheless, continuation Bond novels should proceed with the assumption that they're in continuity with the Fleming books, but that's why I think Solo set itself up for failure by actually calling out how its continuity is strictly from the Fleming books and from none of the other continuity novels. Not that it's any better, Devil May Care implies that it's in Fleming continuity because of its setting (timewise, closer in proximity than Solo), though it borrowed a lot from the film series in terms of flavor like the Gardner and Benson novels.
"...the purposeful slant of his striding figure looked dangerous, as if he was making quickly for something bad that was happening further down the street." -SMERSH on 007 dossier photo, Ch. 6 FRWL.....
To think Christopher Wood managed fine with his two novelisations, it was just implicit. No need for explanations or reboots. That said, the style of writing back then had not changed so much since Fleming's time, now books are just a bit different. They don't have that macho earnestness, that military feel. It's all froth, tarted up with a few twists.
"This is where we leave you Mr Bond."
Roger Moore 1927-2017
superadoRegent's Park West (CaliforniaPosts: 2,656MI6 Agent
To think Christopher Wood managed fine with his two novelisations, it was just implicit. No need for explanations or reboots. That said, the style of writing back then had not changed so much since Fleming's time, now books are just a bit different. They don't have that macho earnestness, that military feel. It's all froth, tarted up with a few twists.
That's what it is, each new writer seems compelled to come up with cheap gimmicks and twists to make their book stand out; this bunch includes the last 3, plus Benson and even Gardner. Christopher Wood on the other hand did something very interesting-hired by EON to write fantastical screenplays for the new Bond to match what Star Wars had to offer, then tasked with the novelizations of those movies, yet ending up with 2 books that didn't ignore the fantastical elements of the 2 movies they're supposed to be based on, to tone it down and make it realistic yet managing to make it work and on top of that, channeling Fleming's narrative voice...now that's some good writing.
"...the purposeful slant of his striding figure looked dangerous, as if he was making quickly for something bad that was happening further down the street." -SMERSH on 007 dossier photo, Ch. 6 FRWL.....
The Dec.19 issue of the London Review of Books has a rather creative review:
Semi-colons are for the weak
by Colin Burrow
‘Morning dearie’. Bond heaved himself awake. A set of teeth was grinning at him from the glass next to his bed. He was in an Innov8 2000 Profiling Hospital Bed with full electronic tilt control. Two tubes ran out of his side to drain the cavity where his right lung used to be.
The nurse was trying to put her arm around him to help him sit up.
‘Now Jimmy … ’
‘My name is … ’ What the devil was it?
‘Don’t mumble, Jimmy. There’s a parcel for you.’
Bond clawed at the parcel with a hand on which he could still see the white outline of the skin-graft he’d had between Casino Royale and Live and Let Die. These physical details from his past made him feel real.
‘Let me,’ sighed the nurse.
Basic parcel protocol flashed into his mind. He muttered ‘Bomb’.
‘That’s no word to use to a lady, you naughty old thing. Look, it’s a book. I don’t think we’re up to it today. I’ll just put it here next to your tooth glass.’
When the nurse had left the room he ignored the rubbery hospital eggs and the dark liquid that they passed off as coffee and tried to make sense of the book.
He was half his real age. Forty-five and past it. Had a birthday dinner. Sensible to spend it at the Dorchester on your own. He flipped on through a lot of standard Bond stuff. Kit? Jensen Interceptor II; a vulgar choice of car. And as for a hired Mustang … Skirt? Good to see that every other nipple is still ‘pert’ after all these years, or better still ‘perfectly round, like coins’. Mission? Off to Africa this time. But reading Graham Greene on the flight? What kind of pansy does this Boyd fellow think I am? Nasty civil war to sort out. Oil money at stake. That’s more like it. Juicy little coffee-coloured girl who turns out to be the local section head, too. Or does she?
There had been a time when Bond made his way in prose like a stealthy cat. Short sharp runs were punctuated with sudden pounces. He always acted decisively though he didn’t always get things right. Short clauses. Main verbs up front. Or no main verbs at all. A sprinkling of commas were reserved for the rare subordinate clause. And semi-colons? They were for the weak. His past was limited to the odd dark penumbra of recollection, which, along with the occasional out-of-register word like ‘penumbra’ or ‘chatoyance’, gave him psychological depth and reminded readers that they should have read the previous books too.
