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Looking forward to your thoughts on this one - I'm enjoying these reviews very much!
BOOK 3
MOONRAKER
by Ian Fleming
How does one survive a "book marathon" of a few thousand pages without losing aim and stamina very fast? Two books in; barely two inches sliced off from the entire Fleming collection, which itself is a rather towering presence in my glorious book collection. Or is the prospect of so much more of the good stuff a pleasant rather than dreadful one? In my case, it's definitely the former, as only the inappropriately late hours have kept me from cracking open my copy of MOONRAKER immediately after reading LIVE AND LET DIE. The Fleming Bond is definitely in my blood, in my DNA even, and so the next day, when the sun has set, I take a deep breath and get started. I keep John Barry's MOONRAKER and Eric Serra's GOLDENEYE in heavy rotation while the world around me falls silent and Bond's latest adventure begins on a Monday.
MOONRAKER is two books in one, two immensely tense adventures sewn together in perfect harmony. At the centre of them both: Sir Hugo Drax; first the boisterous cheater, then the malicious super-villain. Fleming examines his petty human flaws as well as his controlled but threatening indignation, but his true background remains a secret until the very end of the book. And so Sir Hugo quickly becomes a character full of contradictions, a ruthless and perverted slug on the one hand, England's noble hero on the other. Bond himself will go through some transformative phase, jumping from sheer loathing for Drax to profound yet somewhat cautious admiration very quickly. And we tag along, although something doesn't fit and Bond knows it and we know it. In controlled doses, Fleming adds new elements, building towards something no reader in the 1950s could have predicted. For without the loud and adrenaline pumping spectacle of the later films fresh in one's mind, the doomsday scenario of MOONRAKER as deceitfully constructed by Drax, would upset everyone, especially those who have read CASINO ROYALE and LIVE AND LET DIE.
And yet, the book starts quietly enough. Fleming generously drops details about Bond's career and the hows and whys of the secret service, including a brief but comical description of his's secretary, Loelia Ponsonby. All this is a first, emphasising Fleming's otherwise remarkable propensity to keep 007 a bit of a mystery. Yet this time he allows his secret agent a few tender moments of self-reflection before going for another first: M wants Bond to help him with a personal problem. Soon after that, taking a short break to teach us about Blades, Fleming puts Bond and Drax on opposite ends of a card game. The stakes, unlike in CASINO ROYALE, are fairly simple yet somewhat devious too: by cheating the cheater, a message will be sent, and one which will hopefully keep negative buzz from floating around the prestigious 'Moonraker' project. It hurts Bond as well as us to have to respect Drax while perceiving him as a relatively unmannered bag of spit and tricks. Intoxicated and with a lot of money on the table, Bond must rely on his own unconventional plot to snap Drax out of his delusion of invincibility, of which Bond, at this point in the story, cannot yet suspect the full extent. Without explaining the rules of the card game this time, something he so meticulously did for baccarat in CASINO ROYALE, Fleming nevertheless makes us grasp the tension, even if the impact of each card is initially unclear to those of us who are unfamiliar with the rules of bridge. The first climax of the book comes soon and with force; compulsive reading is unavoidable after that.
Well, after that, we meet Gala Brand, a new avenue for Fleming in Bond girl psychology. This one feigns indifference towards Bond's charms, yet does what she must to get the job done. She's described as very attractive and once again Bond will find himself almost contemplating marriage proposal. Yet even now, Fleming has nothing but solemn disappointment in mind for 007, though not until certain pleasures, gratified amidst the dangers and excitement of the mission, have been consumed. Together with her, Bond shall bit-by-bit uncover the dark secrets behind the MOONRAKER project, and then Fleming splits the literary screen and puts Bond and the girl in two separate states of absolute peril. Chapter after chapter, Drax becomes more menacing, Bond's predicaments more hopeless and the future of the free world more uncertain. Unlike in LIVE AND LET DIE, Fleming refrains from any redundant sight-seeing or cultural education in the final chapters of the book. Instead, his prose speeds like a train, pushing Bond and Gala through some of the most painful challenges anyone could possibly want to endure. With increased heartbeat and the tension of a ticking clock, MOONRAKER accomplishes what few books can: to present us with the kind of nail-biting strains one rarely experiences outside an action-packed film. Not in the final ten or twenty but in the final hundred or so pages of the book, Fleming makes the reading experience so compulsive and addictive, there's nothing one can do but go on until the final page is flipped.
MOONRAKER, unlike any other Fleming Bond, holds up surprisingly well in modern times too. Cars and technology may have changed, but the villain's motives for the most part haven't. Like Drax, some people in these troubled times remain loyal to their heritage, no matter how well (or not) their adopted nation has treated them. By climbing into a position of some authority or influence, they secure a firm basis from which to 'act' when the time is right, and they are patient, like Drax. They blend in, they gain our trust, until one day, it turns out that it has all been a blatant lie. When doom is upon is, planned out right under our nose, we can only hope that there's a James Bond in our midst too, someone we can rely on even if his name and face shall forever be kept secret from us. At least one thing a book like MOONRAKER can do, is give us hope, that while cruel conspiracies against our free West are carried out on a constant basis, few will ever be successful, because men and women like Bond operate in the shadows to protect us all, contradicting the diplomatically safe and prevailing nonsense we read about in the newspaper. On that more or less cynical note, Fleming ends his spy novel, putting Bond with both feet back on the ground, on many levels in fact.
