I don't care what you say, the Bond MOVIES created the character, not the books. Who do you see in your mind's eye when you read a Fleming Bond? I only see Connery, personally.

I didn't enjoy this second foray into the Bond universe as much as the first. There are still some wonderful scenes within its pages, and the author sets in motion some Bond tropes to be used in cinema. But "Bond Laughed"? Just doesn't sound right, if you ask me.

The main bad guy is pretty awesome, and his weaselly henchman was pretty fun to read, too. My biggest complaint, though, is the insane level of description. You have to know when to let the reader's imagination do some of its own work. (Here I am telling Ian Fleming's corpse how to spin a yarn. Hah!)

All-in-all, lots of fun and I can't wait for the next one. I have them all on my bookshelf and I've read that they get better, but you must start from the beginning. So I continue on...

Why was this so good? Maybe it’s the pacing, which is close to perfect, or it could be the contrast of civility and shocking brutality. I also like that Bond is a competent agent, but not a Mary Sue. He makes a lot of mistakes and often underestimates his enemies.

In almost every way, “Live and Let Die” is better than “Casino Royale”, including a more competent and dangerous villain. The love story in “Casino” felt more natural and believable, though. The love story in “Live and Let Die” is more of a Macguffin.

6/10

The literature version of Bond pales in comparison to the movie version, or certainly is the case here. The literature Bond also doesn't have a cool theme tune unlike the movie version.

I vaguely knew the plot down to watching the movie (multiple times as a child) but also noted a couple of pieces of information used in other movies. Things moved along relatively slow throughout with Bond starting out in New York and learning of Mr Big and his crime enterprise and ending in Jamaica with quite an entertaining finale.

I think this is one of those novels that I was instantly coming into on the backfoot due to the movie version. I love Bond in the movies whereas in the novels he is just a fairly decent spy with little charisma in comparison. Barely a double entendre was uttered much to my dismay!

So whilst it wasn't great I did enjoy it and will read more of the series. I think another main stumbling block for me was the somewhat racist feel to the book. I think (or at least would like to believe) that this was down to the time when it was written and political correctness wasn't something that was cared of back then. I don't know enough about Ian Fleming to make an accurate assumption. Either way; this irked me throughout and made it hard to enjoy.

If you like this try: "Live and let die" by Paul McCartney and the Wings; roll around your living room shooting bad guys and give cheeky winks to the mirror. Or "Transfer of Power" by Vince Flynn

Acceptabilă. Un Bond mult mai fragil, cu mult mai mult sens decât filmele. Acțiunea te prinde după o vreme dar începutul poate fi enervant.

A top-notch thriller and an essential entry into the James Bond canon. Marred only by a lackluster opening and some dated language and sentiments.

Exciting and suspenseful with an unexpectedly bloody finale, Live and Let Die is not as lean as its predecessor; but it is exceptionally paced and the extra bulk it carries serves to SHOW (as opposed to tell) the reader the subtle changes that are taking root in Bond's character. The story of L&LD bears little resemblance to the 1973 film outside of characters and a voodoo theme (several scenes in the novel were adapted into later films). Rather than an attempt by the Governor of Jamaica to muscle in on the drug trade of New York City, the novel concerns the found treasure hoard of the pirate Henry Morgan being used to finance Soviet activities in the US and abroad. That's right, James Bond in a search for pirate treasure! How awesome is that for his second adventure?

That being said, the book opens like Casino Royale with Bond already on the job, followed by a flashback chapter in which Bond discusses with M the nature of the assignment. It's the weakest part of the book and already feels tired and clumsy in just Fleming's second Bond novel. But the adventure picks up when Bond and his CIA pal Felix Leiter decide to take a jaunt into Harlem to see Mr. Big (L&LD's monstrously terrifying villain) in action for themselves.

Fleming's Harlem of the 1950s is a vibrant and colorful locale, full of oddball characters both frightening and endearing; but that also showcases another of L&LD's failing: the focus on the bad guys being black.

It permeates the whole book. The American characters focus on Harlem being black; Bond talks about the insidious tendencies of blacks; Mr. Big exploits the superstitious nature of blacks by using Voodoo to control them. It doesn't really smack of overt racism (though it certainly is that by today's standards) as much as it does elitism. Mr. Big is an awkwardly large black man who may or may not be the zombie of Baron Samedi but admonishes Bond thus:

"In the history of black emancipation...there have already appeared great athletes, great musicians, great writers, great doctors and scientists. In due course, as in the developing history of other races, there will appear black people great and famous in every other walk of life...It is unfortunate for you, Mister Bond, and for this girl, that you have encountered the first of the great black criminals."

Indeed, Fleming seems to be admonishing himself here. Does that make it alright? No, but maybe one shouldn't write off Ian Fleming so easily.

In the end, though, this is an Englishman's naive view of 1950s America and how it functions. The American characters are mostly buffoons and incompetents, the food is intolerable and the cars substandard.

