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From Russia With Love (James Bond (Original Series) #5)

by Ian Fleming

3.88 · Rating Details · 22,316 Ratings · 852 Reviews

Name: Bond, James. Height: 183 cm, weight: 76 kg; slim build; eyes: blue; hair: black; scar down right cheek & on left shoulder; all-round athlete; expert pistol shot, boxer, knife-thrower; does not use disguises. Languages: French and German. Smokes heavily (NB: special cigarettes with three gold bands); vices: drink, but not to excess, and women.

Every major foreign g ...more

Paperback, 259 pages

Published 2002 by Penguin Books (first published 1957)

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Community Reviews

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Mar 24, 2011 j rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: audiobooks, seen-on-film, 2011, vote-getters, no-mr-bond-i-expect-you-to-die

I am glad to be a man in 2011, because it sounds so exhausting to hear about what life was like in the 1950s. I mean, imagine you are Ian Fleming's James Bond, sexy 1950s super spy: Every time a woman mouthed off to you, you had to take her over your knee and spank her. That sounds awkward! (My lap isn't that big.) And if you were in a relationship and she started to get fat, you'd have to beat her until she lost weight. I don't want to get home from a long day of international espionage only to I am glad to be a man in 2011, because it sounds so exhausting to hear about what life was like in the 1950s. I mean, imagine you are Ian Fleming's James Bond, sexy 1950s super spy: Every time a woman mouthed off to you, you had to take her over your knee and spank her. That sounds awkward! (My lap isn't that big.) And if you were in a relationship and she started to get fat, you'd have to beat her until she lost weight. I don't want to get home from a long day of international espionage only to go to work again, physically abusing my significant other! I need some rest too!

I've seen all of the Bond films, but this is the first of the books I've read. I picked From Russia with Love because it forms the basis for my favorite of the films (it was also famously one of JFK's favorite books, if you take "famously" to mean "constantly touted in documentaries about the Bond series and mentioned about six times on Wikipedia"). Reading it both increases my appreciation for the early cinematic adaptations (the first four or five films), which were fairly low-key in terms of Bond's methods and abilities and very much in keeping with, at least, this book's tone, and makes me roll my eyes even more at the gadget porn and lame quip farce the series became once Roger Moore took over. On film and in print, however, just about every iteration of the character already seems about as sociologically and politically outdated as a minstrel show.

Certainly the books are just as casually misogynist as the movies: both on the page and on the screen, Bond is constantly falling into bed with pliant, idiotic women, at least when he's not patting their bottoms and telling them to run along and let the men talk. FRWL has one of the dumber Bond girls -- Tatiana Romanova, a Soviet "spy" who sounds like little more than an office drone, easily manipulated by her superiors into participating in a mission that will require her to literally whore herself out for her country in an attempt to seduce 007. It's part of a larger plot to discredit Her Majesty's Secret Service, but Tatiana is daft enough to assume Bond will come to no harm, even though she is manipulated into participating by Rosa Klebb, the KGB's own sadistic S&M bisexual sex torturing grandma (for a classic example of "deviant" sexuality as an indication of evil, look no further than the ugly old lady who puts on a sexy negligee and tries to fondle an unsuspecting and helpless young girl).

So yeah, you pretty much have to take this entire book, and the mythos of the Bond character, with a whole shaker of salt. I like to pretend I'm watching Mad Men, and this is all sly commentary on gender roles in an unenlightened era, even though I know that's not the case: then and, probably, now, James Bond represented a paragon of masculinity to a lot of men (and maybe some women). The notion that the KGB is able to trick HMSS into getting involved in the plot sounds asinine -- Tatiana is supposed to have fallen in love with Bond from reading his file and looking at a picture; no one from M on down questions this story because women are just that brainless. Bond gets lots of advice on how to complete the seduction -- don't be too nice, women want to be put in their place. And of course, despite knowing she's just on the job, Tatiana instantly falls for James, practically bursting into genuine tears when he starts questioning the motives of her defection (and within a few days is, yes, asking him to beat her if she gets too fat because she is happy in their relationship. Bond: "Certainly, I will beat you."). Writing women: not Ian Fleming's strong suit.

All the series' tropes are on display, including the villain who prefers to monologue about his evil plan before pulling the trigger (though at least there's a somewhat plausible reason for it). Tense action, including a brutal fight to the death in the close confines of a train berth. Mild gadgetry (a nifty trick suitcase) and gratuitous sex (Gypsy catfight! Clothes ripped off! Bosoms bared!).