He could confess that in his novels he had been too much of a boom and bonk merchant. He enjoyed himself more in his short stories, where there was less need for a hyperventilating blockbuster climax and more time for the real Bond experiences: for waiting, for anxiety, for anger and social resentment, for adversaries who were dark reflections of himself, and for exact physical description. When in ‘The Living Daylights’ he was stuck in a tiny room in Berlin from which he was supposed to shoot a sniper before the sniper shot a Western agent Bond had time just to be Bond – to read a bad German thriller, to eye up the girls, to watch the curtains, to feel the boredom and unease of being ordered to kill. ‘Octopussy’ released sour guilt among the tropical fish, and allowed Bond himself to be no more than a blank force of retribution who caused the death of a man who was effectively his alter ego. He liked that. But even in the novels there were some set-piece descriptions of which he could still be proud. Some of them were little masterpieces, like the sea scenes in Live and Let Die, where each fish became a stealthy predator, and the whole world of man and beast seemed driven by a relentless desire to kill. It was a pure Bond-world of controlled sadistic destruction all the way down to the plankton: ‘Then he would focus his eyes on the phosphorescent scribbles of the minute underwater night-life and perceive whole colonies and populations about their microscopic business’. That was damn fine writing.
Bond could deliver little shots of irony back then, along with the .25 calibre slugs. As he escaped from the US in Diamonds Are Forever he entered ‘the great safe, black British belly of the Queen Elizabeth’. Yet even the black British womb of queen and country turned out to be infiltrated by American gangsters and assassins. Empire on the turn and all that. His favourite moment, though, had to be seeing the naked Honeychile Rider on the beach in Dr No (none of that kitsch swimming-costume of that terrible film), when she combined the pose of the spinario with the breasts of Botticelli’s Venus. Bond smiled as he remembered the perfect line with which he had introduced himself to her: ‘I’m an Englishman. I’m interested in birds.’
Back in the day the girls had valleys of cleavage, and usually the ones he fancied were not afraid to hold his gaze for a second before their grey or blue eyes fell demurely. People said his women were infantilised. He could see now that it was an odd coincidence that so many of them had been raped at least once in their past. And when James had taken them to bed so that he could console them for the wrongs inflicted on them by life they usually got badly hurt soon afterwards. Or killed. That was a shame. But Honeychile displayed true grit in Dr No when she said (after her unfortunate experience with the giant crabs): ‘Of course it wasn’t very nice having my clothes taken off and being tied down to pegs in the ground. But those black men didn’t dare touch me.’ How could people say his fiction was sadistic? Honeychile had taken it all in the right spirit.
As Bond leafed through the new volume of his adventures he realised that it was all over. He was stuck in prose that creaked with the weary energy of pastiche. The girls had to have surprising inner resources as well as great tits. These days he had to suffer not just from the regrets of a trained killer but from post-traumatic stress. He had to spend weeks stranded in an Africa that was a standard issue decaying postcolonial playground for mercenaries, with the odd pathos-filled episode in which children starve slotted in to show that this was a thriller with a conscience. He was relieved to see that he was still allowed baddies who were physically deformed, but he was nauseated by the amount he was forced to eat. Meal after meal, most of it with a tasteless dash of local colour, or ‘surprisingly tasty, peppery fish stew with dago-dago dumplings’. It was a relief when he was reduced to eating pawpaw in the jungle. There seemed to be some funny stuff going on in the old tummy too: ‘He felt a little, animalistic quiver of desire low in his gut and his loins.’ Must be all that steak and scrambled eggs. It was true that there was a recipe for Scrambled Eggs James Bond in the rather weary short story ‘007 in New York’. But a footnote in Solo explaining how to prepare the James Bond salad dressing? Bond could see that this might be good for market-share, but otherwise remained unconvinced.
As he read on he had to accept that even his food scenes had gone limp. He flicked forward to the moment when he finally got it together with the ripe-bodied starlet Bryce Fitzjohn – though surely that should be Fitzjames, he thought with a grin. Maybe there was, as this Boyd person claimed – he just couldn’t stop those clichés rolling – ‘life in the old dog yet’. Or maybe there wasn’t:
They both knew exactly what was going to happen later and that knowledge provided a satisfying sensual undercurrent to their conversation as they ate the meal she cooked for him – a rare sirloin steak with a tomato and shallot salad, the wine a light and fruity Chianti, with a thin slice of lemony torta della nonna to follow.
