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What's your opinion of the novel version of Diamonds Are Forever. What did you think of it?

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Comments

  • boldfingerboldfinger
    Posts: 5,767
    Each time I read Fleming's books, I see new beautiful things. But I always found it thrilling how the villains stay kind of hazy in DAF.
  • IGotABrudderIGotABrudder UK
    Posts: 631
    Revelator wrote: »
    Incidentally, though it's definitely not Fleming's best, DAF is the only Bond novel so far that has an entire academic study devoted to it and the its adaptation: The Many Facets of Diamonds Are Forever: James Bond on Page and Screen. I contributed one of the essays to this book, and though its price is still too expensive you can probably find a copy at a good library.

    Fantastic! Amazon delivered that very book to me a few weeks ago. So far I’ve read the contributions on sound (chapter 2), gender/sexuality (5) and the devolution of Tiffany Case (6).

    I feel very lucky that the only academic book concentrating on a single novel and film concentrates on my favourite. If it had been one of the others I probably wouldn’t have coughed up the money, but it’s DAF, it’s my favourite.

  • IGotABrudderIGotABrudder UK
    Posts: 631
    Also - can I ask which essay was yours, please?
  • RevelatorRevelator
    Posts: 2,919
    IGotABrudder wrote: »
    Also - can I ask which essay was yours, please?

    My essay is "The Eyes of Tiffany Case--And What They Tell Us About Ian Fleming's First Successful Female Character."
    Glad to hear you're enjoying the book!
  • FoxRoxFoxRox
    Posts: 12,514
    It's my least favorite of all the full-length Fleming Bond novels, but still superior to the film version in every way. It's good, but not near Fleming's best.
  • MinionMinion Don't Hassle the Bond
    edited January 2020 Posts: 1,165
    DAF, and possibly LALD as well, make for an interesting contrast with The Saint in New York, which I've just finished reading recently. Though it of course covered a city on the opposite side of the country, Leslie Charteris approached this American metropolis with similar reverence, however the mob The Saint faces is never presented as anything but terrifying with an overwhelming grip on the city, though perhaps equally thick intellectually. It certainly never loses sight of its premise or descend into travelogue territory.
  • PussyNoMorePussyNoMore
    Posts: 520
    Minion wrote: »
    DAF, and possibly LALD as well, make for an interesting contrast with The Saint in New York, which I've just finished reading recently. Though it of course covered a city on the opposite side of the country, Leslie Charteris approached this American metropolis with similar reverence, however the mob The Saint faces is never presented as anything but terrifying with a overwhelming grip on the city, though perhaps equally thick intellectually. It certainly never loses sight of its premise or descend into travelogue territory.

    What an absolutely brilliant point from a learned Bondologist.
    Albeit, Pussy thinks the contrast is more relevant to DAF than LALD.
    The comparrison with 'The Saint in New York' is so relevant. It is, in Pussy's not so humble opinion, the best book Charteris ever wrote. He got the tone absolutely right and the book is a great thriller and certainly, as Minion said, he approached the American metropolis with similar reverence but he did a much better job portraying the American gangster.


  • MinionMinion Don't Hassle the Bond
    edited January 2020 Posts: 1,165
    Appreciate it, @PussyNoMore! Glad to have the backing of a fellow aficionado. :)

    I agree, DAF is a more apt comparison, but I felt LALD deserved a shout out just with the NY connection.
  • petergreenhill5petergreenhill5
    edited February 2020 Posts: 824
    I last read Diamonds Are Forever in 1964 when I was 14 and rankly didn't like it very much. Not as good as Live and Let Die, Dr.No or From Russia with Love. I sense I may enjoy it more now and have a copy on my Kindle so I'll give it another go.
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