If you can laugh at the sexism instead of fuming about it, this is still a fun little potboiler with an interesting structure -- the first third is entirely from the Russian point of view, setting up the motivations for the villainous plot and developing interesting antagonists like Red Grant, a sociopathic brute who for some reason only kills during a full moon (hey, at least he doesn't, say, only shoot people with gold bullets or bite them to death with his metal teeth). Bond doesn't even appear until nearly 100 pages in, sulking in a hotel, depressed and bored after the fallout from his prior Case (oh, hidden series pun!). Interestingly, Bond is allowed to be much more human in the books; even in the Connery films, he's a bit of a cartoon, and only the new ones with Daniel Craig have given him an interior life beyond what is happening in his pants (which, of course, prompted a bunch of criticism that the character was being "feminized," which means maybe that the sexism isn't as outdated as I'd like to pretend). ...more

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May 20, 2017 Brina rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: action-adventure

From Russia With Love is the fifth book in Ian Fleming's James Bond series. Written in the height of the Cold War, it pits Russia versus the west in a race to achieve the best in stealth technology. When the novel first came out, President Kennedy dubbed it his favorite book, increasing it in popularity and spurring Fleming to write more James Bond cases. Yet, this tale of espionage is often dubbed the best in the series.

SMERSH, the Russian intelligence agency, would like to make a big splash t From Russia With Love is the fifth book in Ian Fleming's James Bond series. Written in the height of the Cold War, it pits Russia versus the west in a race to achieve the best in stealth technology. When the novel first came out, President Kennedy dubbed it his favorite book, increasing it in popularity and spurring Fleming to write more James Bond cases. Yet, this tale of espionage is often dubbed the best in the series.

SMERSH, the Russian intelligence agency, would like to make a big splash to show the west who the leader in the world is. Their head, the evil Rosa Klebb, decides on murdering a secret agent from Britain or America and lands on none other than James Bond. With the help of British ex-patriot Red Granitsky and young, naive Tatiana Romanova, Klebb sets the stage to bring Bond to justice. Rather than the non stop action Bond fans are used to on screen, Fleming uses the entire first half of the book detailing the Russian plot and creating a psychological buildup for the ensuing action. Thus I read through quickly even though I am familiar with the movie version because the plot easily held my attention.

We meet Bond a third through the book. The Russians have arrived at the scene of the crime and relayed their message to the west. Bond is to go to Istanbul to meet Romanova and bring her and a decoding machine back to Britain. With the help of local agent Darko Kerim, Bond successfully gets Romanova out of SMERSH hands and onto the famed Orient Express, but not before falling for her first. What ensues is a plot of high jinx mixed with romance as Bond journeys toward London in an attempt to foil whatever plot the Russians have in store for him.

Once the action moves from Istanbul to the Orient Express, the plot is non stop action. Fleming creates premise after premise with a large cast of characters so there never is a loss for plot development or new adventures for Bond to get embroiled in. Gleaning from his own experience as a spy during World War II, Fleming's stories are accurate and detailed, not just a plot of action upon action. Of course there is the action and the scrapes that James Bond walks away unscathed from, but there are also scenes in which Fleming pays close attention to detail, making the buildup all the more thrilling.

As in all James Bond cases, he comes out on top. Because this case was against the Russians during the Cold War period, at the time of release it was probably all the more thrilling to read and view on screen. Being the world's top spy, James Bond always gets his man and woman in the end, and it is fun reading about his adventures. A page turner for an otherwise lazy afternoon, From Russia With Love is a solid 4 stars. ...more

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Mar 27, 2011 Grace Tjan rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: mystery-thriller, ebook, 2011

What I learned from this book (in no particular order):

1. The ideal Soviet master assassin is a man who is:

a. the offspring of a German wrestler and a Southern Irish hooker;
b. extremely muscular and hairy;
c. possessed of a high threshold for pain;
d. manic during the full moon; and
e. asexual (“Sexual neutrality was the essence of coldness in an individual”) --- but love to parade around naked.

2. Ugly women are mannish and have breasts that looked like badly packed sandbags, and when they pull ba ...more

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Aug 27, 2016 Manny rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: too-sexy-for-maiden-aunts, donalds-are-trumps

This really needs to be remade. To help move things along, I've mocked up a poster and a few seconds of dialogue for the teaser trailer...

FromRussiaWithLoveEdited

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Feb 09, 2014 Carmen rated it did not like it · review of another edition

Recommends it for: No One

Shelves: fiction, mystery, traditionally-published, he-says

NO SPOILERS

SMERSH wants to damage England. What better way than to destroy their secret agent hero, James Bond? SMERSH hatches a plan. They pick out their prettiest worker and send her to Bond. To sweeten the already honeyed deal, she's carrying a Russian encryption machine. Bond is initially suspicious of this beautiful Russian spy who's defecting to England, but his suspicions are gone once he beds her (moron!). But SMERSH has big plans for Bond, and surprisingly they are not plans to give hi ...more

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Dec 30, 2012 Robert rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Shelves: robert-s-reads, kindle-deals

My biggest complaint with FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE—aside from the usual male chauvinism and innocent women who need a real man—I was well into this novel (over a third of the way) before Bond made his appearance. Did I really need to know that much about Mother Russia? I think not. I’d have been happier with much less, frankly, and I would have kept a few more sanity points.

I even debated skipping ahead, but since I’ve approached my task of reading the entire Bond series the way one might approach My biggest complaint with FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE—aside from the usual male chauvinism and innocent women who need a real man—I was well into this novel (over a third of the way) before Bond made his appearance. Did I really need to know that much about Mother Russia? I think not. I’d have been happier with much less, frankly, and I would have kept a few more sanity points.

