The Spy Who Loved Me: James Bond 007

From hearing the first words read by Rosamund Pike, I knew I could be nothing but delighted with this CD set. Her voice is deliciously deep, resonant, and of course beautifully feminine.

I already owned Casino Royal read by Dan Stevens, and Diamonds Are Forever read by Daimian Lewis in the same CD 007 Reloaded series from AudioGo, so it was an obvious choice to buy this one read by the actress who had played Miranda Frost in the film Die Another Day.

The film The Spy Who Loved Me bears no relation to the book, other than the title. Rather than beginning with Bond, this original story starts with a fascinating depiction of a young Canadian woman's recent experiences in London and the road trip she takes across America. This leads her to the Dreamy Pines Motor Court and into the clutches of two extremely sinister gangsters. Fleming treats us to the girl's intimate thoughts and feelings, and provides a fascinating depiction of American motels in the fifties. A thrilling story: exciting, sensuous and full of danger.

I enjoyed Ms Pike's reading much more than the other stories in this series read by male actors. She plays all the characters with skill and variety. Ms Pike is very accomplished and reads with great feeling and panache. Her comments at the end of the recording on her personal response to the story are both insightful and reflective.

Worth every penny - the best Bond on CD!

Fleming's writing was getting better as he continued the James Bond series, but this attempt at a first-person narrative from a woman's point of view falls flat. Bond does not appear until more than half-way through the text, and any action that one is used to in this series is rather subdued after he appears. The villains are minor, and their boss is never seen and by the end of the book, the reader isn't even sure that he will be caught. I have been reading all the Bond books ever written in chronological order (including those written after Fleming's death), and this is the weakest of them all. (By the way, the movie "The Spy Who Loved Me" takes only its title from the book -- there is no connection between the novel and the film. Thank goodness, since the movie is quite good.

Ian Fleming wrote this novel in a deliberate attempt to do something different with James Bond. There are no super villains or world-threatening conspiracies; and Bond himself does not appear until two-thirds of the way through the book. Told in the first person by the female lead, it's readable enough but seems rather pedestrian compared to the usual Bond super-saga.

Fleming himself was not at all pleased with this book and in fact refused to sell the paperback rights to it; the paper edition didn't appear until after his death. When he sold the film rights, he specifically stipulated that Eon Productions would not attempt to film this, but create another story with the same title.

As the Bond films progressed, they had less and less to do with Fleming's plots anyway; by the time Eon got around to The Spy Who Loved Me they would undoubtedly have wanted something more spectacular in any case. Still, it's interesting that the author so disliked the results of his work.

For true-blue fans of Bond, this is a passable read; but there's nothing here that develops the character of Bond in any way. We learn nothing new about him. So if you decide to skip this and proceed directly to the vastly superior "On Her Majesty's Secret Service", you won't miss much.

First off, I must say that my experience w/ Blackstone audio books has been VERY positive. I've purchased most of the audio books in the Bond series, & so far I've only had problems w/ one of them (On Her Majestie's Secret Service). A couple of the discs had what appeared to be glue (from the packaging?) on them & would not play properly. When I first encountered the problem, I called the 800 number on the box, fully expecting to get an automated answering service w/ menu options. To my surprise, a very pleasant woman named "Carol" answered, assuring me that there would be no problem getting a replacement disc to me free of charge. The entire phone call was over in a few minutes & left me feeling very happy w/ the company & w/ my purchase Thank you, Carol!

As for the Blackstone Bond series audio books, Nadia May does an outstanding job narrating this book. It took some getting used to hearing a woman narrator after listening to Simon Vance's excellent narration on several titles (this is the only title in the Bond series NOT read by Vance), but this is also the only Bond novel written by Fleming in first person from a woman's perspective, so it makes sense to use a woman narrator. Unlike some narrators I've encountered w/ other companies (such as Brilliance) who read descriptive passages AND dialogue using the SAME TONE so that it's difficult to tell which character is actually speaking, May (like Vance) gives each character his or her own voice and manner of speaking. It makes for a MUCH more pleasant & enjoyable listening experience.

Part of the fun of the original Bond novels is seeing how they compare to the films that bare their titles. In many cases, there's scarcely any similarity at all (and sometimes none whatsoever). However, I actually enjoy that. Having seen the movies so many times, it's great not knowing what will happen next in the books. Fleming definitely enjoyed meting out "poetic justice" w/ regards to eliminating his villains. I've read all of the Fleming Bond books, either on audio or in print, and they are all worth-while. Once I have the entire Blackstone audio series, I plan to start over from the beginning & "read" them all again in sequence.

