Diamonds Are Forever: Library Edition

Rating:
Summary: The Soul of James Bond
Review: What a tantalizing cover this edition has. It really captures the enigmatic quality this particular James Bond novel by Ian Fleming exudes. In one sense this is Ian Fleming's homage to the mystique of the American gangster. Fleming's vision of the American gangster is one of a twisted, often emotionally and physically, violent character teeming with idiosyncrasies. They are a peculiar bunch to say the least. James Bond appears to be more the knight in shining armor in this novel than in most written by Fleming. Much of this can be attributed to the tough but sympathetic character of Tiffany Case whom Bond becomes emotionally attached and must rescue. It is interesting how in the film series the two primary directors, Terrence Young and Guy Hamilton, were influenced by the literary Bond created by Fleming. Hamilton seems to have been greatly influenced by this novel more than any of Fleming's others. We see Fleming's 1950's version of American hoodlums show up in Hamilton's "Goldfinger," "Diamonds Are Forever" and even at the beginning of "The Man With The Golden Gun." More importantly this novel demonstrates Bond's affinity for the ever-fleeting notion of true love. Tiffany Case is the diamond in the rough that touches Bond's heart. This novel equally contains engaging scenes between James Bond and "M" and the overall description of the diamond smuggling pipeline is pure Fleming. This novel is highly recommended reading giving more insight into the psyche of James Bond.

Rating:
Summary: Bond's first and (as far as I know) only gay assassins?
Review: Yes, film fans, Mr. Wint and Mr. Kidd do appear in this book; and although, as always, the book is vastly different from the movie, it is easy to see some of the points of inspiration (the exchange in the desert; the ship at the end).
The characters are different also. If you've read the books or any of the reviews I've written on the first 3, you know the characterization variences of Bond himself (He actually gets beaten up in this one; though he does have his first superhuman moments in "DAF", beating the tar out of two adversaries on two seperate occasions), but some of the supporting characters bear notice:
Tiffany Case is in no way the ditz portrayed in the movie. In the book she's a "hard-boiled broad" as Spillaine or Chandler might put it.
Wint and Kidd are more thuggish and not the Dickensian villains most are familiar with.
Felix Leiter with hook and wooden leg returns!
Finally, SPECTRE has nothing to do with this novel save for the fact that the ghost town hideout of one of the primary antagonists is called "Spectreville." And NONE of the bad guys are our boy Ernst (You're gonna have to wait a few novels for him).
The story is basically about 007's efforts to close a diamond smuggling pipeline to the United States (And not a doomsday device lazer beam in sight!)
I did take some points off from this novel because, toward the end, Fleming seemed to develop a penchant for run-on sentences ("He went into the room and lit a cigarette and sat down and started to write. . . ."); but this is just something that I, as an english major, found grating.
All in all, enjoyable.