I even debated skipping ahead, but since I’ve approached my task of reading the entire Bond series the way one might approach a calculus exam, I trudged onward, even if there were times in the beginning where my unhappiness reached a near monumental level.

And then Bond showed up in all of his male glory and all was right with the world. Or at least I thought so…until two tribal women in loincloths fight each other to the death, one with a massive bosom and the other a little less endowed, as the sun glistens off their naked, perfect bodies. Excuse me…what? Son of a Walther PPK! My inner goddess just cursed a red, white, and blue streak. And I probably fainted from a heatstroke.

At this point, I might have actually cheered for a buxom beauty the size of a tank to haul off and repeatedly whack Bond with a knotted rope while his pants are around his ankles and a group of Russian women stare on in equal parts delight and horror. Turnabout is fair play, right?

Other than being young and nubile and having looks that could kill, I was not particularly impressed with Tatiana Romanova. She might have had a certain amount of innocence, but I wasn’t buying it.

This supposed thriller left with me few thrills, except for the one I received when I finished it.

Side bar – I’ve started watching Mad Men. The reason I mention this is between reading the Bond novels and watching that AMC show—which end up being somewhat enjoyable for entirely different reasons and equally aggravating for the rampant, raging sexism—I feel like I’m next in line for lung cancer, even though I’ve never smoked a day in my life.

Cross-posted at Robert's Reads ...more

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Aug 06, 2013 Richard Derus rated it really liked it

Rating: 4.5* of five

It's the 1963 movie with Sean Connery that I'm rating. I tried reading Casino Royale recently, and found it dated and even more sexist and racist than I was expecting. I'll stick to the movies. Connery's nice to look at. The gadgets are hilarious, and so is Q. The theme songs are great.

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Jul 04, 2016 BrokenTune rated it did not like it

Shelves: reviewed

"A blue and green dragon-fly flashed out from among the rose bushes at the end of the garden and hovered in mid-air a few inches above the base of the man’s spine. It had been attracted by the golden shimmer of the June sunshine on the ridge of fine blond hairs above the coccyx. A puff of breeze came off the sea. The tiny field of hairs bent gently. The dragon-fly darted nervously sideways and hung above the man’s left shoulder, looking down. The young grass below the man’s open mouth stirred. A ...more

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Jul 05, 2014 Richard rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Shelves: thriller, action-adventure

5/10

To date this and “Live and Let Die” are on par for the worst James Bond book I’ve read to date. This book was basically split into 3 parts over 350 pages of which none were interesting and only the final part offering anything in the way of action or tension.

The first part involved nothing but Russian diplomats scheming. It was 130 pages of filler, just a lot of backdrop into the Russian secret departments and some of the characters who will be popping up later. Bond wasn’t in this part at 5/10

To date this and “Live and Let Die” are on par for the worst James Bond book I’ve read to date. This book was basically split into 3 parts over 350 pages of which none were interesting and only the final part offering anything in the way of action or tension.

The first part involved nothing but Russian diplomats scheming. It was 130 pages of filler, just a lot of backdrop into the Russian secret departments and some of the characters who will be popping up later. Bond wasn’t in this part at all and only mentioned when the Russians were plotting to murder a jolly good gent from the British Secret Service with them plumping with Bond because, well why not?!

The second part involved Bond (finally introduced nearly half way through) and M suspecting there is a trap set for them to retrieve a ~~woman~~ damsel in distress from the Russian side as she is in love with Bond, even though the two have never met, and wants to bring across lots of secrets. Only a slight eyebrow is raised at this and they think they will go ahead with the mission to save her. This leads Bond to Turkey to meet one of their contacts over there and to suss out whether it really is a trap or if Bond’s sex appeal can really travel that far and woo women with just his picture (it’s a trap you egotistical idiot!!). After some toing and froing Bond decides this isn’t a trap, the woman is madly in love with him and they will take her back to England to be debriefed (in more ways than one!). And there is also some gypsy women fighting in-between because, well why not?!

This leads to the final act where Bond and damsel try to go back to England on the Orient Express. What can go wrong? Well, a lot as it turns out. People are dying left right and centre but the train steams on without a care for the dead bodies piling up all over the place. Bond gets in a fight for his life and that of his new love (it’s still a trap you idiot! Oh wait, you know that now). Bond wins as he always does because the idiot bad guy tells him his plan instead of just killing him. Henchmen just ain’t what they used to be. The story does end quite surprisingly with a bit of a cliffhanger and something that would be stolen for the finale of the TV show “24”, series 2. It worked well but as there are another 9 Bond stories to go at we know he’s ok.

After the disappointment of this book I’m taking a short hiatus away from reading this series. I was planning on reading one a month after receiving the set for Christmas but that has to change otherwise I will forever tarnish my memory of Bond’s good name.

If you like this try: The film, as that is actually decent. ...more

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Feb 13, 2016 Donna rated it really liked it

This was my first James Bond novel that I've read and I want to read more. I've always enjoyed the James Bond movies, but now I have this new world to delve into. This was a fun read. I'm not sure what I was expecting....I just didn't want the books to ruin my movie experiences. So I'm glad that in some ways this is different than the silver screen Bond, but I felt like all the other characters were the same in personality and support. It was a nice mix of different/same.

