Reviews

"When you were young, and your heart was an open book,
You used to say live and let live
(you know you did you know you die you know you did)
But in this ever changing world in which we live in
Makes you give in and cry ...
Live and let die ..."

(cue guitar riff)

With that out of the way - Paul McCartney and Wings, later covered by Guns 'N Roses - Live and Let Die is the second James Bond book by Ian Fleming, but the eighth film in the series, and the first to star Roger Moore in the lead role.

And reading it with contemporary eyes, boy has it aged. Quite different than the movie - although the key elements (vodoo, Baron Samedi, Solitaire, American southwest setting) are intact, it can also be quite uncomfortable reading this with modern sensibilities, particularly in how Flemings (and Bond) treats the female characters, and in how the Harlem culture and denizens are portrayed.

Allowances must be made, I suppose, for the time period in which it was written ...

popsiwinkle's review against another edition

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adventurous mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.25

dasbooch's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.75

sakurafire's review against another edition

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5.0

A great spy novel about the greatest fictional spy (sorry Bourne). Fleming's James Bond is slightly different than the film version. The book allows you to get inside his head, showing him cold and professional at times, then overcame by emotions at others. The book is very violent and does not shy away from gory details. It was a fun adventure and at times it was "edge-of-your-seat" reading.

To those of you upset about the book's racial slurs and discrimination, understand that this was very much a product of its time. I will leave you with a blurb that I borrowed from the Looney Tunes Golden Collection DVDs (of all things) that always comes to mind when I visit things from an earlier generation.

"The cartoons you are about to see are products of their time. They may depict some of the ethnic and racial prejudices that were commonplace in the U.S society. These depictions were wrong then and they are wrong today. While the following does not represent the Warner Bros. view of today's society, these cartoons are being presented as they were originally created, because to do otherwise would be the same as claiming that these prejudices never existed."

If you plan on reading this, I hope you enjoy Bond's adventure and continue with the other books. They are definitely a treat for fans of the movie or spy genre.

danielpollard's review against another edition

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adventurous medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

Character voices by narrator were distracting.

jpgnelson's review against another edition

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adventurous dark tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

1.5

Author uses the N-word liberally. And for no other reason than to use it.

duparker's review against another edition

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adventurous lighthearted mysterious medium-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

2.5

this is a holy underwhelming story. That is, unless you are looking for racist and misogynist text. I get the era it was written in is very different, but wow the use of language is crazy. It's also pretty fun, in the sense that being the second book bond is still figuring out when he's supposed to be doing, and he's not the season veteran that most of us are going to be expecting. There are a lot of Pratt falls and misdirections, with a good nature WTF moment here and there.

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