But Live and Let Die is still a terrific read. And I'll bet it's fun to listen to as well. I don't listen to books (yet), but reading passages aloud demonstrates to me the poetic rhythm of Fleming's prose. Bond novels are just fun to read.

Not my favourite Bond story in either film or novel format. Maybe my dislike of the film coloured my opinion of the book to, but I found it just too much of a paranormal story for Bond. Probably one of the more racists views of Bond and the secret service that he operated in. While it's fiction it does make slightly uncomfortable reading at times...

James Bond's second adventure has the MI6 agent investigating a criminal gold-smuggling enterprise based in New York, Florida and Jamaica that is headed by the mysterious African-American character Mr. Big, who also happens to be a SMERSH (Soviet) agent. The story moves quickly and wraps up in just over 200 pages with plenty of action to keep the reader entertained, although there are some parts that drag as Fleming indulges himself in what feels like a personal travelogue. The book's attitudes towards women and African-Americans will almost certainly be offensive to the modern reader.

Pros
James Bond is once again cold and fascinating
James bond's allies are competent
A strong villain presence
Well paced
Tense fights
But it's the conversational duels that are really memorable
Evocative and investing language
Cons
Female isn't very memorable
Some male supporting characters aren't developed much
Overall doesn't have enough to make it a stand out must read sequel.

7/10. Live and Let Die is, overall, a interesting and entertaining adventure, but one that isn't unique and that ambitious.

Live and Let Die addresses the pacing that was all over the place with Casino Royale. The characters appear to be better developed. I think the book would have made for a better movie than what we got in 1973. Some parts of the book made it into the 1981 movie For Your Eyes Only and the 1989 movie Licence to Kill. The voodoo aspects of the book, which were discussed thoroughly for most of the book, met an anticlimactic end.

This might indeed be the most controversial books written by Fleming as he was bend on creating a coloured criminal mastermind because as he saw that the coloured society was bound to create great people so the same could be said for the underworld. Fleming sketched a somewhat questionable mood around this idea, even if it was perhaps not quite his idea to be racist at all. It has been the last 20 years that the PC thinking have made us look skeptical towards the writing of before and became judgmental instead of learning that those were different morals and times, and I say not better.

LALD is indeed used for the movie with the same name, a part is used in FYEO & LTK.
Mostly it is a detective story in which 007 tracks down the criminal and not some mastermind bend on taking over the world.

Still it is a well written thriller and actioner which considered in his own time was fairly exciting.

Sicuramente questo romanzo, il secondo della saga su James Bond che leggo (e il secondo in ordine di pubblicazione) differisce dai film dell'agente 007 che conosciamo. Qua troviamo un Bond molto meno macchiettistico del film e più umano, dove rischia la pelle tante di quelle volte che non ci fai quasi più caso. Se nel film sembra quasi immortale, o comunque riesce come Neo in Matrix a deviare dalle pallottole che gli sparano addosso, qua invece il rischio che possa morire è molto reale (divorato dagli squali, affogato, sparato, fatto saltare in aria, ecc.), perché Fleming ci presenta un Bond molto più umano e oserei dire anche più simpatico di quello interpretato al cinema (mio personale parere). Effettivamente ci trovi gli ingredienti principali del Bond cinematografico: le auto di lusso, vacanze in luoghi esotici, e addirittura ci viene presentata per la prima volta la Bond Girl: una bellissima ragazza che percepisce le persone buone da quelle cattive, per così dire, e un cattivone di tutto rispetto che potrebbe ricordare il Signor No: Mr. Big, un grasso boss di colore che fa tremare tutta New York. Ho avuto l'impressione che la storia risenta il peso degli anni in cui è stata scritta (anni 50) ma nonostante ciò è stata una piacevole lettura di svago.

Lo consiglio solo agli appassionati cinematografici dell'agente segreto col doppio zero.

As so many others have noted here, in the second Bond novel Fleming takes a break from the misogyny so he can have more time to spend on uncomfortable racial stereotyping and condescension. One imagines that, given the time period the book was published, it's message of, "Look, the Blacks can be anything they want to be, even supervillains!" might have been considered progressive, but to a 21st century reader it's pretty shocking stuff.


Just calling 'em like I see ‘em, James.

It's still early going in the series so there's no ludicrous gadgets or winks at the camera, and the bits I probably enjoy the most are those where the cocky Bond internally grapples with the fear his exploits engenders, very unlike the unflappable wisecracking silver screen character we know.

n  n  
n  I always associated this with the License to Kill film, I had no idea it originated in this book.n

Not as hard-edged or intriguing as Casino Royale for me, points also deducted for the very strained plot connection linking Mr. Big to SMERSH, Harlem gangland, Haitian Voodoo, and buried Jamaican treasure.


RIP Yaphet Kotto, who will always be Mr. Big to me.