I loved the way the sto ...more

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Feb 21, 2009 Manny rated it liked it

Shelves: too-sexy-for-maiden-aunts

For people who don't already know, "Kronsteen", the Russian chess genius and spymaster, is supposed to be based on David Bronstein, arguably the greatest player never to win the world title. Oddly enough, the game used in the movie involved Bronstein, but he was on the wrong side of the board. For details, including further links, look at this article.

__________________________________________

When I read the third volume of Kasparov's My Great Predecessors last year, it occurred to me that there ...more

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Apr 27, 2013 El rated it liked it

Shelves: 20th-centurylit-late, bond-james-bond, library-borrow

From Russia With Love, movie trailer.

My Bond project continues with From Russia With Love, the second Bond film and the fifth Bond book (and yes, this out-of-order thing is totally starting to bug me... but I will prevail!).

So most interesting, in the movie the group that's after Bond is the non-specific SPECTRE (SPecial Executive for Counter-intelligence, Terrorism, Revenge, and Extortion), whereas in the book it's the very, very Soviet organization SMERSH (...mumble mumble mumble something Rus ...more

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Apr 30, 2011 David rated it liked it · review of another edition

Recommends it for: British secret agents, Guys who pretend they read Playboy for the articles

Shelves: thriller, audiobook, british-literature, spy

Ian Fleming should get more credit than he does for writing fast-paced tightly-plotted thrillers. A little improbable at times? Sure, but the James Bond of the books is nothing like the superhero of the movies. This is adventure fiction that stays within the bounds of reason, and it's full of (almost) believable heroes and villains and not nearly as many outrageous gadgets as in the movies either. (Bond is actually given a cynanide pill dispenser in this book; he laughs and washes them down the Ian Fleming should get more credit than he does for writing fast-paced tightly-plotted thrillers. A little improbable at times? Sure, but the James Bond of the books is nothing like the superhero of the movies. This is adventure fiction that stays within the bounds of reason, and it's full of (almost) believable heroes and villains and not nearly as many outrageous gadgets as in the movies either. (Bond is actually given a cynanide pill dispenser in this book; he laughs and washes them down the drain.)

The plot is basically "Get Bond!" SMERSH wants to kill a prominent rival agent to send a message to all the other intelligence agencies, intimidate double agents, and impress the Kremlin. We get lots of Russian political machinations and the background of all the villains (and the love interest, Tatiana Romanova) before Bond is even introduced. Then to the story: SMERSH lures Bond to Turkey in what's an obvious trap, baited with Romanova and a Russian decoding device, but MI6 sends Bond anyway because the potential payoff is too good to pass up. Bond meets Romanova, is completely taken in by her, and makes several other blunders that will surprise anyone who's used to the cold, flawless cinematic Bond, before he confronts the real enemy, a psychopathic Irish defector who is now SMERSH's top assassin.

I like the original Bond stories; they're still fun despite being so dated. The literary 007 is a much more interesting character than he ever was on-screen. He's still a sexist pig, though, and he's usually one of the less misogynistic characters. Fleming was writing before Political Correctness was a blip on anyone's radar, so the books are chock-full of cringe-inducingly racist and sexist stereotypes. But if you can embrace them as the guilty pleasure they are, I think they are well worth reading, and From Russia with Love is a taut little thriller where the early chapters before Bond even appears are some of the most interesting. (But you'll want to read the rest for the naked gypsy catfight, the lesbian Soviet interrogation specialist and her poisoned knitting needles, the asexual pseudo-lycanthropic serial killer, the Istanbul dungeon crawl, and the Turkish spice merchant who tells Bond how he used his harem to raise his own personal spy ring.) ...more

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Feb 13, 2017 Quentin Wallace rated it really liked it · review of another edition

This book was unusual for two reasons: 1. James Bond doesn't even show up until over a third of the way through. 2. It ends on a cliffhanger.

That being said, this was a good read. The basic plot is that SMERSH, the Russian "death to spies" organization, is out to assassinate James Bond. They use a beautiful, young agent to distract him while a psychopathic agent commits the deed.

I liked this even if I thought the ending and beginning were a little strange. (Especially the ending.) If you're a B ...more

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Feb 02, 2015 Arnis rated it really liked it

https://poseidons99.wordpress.com/201...

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Dec 09, 2012 Darwin8u rated it liked it

Shelves: 2015

From the Telegraph's Andrew Martin 06 Aug 2014:

"Scientists at the University of London have concluded that the key to happiness is having low expectations. 'They mined this conclusion from an experiment in which people gambled with small sums of money. The subjects were happiest when they won, not having expected to win.'"

description

This quote pretty much captures my feelings about Ian Fleming. Now five books deep into James Bond, I've just figured out how to enjoy these books. Yes, you guessed it. Low exp ...more

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Jan 10, 2011 Joshua rated it really liked it

An oh-so-innocent Russian cipher clerk is recruited into a SMERSH plot, being told that she would feed England false information after "defecting". Little does she know that the actual plan is to humiliate MI6 by staging a murder-suicide between her and her escort, James Bond.