Bond confessed to himself that he had in the dark days of the 1960s succumbed to a glass or two of Chianti. But ‘light and fruity’? He gritted his gums. He accelerated on to the sex scene: ‘They made careful love in her wide bed, Bond relishing the smooth ripeness of her body. Afterwards, she sent him down to the kitchen for another bottle of champagne and they lay in bed drinking and talking.’ ‘They made careful love’? What the hell did that mean? Protected sex? Tender sex? Both? Bond snorted. And the mere idea that he of all people would go to the kitchen like a scullery-maid to get more champagne. At least it was Taittinger and not Tesco’s bloody Finest. He coughed out a bitter laugh. He was full of hatred for the modern world. Its caringness. Its warm unspecificity. That stuff would get you killed.
It was then he felt the kick in his chest. It was as though a donkey had coiled up its back legs and whammed him. He felt for a moment fully alive. Energy flooded into him. He sat up. Then his eyes filmed over. He fell back. The nurse came back into the room. A weak smile spread across his face.
A young man with aquiline features and a well-cut suit came that afternoon to look over Mr Bond’s affairs. Nurse Moneypenny was anxious to tell him everything. ‘I came in just as he was, you know, passing.’
With a gloved hand the young man deftly slipped the copy of Solo into a decontamination sack so it could be tested for toxicity before it was shredded. He then swept the rest of Bond’s possessions into a bin-bag: the bound copies of Mayfair, the battered Rolex Oyster Perpetual, the copy of Patrick Leigh Fermor’s The Traveller’s Tree, and the Beretta .25 with the skeleton grip which had been rusting beneath Bond’s mattress during all those rounds of chemo. Bit of a lady’s weapon, thought the young man. Can’t think why he hung onto that.
Back at headquarters racks of servers flickered into life. In a bunker deep beneath the Virginia countryside young Desdemona Leiter casually monitored the stream of intercepts from GCHQ. As ‘007’ flashed before her eyes she thought to herself ‘Poor old bastard.’ Then a message from her man in Baqubah blipped onto the screen. She swept back her blonde hair. Code Green. Leiter uncrossed her elegant legs and swivelled on her Kneelsit ergonomic computer chair to face another monitor. There was a drone to dispatch. Life was such a drag.
I haven't read any of the earlier discussion of Solo in this thread, so I don't know what has been discussed so far, but I just finished reading Solo and thought I'd post a few thoughts about the novel. This is by no means intended to be a full review, rather just a few impressions and feelings.
I found it an entertaining read over my last week of train-commuting. I enjoyed the story, particularly the African setting of the first half of the novel, although I couldn't help feeling that I would have got a far more vivid impression of the location had Fleming been writing about it. I enjoyed the villain, although as a South African I do often roll my eyes at the cliche of South African/Rhodesian mercenaries. Jakobus Breed was a villain that I found easy to hate, and his untidy demise was brutally satisfying. The second half of the novel takes place in the USA, and this allowed us a chance for another encounter with Felix Leiter, and also his nephew Brig. I found Bond's cynicism about his job and the dirty political manipulation going on behind the scenes felt a little like viewing 60s Bond through a 21st century lens but I feel it worked.
Ultimately, this goes down as my favourite post-Gardner Bond novel. I found it a great deal more enjoyable than Jeffrey Deaver's effort, which I must admit I never really got into, and it was a far for satisfying attempt at a period Bond than Devil May Care. So, job well done! I know the sales were significantly down for this novel compared to the previous two which I think is a crying shame because I feel it is a far better work. I hope that the literary Bond will continue with another good Bond adventure coming soon regardless of the sales.
I read Solo shortly after launch. I must be honest however and say that a few months on I can remember very little about the plot or the characters in the book. It was and OK read, but not one I will come back to.
As a collector of the Fleming novels and the continuation novels I try to get one copy of each UK variant of the books. For Solo I have
Leather bound in slip case (numbered / signed)
Hardback with white page edges (signed 1st)
Hardback with red page edges (1st)
The UK paperback cover has been released and is out in May. I think the hardback cover is much nicer, but will also buy the paperback when it's on out.
"Thank you very much. I was just out walking my RAT and seem to have lost my way... "
I think the paperback cover looks decent, but certainly the hardback is a superior bit of design. I like how the jacket has bullet holes punched in it, just like the original Pan paperback of Thunderball. I loved that bit of design homage.