This book IN NO WAY resembles the film that bares its title. It is, in fact, as different from the film as it is from the other Bond books written by Fleming. As mentioned before, the story is told in first person from the point of view of a female character, so that alone makes it a considerable departure in terms of tone. However, in terms of PLOT, this book isn't really a traditional James Bond thriller either. Nearly the entire first half of the book is simply a flashback of how the female protagonist (and Bond's eventual love interest) came to work at an out-of-the-way motor court in the Adirondacks. There are NO megalomaniacal villains bent on conquering the world. Just a couple of thugs who terrorize the protagonist until James Bond happens by (nearly two-thirds into the book) and complicates things. This is a thriller on a much less grandiose scale, yet it nevertheless remains thrilling. In many ways, Fleming delves deeper into men's pulp adventure w/ this novel than w/ any other of his Bond stories. He really was a very gifted writer, and this short novel really is an impressive piece of noir fiction.

If you enjoy classic noir, pulp adventure novels (as I do), then you owe it to yourself to read this one. It's got virtually all the classic tropes and first-class writing. This story could easily be adapted to film w/o changing anything except the name "James Bond," and it wouldn't look out-of-place on a shelf next to Reservoir Dogs or even as a segment in a film like Pulp Fiction. Most people probably wouldn't even realize they were enjoying a James Bond story.

This book falls between Thunderball and On Her Majestie's Secret Service, both of which pit Bond against SPECTRE and his arch-villain, Blofeld. However, while Bond is technically "tracking down" Blofeld after the events of Operation Thunderball, neither Blofeld nor SPECTRE really figure into the plot of The Spy Who Loved Me. I HIGHLY RECOMMEND the Bond books (and the Blackstone audio books) to anyone enjoys action/adventure stories.

Thinking about the movie made with this title, you can understand why they completely changed the story line. Having 007 as a side character in a young woman's adventure just isn't that interesting, nor is the 1950s setting of Lake George/Glens Falls, unless you grew up in that region!

This interesting book in the James Bond series is narrated in the first person by a young woman from Canada. The first third of the book is simply her telling about her life, loves, and woes. The next part sets up the story as she is accosted by two gangsters. Who should come on the scene by accident? Why none other than British Secret Agent James Bond. Of course Bond saves the day and beds the girl. What else could he do?

This is not the best of the Bond novels. Bond only makes an appearance in the last part of the book. Most of it was a bit tedious. The misfortunate loves of a spolied girl from Quebec isn't really what I was looking for when picking up a spy novel. It is a short book, well under 200 pages, so it was a quick read.

Having recently read Andrew Lycett's excellent biography of 007 creator Ian Fleming, I found rereading "The Spy Who Loved Me," his tenth James Bond novel, a very unconventional story.

James Bond doesn't appear until page 100. The novel is told from the perspective of Vivienne Michel, a Canadian woman traveling across the USA after two devastating relationships. "Viv" is an strong, sympathetic character--considering that her creator was generally the type of cad who broke her heart! She remembers her deflowering (Fleming had lost his virginity the same way) and her career before fleeing to America (like Fleming, she worked for a newspaper).

But she's a tough, resilient woman, just the type of female who would appeal to a secret agent like 007. Drawn into an insurance scam at a remote New England motel and menaced by two repellent thugs, Viv is threatened with rape and murder until a mysterious Englishman gets a flat tire on a nearby road.

"The Spy Who Loved Me" was an interesting experiment in Fleming's writing that didn't pay off for him. He discouraged any reprints and considered destroying all unsold copies. Who knows what other directions and what risks Fleming might have made if "Spy" had succeeded. In fact, when the producers of the Bond films were looking for their next entry in the series, the Fleming estate allowed them to use only the title of this one.

Reading the novel now in 2007, it appealed to me because Viv's painful past relationships and her determination not to be bitter reflect many women I know now--or wish I knew.

It was also fascinating that the unfeeling men in her past resembled the author more than the main characters. Viv was the strong, beautiful woman he wished he had. And James Bond, as usual, was the dashing super stud he wished he was. Just like the rest of us.