This is technically a review of the Simon Vance audiobook, but it's an unabridged reading.

The Good:

Action scenes: Fleming writes them so well. That penultimate scene with the top SMERSH killer is my favorite scene in the b An oh-so-innocent Russian cipher clerk is recruited into a SMERSH plot, being told that she would feed England false information after "defecting". Little does she know that the actual plan is to humiliate MI6 by staging a murder-suicide between her and her escort, James Bond.

This is technically a review of the Simon Vance audiobook, but it's an unabridged reading.

The Good:

Action scenes: Fleming writes them so well. That penultimate scene with the top SMERSH killer is my favorite scene in the book.

Feel: It has that compulsively-readable, fast-paced, insubstantial, not-probable-but-not-quite-absurd, spy thriller feel.

Villians: Red Grant and Rosa Klebb do rank up there. I must admit that Grant, with the exception of his absurd full moon urges, is one of the most menacing villians I've read.

The Bad:

Bond Acts Like A Tool: From reading Casino Royale, I knew that there was a certain quality of fatalism to Bond. However, in this book he acts with such little care. Although a lot of his risky actions were justifiable, there were some points where it is obvious that Fleming needed to keep the plot going. The biggest example of this was when Bond, despite escorting a defector and some extremely valuable cargo, decides to complete a train ride which he knows has a trap somewhere, because he, by his own admission, is perversely curious to see what it is. Nice way to put England first, James.

The Bizarre:

Misogyny and Racism: Fleming was very much a product of his time. One of his characters casually mentions that the Turks are unfit for civilization and that they are only happy when they have a Sultan around to rule them. And then he goes on about how he once tamed a wild girl by chaining her naked to his table. Perhaps if I was Turkish or a woman, I would find this all offensive, but I am neither, so I just find it funny as hell.

That Gypsy Women Semi-Naked Duel To The Death Scene: Did that scene have any (non-erotic) reason for being written? Any at all?

All in all, it's not perfect, but I think it was worth the read. I recommend it to fans of fast-paced thrillers.
...more

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Apr 21, 2014 G.R. Reader rated it liked it

I think I was about seven. We had a copy of this book lying around the house, and Mom told me not to read it, it was totally dumb, but of course I did anyway. I thought it was kind of cool, especially how they had the grandmaster plan the honey trap. Really I wanted it to work, and I was a bit annoyed that Bond got away again.

That weekend, Mom had invited a lesbian couple over for dinner (we were living in the Bay Area at the time). I spent the whole evening staring at their shoes. In the end, o ...more

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Oct 06, 2011 Devlin Scott rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: my-companions

This book is very special to me for one particular reason...it was the first book I had bought with my own money when I was a child. It was, of course, the cover that compelled me to purchase it, I think most of us are guilty of judging a book in this manner. I used to while away the hours in a local bookshop. I would walk up and down the isles dreaming of all the wonderous adventures each tome held within. Then, I saw the spy section of the shop. The covers, the titles, all left me in awe of wh ...more

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Jun 21, 2014 Benjamin Thomas rated it it was amazing

Shelves: thriller-spy

My chronological journey through the world of the original James Bond novels continues with the fifth novel to be written and published, and widely held as the beginning of the best part of the entire series. In this one, Russia is tired of continually losing the battle in the grand spy game and has decided to assassinate one of the West’s most prestigious spies. After considering several countries’ intelligence programs to target, they settle on Britain’s MI-6 and who better than the famous Jam ...more

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Jun 07, 2016 Aaron rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction, thriller, spy-thriller

James Bond is lured into thinking that a beautiful Russian agent, Tatiana Romanova, loves him and wants to defect with a code machine, but she's a trap set by SMERSH. Red Grant, the USSR's top executioner, is on a collision course to meet and kill Bond on the Orient Express. (view spoiler)

Yet another great spy thriller by Ian Fleming, whose writ ...more

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Feb 04, 2017 Gary rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Someone criticized this novel saying it was dated......I am baffled.....that's like reading the biography HAMILTON,and saying it's "dated." History is never dated. This book is based on an organization that was real in Soviet Union, Russia....and yes, historically it used to be Russia,and then the Soviet Union,and then back to Russia,and the novel focuses on a certain time in the history of that country and of England as well. Yes it's fiction. I don't get how it is "dated." ;)

I enjoyed it immen ...more

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Jun 01, 2017 Jeff rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: crime-thrillers, spy-espionage

I first read this about 43 years ago when I was a 12 year old boy just starting at grammar school. 007. A beautiful Russian agent. Rosa Klebb. Red Grant. Gypsy girls fighting to the death. The Orient Express. A periscope to spy on Russian secret service meetings. Bond's briefcase. The blade in Klebb's shoe. Such iconic moments. What's not to like?

Maybe a bit dated, certainly not politically correct, but a thoroughly entertaining read.

