Reviews tagging 'Rape'

Casino Royale by Ian Fleming

9 reviews

whatslukereading's review

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adventurous mysterious tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.75

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beeinbooks's review against another edition

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I KEEP ACCIDENTALLY DELETING MY REVIEWS BY PRESSING A NAVIGATION BUTTON UGH! anyway I'm not typing all that out again but basically, it's good because it is a functional thriller and there's an unexpectedly very (homo)erotic torture scene, but the last part of the book fixates a lot on Vesper and Bond's relationship, particularly how he loves her because he thinks having sex with her will always feel like rape, and he recounts that one of the times they sleep together, she cries afterwards and asks him to leave? Then he decides to propose marriage specifically because he likes the idea of sex with her always feeling a bit non-consensual? And the last line of the book is essentially "thank god that bitch is dead?" After he's spent a couple of chapters being nursed back to health by her? And falling in love (or at least what he thinks is love)? And she kills herself to save him and the best word he has for her is bitch?
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catherine_t's review against another edition

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adventurous dark fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

The book that launched a genre and a film franchise, Casino Royale introduces James Bond, British secret agent and a man of large appetites for cigarettes, alcohol, and women. In this first installment, Bond is detailed to gamble against Le Chiffre, a known Communist and suspected member of SMERSH, at the titular French casino. If Bond wins, Le Chiffre will be in serious trouble with his superiors. But Bond begins to realize, as he sits at the baccarat table, that his winning may mean losing...

Honestly, if Casino Royale had been adapted for the big screen exactly, it wouldn't have been a hit. At least a third of the book takes place at the baccarat table. It might be a high-stakes game, but visually, it's a big yawn. There are no gadgets, no sardonic one-liners, and Bond doesn't quite get the girl. 

But that's not what's good about the book. What's good is Fleming's utter economy with words. Fleming can set the scene, draw a picture, or sketch a character in a sentence or two. Most people only know the flashy Bond films. You need to go back to the gritty originals, the novels, and see who James Bond really is.
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lisaloulaa's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

1.0

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simply_fran's review against another edition

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adventurous dark lighthearted mysterious slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

1.5

Includes the phrase "the sweet tang of r*pe"...
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celestehurst's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

 I'm baffled by how much I liked this book. Before I read it, I expected it to have decent writing and an intriguing and fast-paced plot at best. I've only seen one James Bond movie and it was over twenty years ago, but I feel like the cultural osmosis from the franchise painted James Bond as an intelligent womanizer in my mind. And he definitely is those things in this novel, but what I wasn't expecting was the exploration of his character. And I certainly wasn't expecting this book to be a tragic romance.

It's hard to tell how much credit to give to Fleming for the nuances I saw while reading Casino Royale. Is it a commentary on the fact that underestimating a woman is what ends up hurting Bond the most, or is the narration really trying to say that trusting a woman is the worst thing you can do? Are we supposed to come to the conclusion that a cold man like Bond was stupid for falling in love, or are we meant to see the tragedy of Bond falling back into being a machine like Mathis accuses him of?

In either case, I wasn't expecting to be given a front-row seat to Bond's thoughts and emotional state. Yeah, his fantasies of essentially raping Vesper are hard to read and are not excusable. But then he apologizes for being too rough with her and backs off when she says no and spends hours lying on the beach looking up at the sky and realizing that he's in love with her. This book gives us a very human Bond who struggles with his emotions and the implications of his actions as a spy, and I wasn't expecting that. 
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alleyrobot's review against another edition

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adventurous fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

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librariangeorgia's review against another edition

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adventurous mysterious tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

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illuminatedspace's review against another edition

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challenging tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No

2.0

A two instead of a 1 because they're is some semi interesting writing but it's very difficult to read. The femme fatale is helpless in ways that don't make any gd sense. Bond send to hate her but also want to sleep with her and marry her because??? I'll never read another Fleming novel or Bond book.
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