This book is unique among Fleming's novels in that it is narrated by one of the characters. The story is told by a young lady who, after several bad breakups, has left England in search of a fresh start and found work at a rural motel in the US. On the last night of the season, she is held captive by two gangsters and is in fear for her life. By luck, 007 gets a flat tire outside the motel and the two join forces to figure out the criminals' plan and escape their clutches.
What makes this particularly interesting is the fact that, in a series infamous for its casual sexism and machismo, this female character has a fully developed, believable inner life. The usual Bond girl myth, i.e. "every woman wants to be dominated," still creeps through, but so rarely and so late in the novel that one can almost overlook it. Also, unlike some of these books, this manages to deliver a genuine mystery that I didn't guess before the end.

I know that the movies are not direct adaptations of the books, but this book... wow. Even without the movie as a comparison, this book is just not a James Bond book. The first two-thirds of the story are the adventures of a young woman who set out to see North America, and ends up briefly taking a job at a motel in upstate New York. Only after introducing the shady motel managers and even shadier "movers" do we finally see James Bond arrive, thanks to a flat tire. That's right, this is not a spy mission, it's more of a "hero walks into trouble" story; there's a brief closing act, and then everyone who lives goes their separate ways.

Forgettable, and lacking much in the way of James Bond. And, like I said before, if you liked the movie, definitely don't read this book.

This masterpiece by Ian Fleming is judged too harshly by narrow-minded Bond fanatics. I've only read about three Bond books, this included, and I am very partial to this one. Everything goes agaisnt `The Formula'. The villains are unsophisticated stooges, Bond doesn't show up until we are done with two-thirds of the book and, in one of Fleming's most inspired endeavors, we see everything from the perspective of a woman. If anything, this book proves to be one hell of a psycho-study. We've all seen Bond seducing women left and write, whether on the screen or bound in a book, but what do we know of the women he's had? A simple fling can mean the world to a young woman secuded by a charming and mysterious fellow. This book, shining just as bright as the others, stands out among most works of fiction. There is real depth from the first page to the last sentence.

As other reviewers have pointed out, The Spy Who Loved Me is an experiment, written from the first person of what in other books would be called a "Bond Girl". So we get a bildungsroman for that type of girl -- tough, beautiful, good driver, 20-30, but sexually disappointed (if not damaged; I won't spoil it). And we see Bond, then, not on a mission but rather during a hiatus, passing through the Adirondacks. He appears more flawed and uncertain of himself than he normally does. The enemies, too, are less diabolical. The stage set is far smaller. The weapons far more ordinary. This is James Bond looked at without the benefit of the narrative insight of an expert ex-intelligence man (Fleming's default narrative voice). Is it good? Not very. Is it fascinating when read as part of the evolution of James Bond? Yes.

This book is told from the perspective of a woman who intersects with Bond and describes her feelings about him. Bond only actually shows up in the last third of the book and his actions are described by the first person narrator. I am not generally a fan of women's literature but I guess I make an exception for women's literature written by Ian Fleming featuring James Bond as the stoic hero.

Though I've seen several James Bond movies, and did take note of Bond's somewhat loose morals with the ladies, the action packed thrillers usualy outweighed and overshadowed his less than chaste ways.

This was the first time I'd read a James Bond book as I tend to stay away from fiction and truly after reading this the saying that "truth is stranger than fiction" is true indeed.

This book seems off the beaten path for a James Bond story as Bond doesn't make an appearance until well over half way through the book! So one has to conclude or at least suspect that Flemming's got a mission or motive for this. Ostensibly it's to create the lead charachter, but I realized as I was reading that it seemed he was giving a message to loose women, that thier hearts and charachters are in the balance when they let men have their ways with them just to be nice and not loose their men, and it's they who pay the price by their change in attitude and heart towards love and affection. And I guess he does accomplish this, though with somewhat slightly more "visuals" then is nessesary...though he tells the story through her mind so this might be excusable. If he left it at that he might have made a good point in this almost universal truth. But then he repudiates it all after the hero makes his entrance and cleans up the problem by then turning the book into a bit of light porn. And to top it off his attempt to set the girl straight through the policemans little lecture only makes the whole point of the book seem empty and without any solid life lesson to cling to but rather a more worldly pointless lase fair exposition on her experiences. and it left me with the feeling that it really should have been called "The Spy Who Shagged me"

at 15 years old I'd read a book as I thought I should read stuff to be more learned and stopped when I realized the book I'd picked at random was just smut, and this book returned that same feeling, and I determined, reguradless of what I thought of Ian and his background in espionage, I wouldn't read any more of his works. ( Though I might if the book is a true story and give him one more chance) The only reason I give this a 2 stars is it was kind of fun when Bond does finaly make an appearance in the book and the situation they found themselves in...though I still found some incongurities in the words used by the characters as seeming out of charachter. Furthermore the things the bad guys DIDN'T do in light of what their "mission" was also seemed in retrospect highly unlikely.