And it brought back some lovely memories of me as a boy lying ...more

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May 21, 2013 Leslie rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: thriller-suspense

Maybe even 4 stars. Although his actions are similar to those of the movie character Bond, because you see his thoughts, doubts & concerns, Bond comes across as a much more three-dimensional (and to me, more attractive) man. For example, Bond's appearance in this fifth entry of the series is introduced while he is mourning the loss of his girlfriend Tiffany Case (from Diamonds are Forever) who has just become engaged to another man and moved back to America.

I found this one to be much more ' ...more

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Mar 18, 2015 Joyce rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: reread, audio, adrenaline

As I move through the James Bond series, I think this is the most sexist, chauvinistic. And for that, irritating. But I do find Fleming's Bond irresistible, so much more interesting that the movie heroes. This man makes mistakes that get him in trouble and others killed, he trusts when he shouldn't, and he never has all the gadgets the movies gave him. And, really, who can resist Rosa Klebb? Not his best and frustrating because of the sexism but...still a good read.

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Apr 04, 2012 Joseph rated it really liked it

Shelves: british

The book makes the movie seem campy. No witty James Bond, but serious spy business. The story is a bit dated; there is no longer a Soviet Union, but those old enough to remember the Cold War and the spy novels of that time will appreciate this book.

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Oct 26, 2012 Matthew rated it really liked it

Shelves: reviewed

Different times, different values. An older relative says something, probably off the cuff. The table goes silent. The phone call experiences dead air. The mouth is ajar. You're agog. Maybe you repeat the indelicate phrasing, turning the words into a question. Maybe you rant, and argue, incredulous, appalled, spun sideways, all a tizzy with sheer mind cracking, jaw numbing shock. Might be you've heard it all before. Different times, different values. What ya gonna do?
I've heard my perfectly de Different times, different values. An older relative says something, probably off the cuff. The table goes silent. The phone call experiences dead air. The mouth is ajar. You're agog. Maybe you repeat the indelicate phrasing, turning the words into a question. Maybe you rant, and argue, incredulous, appalled, spun sideways, all a tizzy with sheer mind cracking, jaw numbing shock. Might be you've heard it all before. Different times, different values. What ya gonna do?
I've heard my perfectly decent relatives, those kind, compassionate, funny, so odd, hardworking goofballs who raised me with the basics of how not to be an axe murderer, and then, you know, some math and stuff, throw out the occasional slur or outdated opinion with all the casualness of declaring their tired of the sofa being by the window. Move it over here. And while you're at, “insert slur here.”
Different times, different values.
I've argued, I've raged, and, yes, I've given voice to the exasperated, verbal shrug that is; different times, different values. What are you gonna do, you love your family, warts and all. They love you, and god knows you ain't exactly a fruit basket of joy yourself. Myself.
Then you read a passage of the book you've got on the go and your eyes glaze over. You re-read. Yep. It did just say that. Or print that, I suppose. I had to read out the offending passage to my flatmate, because wow, we were cruising through the pages just fine, and then this happens like somebody left a burnt out car on the road, and we're going to go around without mentioning it? Funny story. Turns out, that's exactly what I'm going to do. You see, I've been here before with the Bond books, and every time I, pretty much, shrugged (say the words with me), and carried on about my espionage reading business.
The last Bond book I read was actually Goldfinger, because I've not cared particularly about reading them in order, except for the Blofeld trilogy which I'll eventually read as Fleming intended. In Goldfinger it was a passage discussing Bond's sympathies for the sexually and gender confused (as he seemed to view it) Pussy Galore's identity as a lesbian. In From Russia With Love it was Paymaster Captain Troop, a guy who, to be fair, is seen by Bond as universally rubbing everyone in the Secret Service up the wrong way, describe intellectuals as homosexual and perverts. But don't worry, Bond, replies (ha! Here we go, take him down a notch or two, James, can I call you James?) not all intellectuals are homosexual. Some are even bald.....WTF?
From there Fleming also treated me to the frequently cruel and deceitful eyes of the Turkish and Balkan bit players. And Darko Kerim, an otherwise intelligent, able head of station, and quick friend to our intrepid spy, with an ease at balancing the needs of running an espionage service in Istanbul, running a lucrative front business and a large family. And oh my god he's describing, at length, the time, years prior, his mother caught him with a girl he'd kidnapped, stripped and chained under the table. Who then happily refused to be freed and taken away from him. What ya gonna do? Different times, different values.
I'll say.
The thing is, there is a helluva lot about the Bond books I like. I've got all the Fleming ones, read half of them, and I still plan to continue with the rest of the series. I gave this book four stars. Four stars, considered earned, for whatever my opinion is worth. Admittedly little.
I actually like the insistence with which Fleming writes the particular flight number Bond takes, the cigarettes Kerim smokes, the pornographic nature of the food, the specific placement of chairs and table and bodies, live ones and the soon to be dead, in each scene. Its like he's a set designer in my head. With words. The man knows how to write. I just, occasionally, question what he chooses to write.
My favourite aspect of these books, the hook which always brings me back, is the absorbing quality of the writing. Every detail is observed with an eye towards immersion, using evocation and atmosphere to place you in this simple story. I don't even mean simple in a pejorative way. Its effective, all the more so for being simple. I like being placed in a position of knowledge over Bond, which is rare given the occasional bursts of untranslated French and Russian, because its not Bond's fault I don't speak either of those languages, by witnessing the process of Smersh deciding to whack our favourite comma haired gentleman spy.
The casual, cold ruthlessness displayed in the first planning segment of the book pays dividends in the subsequent chapters as Bond easily and willingly falls into the Soviet trap. The short, brutal bursts of violence are few and far between, but you don't miss the absence of any gun play because you're too busy with the close tension. This page turner's a nail biter.
By the time we do find a bored Bond, stuck on committee in London, after ten chapters of clinically being walked through every step of somebody needing to do die, and publicly, the atmosphere is what's going to kill the reader here. It is just laden with menace.
In particular the last few, train bound chapters are some of the most thrilling in any of the Bond books I've read previously. He almost invites disaster by sticking with the plan when common sense, and you would imagine simple training, should be screaming to get the hell out of there at a faster pace than four days travel. Despite Kerim's presence for part of the journey, the slow pace of the Orient Express through frontier stop by frontier stop, isolates Bond and makes him nearly dangerously passive. Kerim often seems more of an active participant in events, both through his operational manoeuvres and insights in Istanbul and aboard the train, displaying brains and the sheer joy of a man enjoying his work as he acts to remove the opposition. Trouble is, we've spent several dozen pages getting to know the real threat, and he is always lurking out of sight, off the page. But always there. Waiting.
This is all good stuff. So is watching Bond explode in action upon finally learning the plan. The Soviet plan. His plan was to wait and see what the Soviet plan was.
I did laugh, however, at the grotesque vein which here seemed more prevalent than in other Bond books. The way several characters are described you would have assumed Lovecraft had possessed Ian Fleming. Rosa Klebb, torturer, one of the architects of the assassination attempt upon Bond, and all round nutjob, is an horrific character. Not just horrific in action and intent, but physically repugnant. This is before we even get into chief executioner of Smersh Donovan Grant's desires to kill being amped up once a month by the moon.
It's these extra lunatic touches which add eccentricity and originality to the Bond books. Their set apart from the psychologically rich and pessimistic John Le Carre books, which I also adore, by the touch of the fantastic. Bond doesn't just fight the Soviets. He fights psychopaths who go nuts during the full moon. He doesn't just cynically play the emotions of Tania Romanova, who in turn should be playing his, but actually falls for her, as she does for him.
I don't want to beat up on a book written in fifty six, written during increasing tensions between East and West, during a time of decline for Britain's power and presence. I don't want to beat up on a book written by an Englishman (and here I need to say, as a Welshman, how English these books are) with different views in different times to mine own. I believe you can like a book, can engage with a book with values different, even contrary to my own, without endorsing those negative parts. I may not be able to read a classic without bringing my opinions and beliefs, those aspects of my personality and identity as essential as family and background, but I can read a book and appreciate how times have changed. How inappropriate somethings are to say. So I grit my teeth, or briefly rant, or exasperatedly shrug my shoulders and say what are ya gonna do, and then I carry on reading. Because Fleming is describing the sunset on the Golden Horn. He's describing being drowsy on the Orient Express with a Russian spy's head in Bond's lap. He's describing an honest to goodness superspy, famous amongst spies, cold hearted, and lethal, suffering ennui and boredom.
There is good here amongst the bad. Enough good anyway. And nobody became a better person by only reading books they agreed with. Yes, we're talking about spies, but still. So in the future, I'll read other Bond books, and talk about them, and probably say, 'their good, but....' ...more