Comments
The whole African civil war episode was dragging and Bond was underused IMO, so underwhelming considering what he was capable of doing. Even the supposedly more impressive sequences like Bond’s personal military contribution were summarized in 1st person narrative. This part of the story reminded me more of the Dogs of War (both novel and movie) and The Wild Geese, though the protagonists in those were more formidable than Bond in terms of action.
Bond seemed inept and just plain sloppy in terms of ensuring security for the people close to him, like Donalda and Bryce Fitzjohn, especially how he just left her unprotected at the end of the book, already knowing that it was Kobus Breed who was lurking around her house (and considering what he did to Blessing).
The M that was portrayed seemed like a stranger, though Boyd inserted a few known mannerisms like his self-absorbed indifference and calling Bond, “James” when something delicate was being discussed. Apart from that, the character was shallow IMO.
Lastly, I didn’t like how Felix was portrayed. He, like M, seemed more like a stranger in terms of characterization although Boyd brought up how they’ve remained close friends, etc. Felix seemed more like a professional colleague with whom Bond did not confide in 100%, unlike in the Fleming books in which their friendship seemed to even transcend their official allegiances to their respective services. I didn’t like the profanity-laced exchanges between Bond and Felix, which made it seem that Boyd was trying to emulate the more “realistic” authors like Tom Clancy or some other post-Fleming writer.
Sorry to be so negative, but what I can say is that at least Boyd is in good company with the recent continuation Bond authors after John Gardner, (with the exception of Charlie Higson, whose Young Bond books were excellent IMO), whose Bond novels IMO have fallen short even of the most generous consideration that they were not Ian Fleming; by Jove, with the exception of Raymond Benson, you guys are supposed to be award-winning writers!
The "New" Saint's Jensen Interceptor, on which show was the first time I became aware of this beautiful car:
http://youtu.be/4xLbk28rk3E
It's a corking read, even if in effect a bunch of magazine style interviews/features with the likes of Ian Fleming, Sean Connery and other Bond associates, including an imaginary meeting between snob Fleming and grammar school lad Len Deighton.
The Fleming and Connery interviews are v good really. Connery says TB is the best Bond story, okay he is promoting the movie when this book came out, but it's interesting in view of how he became embroiled in plotting the remake.
Fleming talks about his tastes in women:
"Asked what type of woman bored him, he replied: 'The slinky vampire type. Fashion models. Actresses. You could only conceivably think they were sexy if you had no experience of them. They are always so frightened of getting bent or bruised in any way because they think it will affect their careers... Unless you fit into their careers, they aren't really interested.'
Of course, Boyd has Bond going after an actress in a horror series... perfect, eh?
Anyway, I agree with superado's review in the main.
Roger Moore 1927-2017
Indeed, though Shannon in DoW did more work in his guise as Keith Brown, ornithologist, in Zangaro. And North, the journalist, actually did attempt some reporting of news.
I don't recall Bond doing anything in Africa other than get pissed, certainly didn't file news-copy. Oddly, no one seemed to notice or care (including, it would seem, Boyd)
Good points, any self-respecting regime would have a proper propaganda ministry, even a fledgling spin-off replublic like Dahum, so wasn't the coverage of the civil war being closely scruitinzed? It's not like the Adeka regime had a lack of resources, which was the opposite case. It's no surprise that Bond wasn't found out sooner considering the carte-blanche he was given up to that point.
Speaking of titles, that one would have been more appropriate than "Solo," which I forgot to add earlier. The "Solo" aspect was so underdeveloped and seemed just an afterthought in view of the lengthy African episode and the factors leading up to Bond's decision to go "Solo" seem so half-baked, that his resolve was not convincing. I never thought I'd say anything like this, but Boyd could have borrowed from the films, namely LTK, to depict circumstances that would drive Bond to genuinely go "solo," which was tantamount to him almost loosing it. These recent continuity authors remind me of college kids cramming for their papers if judging by the titles alone (Devil May Care, Carte Blanche and Solo), so much so that EON has been doing a better job with making up titles.