When one considers that this was written in 1962 or thereabouts, it's clear to me that Flemming is pushing the envelope on social standards, bringing the world down to his level, by making heroes of sleazes.

An unusual Bond novel because written in the first person voice of a woman. Perhaps more than any other Bond novel this is nothing like the film of the same name. Bond only comes into the narrative in the final act to save the heroine from a nasty fate at the hands of two viscious gangsters holed up in a run down motel in the Adirondacks. The suspense builds well and it's quite a page turner. Hitchcock always wanted to make a Bond film and this would have been the one for him to do, with its American setting, creeping claustrophobia and damsel in distress. This Penguin series has a cool (though racy) set of retro covers that draw on elements of the story. My copy came from the local IGA store in Kingaroy, Qld, so you never know what little treasures you'll find among the supermarket novels.

This is a really unusual, but most enjoyable James
Bond book. As is often the case of the Bond novels
made into movies released in the 1970's, this novel
and the 1977 film have absolutely nothing in common
other than the title. But in this case even the main
character is different. Bond does not even appear
until the final third of the book.
The story is told in first person by a woman who
ultimately crosses Bond's path. "The Spy" is Bond and
"Me" is Fleming's main character, Vivienne Michel.
She is an attractive, single, 23-year old woman who
has been shafted by two lovers as the story begins.
The very idea of a 54-year old man writing a story
from the point of view of a woman more than 30 years
his junior is interesting. However, when the older
man is Fleming and known for creating characters with
names like Pussy Galore, it is not only interesting
but amusing!
The narrator, Vivienne, uses flashback to describe the
events of her life as the novel opens. As a naive
young girl she was burned by one lover and in spite of
that experience, she allows herself to be burned
again. At the completion of her trip down memory
lane, she suddenly finds herself in the clutches of
two thugs. She has no idea what they are up to except
that they want to harm her. It is, of course, Bond
who becomes her knight in shining armor and rescues
her in spite of his admitted carelessness.
There is a story within the story here as well. Bond
describes his most recent assignment, thwarting a
SPECTRE plot involving the attempted assassination of
a Soviet defector. It is a shame that this vignette
has never been the subject of a movie. The potential
for a good action flick is there.
Although much of the book reads more like a romance
novel than a spy thriller, it is never slow. The
action is good and there are some fine
characterizations as well. Fleming uses Vivienne to
make a statement about men (himself?) and their
treatment of women. Bond is compared to the bad guys
on multiple occasions. He is cut from the same cloth
as the bad guys, but without the evil. Recommended to
anyone who has seen the same old Bond formula many
times. You may find this a pleasant surprise.

This novella was a very pleasant surprise. I knew that not all the movies followed the books and this was my first read of "The Spy Who Loved Me". It was interesting, exciting and I enjoyed the first person perspective. I think even my girl would like this one in spite of the dated sexism.

Reading "The Spy Who Loved Me" is like being trapped with a dull guest at a bad cocktail party. While you're waiting for Bond to show up, the heroine has you pinned in the corner, away from the drinks, telling you all about her sad childhood and her leaving home. While your eyes are scanning the room, she is telling you about her love life, her sexual exploits, the men who have used and discarded her, and a lot of other stuff you don't really want to hear about.
To be honest, I'm not entirely sure what else she talks about, because my attention started to wander. Instead of making an excuse about going to the bathroom, I began skipping chapters, looking for Bond. He showed up a third of the way through the book, wiht an excuse involving a case he'd just finished. This was by far the most excruciating part of the book, because, by this point, the contrast between the interesting exploits Bond recounted and the painfully dull book itself is just heartbreaking. Of course, by that point in the book, "A Field Guide to Birds in the West Indies" probably would have read like "Goldfinger."
Eventually, the book decides to take up the, um, plot. It's not worth the wait. Let's just say that, for a guy who's singlehandedly averted world war on more than one occasion, Slugsy and Horror -- yes, those are the villians' names -- must seem like a doozy of a step down. I won't spoil whatever surprises the book has by revealing their plan, but you can safely assume it falls just a tad short of stealing a nuclear warhead or destroying the gold in Fort Knox.
In short, this is, by far, the worst of the Bond novels. There's a reason why the movie has nothing to do with the book. You should do likewise.