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Oct 30, 2016 Brian Poole rated it really liked it · review of another edition

While From Russia with Love included the classic elements that fans would want in a James Bond adventure, the novel’s structure gave it a somewhat different feel from other entries in the series.

The plot revolves around a Soviet conspiracy to murder Bond in a way that would serve a punishing and highly public blow to the British Secret Service. Rosa Klebb, the head of SMERSH, the Soviet murder bureau, puts an intricate plan into play. She lures Bond to Istanbul, with a beautiful would-be defecto While From Russia with Love included the classic elements that fans would want in a James Bond adventure, the novel’s structure gave it a somewhat different feel from other entries in the series.

The plot revolves around a Soviet conspiracy to murder Bond in a way that would serve a punishing and highly public blow to the British Secret Service. Rosa Klebb, the head of SMERSH, the Soviet murder bureau, puts an intricate plan into play. She lures Bond to Istanbul, with a beautiful would-be defector (Tatiana Romanova) and a Soviet cryptography machine as bait. Bond teams up with Anglo-Turkish agent Darko Kerim for some skirmishes with Soviet agents before boarding the famed Orient Express with Tatiana, whose growing feelings for Bond are giving her serious second thoughts about her mission. All the while, the brutal Red Grant, SMERSH’s top assassin, stalks the duo to a climactic final confrontation.

One of the most notable aspects of From Russia with Love is that the hero of the book doesn’t make an appearance until a third the way in. The first section instead focuses on the Soviet characters, providing a glimpse into Moscow life of that era. Author Ian Fleming spends time fleshing out Rosa, Tatiana and Red, among others, and shows how the plot against Bond comes together. It’s a slow burn approach that gives the story a different feel early on. The approach adds depth to Bond’s nemeses, making them more than just cardboard straw men for the super spy to knock down.