To be honest, Bond's motivation for going "Solo" was one that didn't jar so much because by the time Boyd had had me meander aimlessly through Africa I had pretty much lost interest in Boyd's "version" of Bond. I knew from Boyd's nature Bond wasn't going to be emotionally driven as in in say LTK. It was almost as if Boyd decided to take two stories together to make one; Bond wakes up in Scotland, perhaps has a look at the miserable weather, and then decides he's going to take the mob from Africa down. Like a genteel Dirty Harry. Why? It's illogical. Particularly after operation Bedlam, where Bond had preferred to get married rather than finish the op by tracking Blofeld down.
But these inconsistencies are ok, right, because Fleming's Bond and Boyd's Bond are not the same?
Not agree with you much on SOLO but I find myself in total agreement here. -{
Had Boyd not pulled the contrived shocker of Bond going Rambo for no sensible reason...
Indeed, had Boyd had Bond wake up in Scotland, decide he'd got out of Africa lightly after a pretty silly, pointless op, that those African Johnnies really weren't much after all, and that he was going to treat himself to a cracking night on Prince Street in Edinburgh before heading home for more sloth and ennui, it would have been more in keeping.
And had Boyd then have the African mob come AFTER BOND in London, forcing him out of his life of bored luxury, it would have been far more impactful... (It need not have been another NO ONE LIVES FOREVER)
Hell, Boyd showed what might have been with his Breed-as-the-new-Baron-Samedi ending....
However, it contrasts badly with his present day 1968 situtation, celebrating his 45th birthday by having a night and then breakfast at the Dorchester. It seems a bit soft, self-indulgent, like something a single woman of a certain age might do, while checking out the spa (which is very good, I understand). I can't buy it, and it doesn't seem to be done as ironic contrast to his earlier tough times. If Boyd had to start it like that, he should talk about how Bond 'as a whim, which he soon regretted, decided to postpone his return to his Chelsea flat, opting for a night in the Dorchester. But he found that hotels, like women, are always best experienced when there is something else in the ether, and this single solitary experience only emphasised the pathos of his ill-advised celebration."
From then on, Boyd drops the ball. I'd imagined his wartime memory might have some bearing on the story, but it doesn't really, nor does the woman he encounters in the breakfast room, so he is just faffing about. Ditto his following her and by now notorious breaking and entering, dearie me, okay when he's on a mission but he isn't really now is he? Again, you could do this if he had better grounds for worry, or there had been recent agents reported as being caught out this way... As for leaving a jokey note saying he had been there, it's a bit Frank Drebbin, who carefully picks up a gun using a stick in the nozzle, then places it in his naked hand.
I agree that M is just a stereotype and if you can't believe in M, you don't have a story really.
The next bit is out in Africa, problem being that really it is just not an enjoyable location and you can't believe Fleming would have bothered with it. I realise Fleming may have been unPC, but you can't have Bond going to that neck of the woods and have no attitude about the people or culture or anything, it's all just terribly bland. Most of us go on holiday and come back with an opinion of sorts about the locals or the customs or bureacracy.
So far there isn't a villain, so as with Deaver's book we have some nasty types who are not villains, just annoying pipsqueaks like the sexist journo Bond crosses swords with, and promptly beats up! Nice going. It seems he's doing this just cos he's annoyed with himself. I suppose you can imagine Craig doing this, not having any charm to ease himself out of the situation.
To be fair, the read rattles along and I got thru it in two sittings, albeit like wolfing down a tube of Pringles. Also, Boyd is better at the sex stuff than I thought, though it's all a bit too obviously consensual, and nothing naughty or challenging there.
So fast was my reading I got no impression that Kobus or whoever was white, though he is described as such a few times on first meeting. Somehow I thought he was black, but he's a character who just does his thing, you don't really get to know anyone too much, it's the plot, stupid. And as with Faulks and Deaver, it's all based around twists, so it feels a bit of a confidence trick, a shaggy dog story of sorts. It's not satisfying imo.
It does get better in terms of description when Bond goes to Washington, and it feels Flemingesque, but I did sort of go off it anyway. It's like Boyd is just racing for the finish line and I'm not sure he gets into any great scrapes does he, save getting shot by a woman on his own side - and how could she be sure he'd be saved? That was only by chance, that he was found by another journo.
I cannot even be sure about the twist, and who the villain was, and who was being caught addicted to heroin and mistaken for the brother. It was all a bit rushed and I didn't care. It sounded like an old Saint short story I recall.