The very 1st James Bond I read --- having seen several movies... picked it up in a second hand bookstore in 1964. Just re-read it on Kindle. Ian was/is a master of his craft. If in doubt, visit up-state NY. The description of the trees and the land is dead-on! And, the character development is superb!

If only we had 007 today....

Ian Fleming's tenth James Bond number is a departure from the usual mold of a Bond story:the entire tale is told from a female viewpoint. The first third of the novel details two past love affairs of Vivienne Michel's (the main character) life. Twice she is burned by men, and she eventually decides to go to America to start a new life. There she finds employment at a cheap motel where she works as a desk clerk. This first part of the novel is probably the best part, it is a very interesting in-depth character study. Although Fleming's efforts to understand female psychology are to be commended, it just doesn't work well in a Secret Service story.
The second part of the story is definitely the worst. It introduces the "vilians", actually small-time thugs. They characters may seem scary to Vivienne but a Bond reader expects more. Some readers appreciate the change from the usual super-villain, and this is welcome, but the thugs could have been much better drawn out to be made into more menacing characters.
In the final third of the story, Bond arrives. It seems almost pointless to include him in the story at all. BOnd has no character in this novel, he is simply a "night in shining armour". He is as two-dimensional as cardboard. All the fleshing out of his character throughout the books since CASINO ROYALE seems to dissappear here, as if it never happened. Althoug this part of the book is the most thrilling, it does not measure up to Vivienne's flashbacks. Some readers criticize the gunfight at the novel's end as "just the usual, nothing special", etc. This is not true. The battle is cleverly thought out. For the first time since perhaps the fight against The Robber in Mr. Big's warehouse in LIVE AND LET DIE, Bond must plan his strategy carefully. Certain routes are covered by enemy gunfire, and Horror and Sluggsy's efficient tactics even get the reader thinking, "How is James going to get out of this one?" It simulates an actually battlefield experience. The scene with Sluggsy attempting to assassinate Bond and Vivienne at the end is quite horrifying as well.
I won't lie: I couldn't put this book down. It's pretty good. But not as a James Bond story. His inclusion seems unnecessary, and contrived. It takes away from what could have been a genuinly great suspense tale about a girl trying to survive on her own against two vicious thugs. As it stands, it's just an action/romance tale on a very small scale.

Read it years ago, wanted to read it again, accidentatly pushed purchase, since kindle has set its default button to buy when looking at it; so pushing a button must wait a few extra seconds, if not double push results in a purchase. Had to go online to request refund, which was easy.

This is a Bond book taken from the perspective of someone he meets, and so we see him as others might see him: a dangerous man, but by his actions and charisma making him the sexiest spy, now and forever.

The voice actor Samantha Bond... not trying to be unkind, but her mispronunciation of "Adirondack" drove me nuts and broke my attention away from the story, every time I heard it. If not for this I would have loved this audiobook.

Listen to the other books read by Rufus Sewell and he will spoil you. You'll never want to listen to anyone else read again.

For the male readers used to Ian Fleming's style, you can skip the entire first section of the book and lose nothing of importance in the story.
The female readers may enjoy the telling of the heroine's background, travels and tribulations. I felt it was just so much treacle, and not really relevant. ( bond seemed less "bondish", too.)

This may have been Fleming or his publisher's idea to sell more books to a female audience. If you are looking for the real Bond he is not here. This is the most sexually graphic of the Bond novels but from the female point of view. It is claimed that the first romance novel was written in 1972 but The Spy Who Loved Me preceeded it by 10 years. Instead of riding in on a white horse to save the damsel in distress he appears in a T Bird with a flat tire at a cheap motel in upstate NY. Did Fleming really write this?

These are the ultimate action books and are very great reads. I tend to read fast and can get through one of these in about 2-3 days time. Very action packed. If you like the movies do yourself a favor and read the books. The books get into more detail and are a little different story wise than the movies. The story line NEVER gets boring and will keep you right on the edge of your "seat" at times. I currently only have 4 out of the 13 left to read. I can see myself reading these over and over again. CLASSICS never DIE!! And neither does BOND.

Thinking about the movie made with this title, you can understand why they completely changed the story line. Having 007 as a side character in a young woman's adventure just isn't that interesting, nor is the 1950s setting of Lake George/Glens Falls, unless you grew up in that region!