When Bond does enter the story, it kicks the plot into a higher gear. Fleming sketches some involving espionage action, making especially good use of the exotic Istanbul setting as the backdrop to the East vs. West spy games. Unlike the bon vivant image of the character often displayed in the famous movies, the written Bond comes across as a much darker figure. He grapples with existential malaise and the love affairs that come across as bits of froth onscreen cut him much deeper on the page. Bond doesn’t come across as perfect; indeed, Fleming hints at the fact that his hero is fundamentally unbalanced, but in a way that makes him an ideal fit for his job.

Among the newer characters, Kerim is a vivid force of nature, a good partner for Bond, even if at times he slips into an Ottoman pulp caricature. Klebb is among the best villains of the series, ruthless and complex, while the ambivalent Tatiana, torn between duty and her feelings for Bond, is a sympathetic mix of love interest and enemy. Fleming spends a lot of time building up Red, possibly a little too much time. In the end, Red’s more a bit of villainous color who doesn’t have the layers of Rosa or Tatiana.

As always, the pre-PC sensibility of the Bond novels won’t be a good fit for all sensibilities. Some passages could be shocking for modern readers unused to the period’s different standards. But for espionage drama fans with an open mind, the Bond series remains a compelling and worthwhile ride. ...more

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Apr 21, 2015 Hilary rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction, series, mystery-thriller, own, 2015

From Russia with Love is second only to Casino Royale, and followed all too closely by Moonraker.

Ian Fleming has crafted a well developed tale of intrigue in this book. We begin with SMERSH rather than MI6, which contrasts beautifully with the daily doldrums of MI6's paperwork in Moonraker and even to an extent Dr. No. From Russia with Love allows us to see just what is going to happen. SMERSH needs to make a strong impact on MI6, and to let the world know they're not messing around. Why ...more

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Oct 24, 2011 Gerald rated it it was amazing

From Russia with Love was the fifth of Ian Fleming's 007 books, published in 1957. Apparently he wasn't sure whether he wanted the franchise to continue, and you have to read the sequel, Dr. No, to find out how some of the plot points in this one were resolved.

Interesting, I think, is that the movie Dr. No (based on the sixth book) was the first James Bond film, and From Russia with Love was the second. Swapping the order of the plots actually necessitated some changes to the stories. In the mov From Russia with Love was the fifth of Ian Fleming's 007 books, published in 1957. Apparently he wasn't sure whether he wanted the franchise to continue, and you have to read the sequel, Dr. No, to find out how some of the plot points in this one were resolved.

Interesting, I think, is that the movie Dr. No (based on the sixth book) was the first James Bond film, and From Russia with Love was the second. Swapping the order of the plots actually necessitated some changes to the stories. In the movie, Dr. No is part of an international crime syndicate, SPECTRE. However, the Russian coding machine (based on the German's WWII Enigma device) was called Spektor in the novel and apparently renamed Lektor in the movie. SPECTRE is nowhere mentioned in either of the novels. In the novel From Russia with Love, it is the Russian assassination bureau SMERSH that hatches the plot to kill Bond using the Spektor and a beautiful woman as bait. In the movie, the planner Kronsteen instead works for SPECTRE, which intends to steal the Lektor along with luring Bond, then kill him and return the machine in return for a big SMERSH ransom payment.

Bond is a somewhat anachronistic character now, a gentleman bad boy back when most heroes played nice. Now they're all bad boys, and worse. And he was an unabashed male chauvinist. I'll leave it for the reader to marvel at rather than explain too much, but Tatiana Romanova is a rake's pipe-dream of a character, like all of the Fleming babes. She lives to serve the fantasy image she's created of Bond in her mind, and she commits the spy's cardinal sin of starting to believe her own cover story.

This book starts very slowly, with much more expository heavy lifting than you'd expect from a spy thriller. The action only accelerates about two-thirds of the way through. Fleming's literary predecessors included Somerset Maugham and Graham Greene, and his slow storytelling pace seems like a throwback.

Also odd, it seemed to me, were his opinions of Istanbul. Fleming hates the Turkish food and finds the city dirty and under-lit at night. Contrast this image with today's Istanbul, which has a population of fifteen million and growing (larger than Los Angeles) and world-class amenities.

[ Cross-posted on www.boychiklit.com ]
...more

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About Ian Fleming

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Ian Lancaster Fleming was a British author, journalist and Second World War Navy Commander. Fleming is best remembered for creating the character of James Bond and chronicling his adventures in twelve novels and nine short stories. Additionally, Fleming wrote the children's story Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and two ...more

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“But I am greedy for life. I do too much of everything all the time. Suddenly one day my heart will fail. The Iron Crab will get me as it got my father. But I am not afraid of The Crab. At least I shall have died from an honourable disease. Perhaps they will put on my tombstone. 'This Man Died from Living Too Much'.” — 38 likes

“Hope makes a good breakfast. Eat plenty of it.” — 26 likes

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