I did generally get the sense that Boyd was sending up Bond a bit, as Faulks did, trying to show him in a bad light. There just didn't seem to be that depressed side to Bond that we saw in Fleming and Pearson's book or hinted at in Wood's novelisations. The sense that Bond indulges a bit simply to get away from that darker sensibility, not because he's some pampered priss.
Roger Moore 1927-2017
Hang on.
It's 1969. African republics are struggling for independence after years of oppression by the evil colonial power. Breed is a Rhodesian mercenary "officer". He is a psychotic murder = in the left of centre world of Mr Boyd he is straight out of clichéd Central Casting: he's a nasty white Southern African, obviously.
Roger Moore 1927-2017
Oh, I'm not excusing Boyd; his villains are under-drawn nobodies, as thin as his plot. Bit like Deaver's cyphers. Make one realise how classic a villain Dr Julius Gorner was.
Guess, though, that most scribblers of the level we're talking about would fail compared to Fleming's rich description of the baddies.
Which is why Boyd uses clichéd Central Casting for Breed. He can't describe him, probably feels he doesn't need to, because he's simply a Southern African 60s mercenary. Therefore, Germanic looking, tall and blond and rugged, but, obviously, not good looking, with a far away psychotic glint in his eye.
But as I've said before, I like SOLO.
I suggest a return to one author continuing the series. It's very clear that each continuation author wrote to whoever was the current cinematic Bond - Gardener had Moore and Dalton - mostly Moore, Benson was definitely a Brozzer fan, whoever picks up the baton can write DC centric novels in the continuity. That formula seemed to work well and sell books.
I would be interested by others thoughts...
#1.TLD/LTK 2.TND 3.GF 4.GE 5.DN 6.FYEO 7.FRWL 8.TMWTGG 9.TWINE 10.YOLT/QOS
Anyway, for all you Jensen fans out there, and for those of you keen to see Bond continue into the 70s, watch this link...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7kPVhh5vr8I
That's the interesting thing. In the books preface or introduction (I don't have the book anymore), Boyd made an emphatic emphasis that his version of Bond is strictly based on the continuity of Fleming's Bond, implying that continuity created by any of the other authors do not count. So, quite frankly, he set pretty high expectations by doing that.
To think Christopher Wood managed fine with his two novelisations, it was just implicit. No need for explanations or reboots. That said, the style of writing back then had not changed so much since Fleming's time, now books are just a bit different. They don't have that macho earnestness, that military feel. It's all froth, tarted up with a few twists.
Roger Moore 1927-2017
That's what it is, each new writer seems compelled to come up with cheap gimmicks and twists to make their book stand out; this bunch includes the last 3, plus Benson and even Gardner. Christopher Wood on the other hand did something very interesting-hired by EON to write fantastical screenplays for the new Bond to match what Star Wars had to offer, then tasked with the novelizations of those movies, yet ending up with 2 books that didn't ignore the fantastical elements of the 2 movies they're supposed to be based on, to tone it down and make it realistic yet managing to make it work and on top of that, channeling Fleming's narrative voice...now that's some good writing.
I found it an entertaining read over my last week of train-commuting. I enjoyed the story, particularly the African setting of the first half of the novel, although I couldn't help feeling that I would have got a far more vivid impression of the location had Fleming been writing about it. I enjoyed the villain, although as a South African I do often roll my eyes at the cliche of South African/Rhodesian mercenaries. Jakobus Breed was a villain that I found easy to hate, and his untidy demise was brutally satisfying. The second half of the novel takes place in the USA, and this allowed us a chance for another encounter with Felix Leiter, and also his nephew Brig. I found Bond's cynicism about his job and the dirty political manipulation going on behind the scenes felt a little like viewing 60s Bond through a 21st century lens but I feel it worked.
Ultimately, this goes down as my favourite post-Gardner Bond novel. I found it a great deal more enjoyable than Jeffrey Deaver's effort, which I must admit I never really got into, and it was a far for satisfying attempt at a period Bond than Devil May Care. So, job well done! I know the sales were significantly down for this novel compared to the previous two which I think is a crying shame because I feel it is a far better work. I hope that the literary Bond will continue with another good Bond adventure coming soon regardless of the sales.
As a collector of the Fleming novels and the continuation novels I try to get one copy of each UK variant of the books. For Solo I have
Leather bound in slip case (numbered / signed)
Hardback with white page edges (signed 1st)
Hardback with red page edges (1st)
Are there any others I should know about?