Cubby Broccoli found MOONRAKER too simple and small-scale a story to be adapted into a film. Especially post the success of the spectacular THE SPY WHO LOVED ME (movie) as well as the hype called STAR WARS, things simply had to be bigger. All fair enough in terms of where the movies were at then, but literally everything from the book was dismissed except for the name of Drax. A lot of Fleming's material could have been salvaged for a film script, including the deliciously mind-boggling concept of someone who has every interest in keeping his businesses private, yet feels compelled to cheat at cards and pry some green from those stiff and rich Brits at Blades. They seem to have picked that up for OCTOPUSSY (movie) but sadly not with the same impact as in the novel. Also, imagine the already low-key DR. NO (movie) to have been a straight adaptation of MOONRAKER instead. With Connery going through all his painful ordeals at the end of the 1962 film, he might as well have tried to stop a doomsday rocket from being hurled towards London. Either way, MOONRAKER is one of those particular oddities for me; a great and exciting Bond story, seemingly forgotten by the filmmakers. While most of CASINO ROYALE and LIVE AND LET DIE has been adapted for film by now, MOONRAKER remains vastly underused.
The length of the books has forced me to spend two nights reading MOONRAKER, but that's okay. Double the fun and all that. When I close the book, my heart is still beating at astronomical rates. It's not the first time I've read the book, and yet I continue to forget exactly how fast-paced and captivating it really is. Re-reading the book adds an additional bonus to the experience; knowing precisely what Drax is up to, helps to pick up more clues early on. The genius writing of Ian Fleming exhilarates and thrills me then even more. I know, from memory, that few climaxes further down the series will ever reach these heights again--and that is not a Moonraker pun!--so I savour the moment, reflect on the adventure once more, and decide to pull out DIAMONDS ARE FOREVER some other time. This evening has been very good, and it won't get any better. On that note, I commit myself to the warm confines of my bedroom. Somewhere out there, someone is conspiring against us. A dirty bomb can be triggered at any time. But then I think about 007, and I know that all is well.
9.5/10
DD's 2018 book ranking
1) Casino Royale - 10/10
2) Moonraker - 9.5/10
2) Live And Let Die - 8/10
Yes, agreed. He got even better as he went along. Moonraker is my personal favourite of the lot and it was the first Bond novel I ever read in the summer of 1997.
I agree with this statement as well. Perhaps controversially, I think Diamonds Are Forever is no slouch either and not Fleming's worst, nor even his second worst, work. Admittedly, however, it does not continue in line with his steady progression toward perfection.
Great review. Moonraker is one of my favourite books, and, like the film version of YOLT, I was very disappointed by what the film-makers did [or didn't] with the source material.
Looking forward to your review of DAF, one of the weakest books. I'll be interested to see if you come to the same conclusions as me re Bond's character in this book.
I've just finished Call for the Dead, his first one. It's pretty short, and reads more like a detective story that happens to involve spies, but it's interesting to see Smiley's character and relationships all set up for the next fifty years of writing.
Quite interesting actually
Three. Le Carre's tough going.
Yes, another one I was thinking of. In their quest for "seriousness" they take all of the fun out of the read.
I'm early in my read but so far find it quite strong.
Yes, it's meant to be one of his very best books. Even Ian Fleming thought so. Saw the film years ago. Own the book, but not read it as yet.
Will try to watch the film after reading it. With a young kid watching movies is very challenging. Of the novel so far I'd say it's in many ways an anti Bond, yet I could paradoxically see some similarities.
The film version is very good, very bleak. I think it's pretty faithful to the book. Bernard Lee even stars ironically, as a shopkeeper.
FLEMING: We've had very interesting book published in England which I see is now on sale here, The Spy Who Came in From the Cold. It's a very, very fine spy story.
DULLES: I've read it. I got an advance copy of it. [Playfully] But I thought somebody was invading your field a little bit. You're having some competition there, aren't you?
FLEMING: I don't object to that. Because first of all, I admire this book very much. It’s very well written. But of course, the only trouble about this is, it’s taking the “mickey” out of the spy business.
DULLES [Laughing]: Explain that a little bit. I'd like to get you to explain that.
FLEMING: Well, none of us wants to do it. I mean, none of us professional writers about spies want this to happen. We want the romance—at least I do; I’m talking for myself—I want the romance and the fun and the fantasy to go on. If you reduced the whole thing to police daywork or ordinary secret-service daywork, it would bore the reader to tears.
DULLES: Well, I didn't think this did.
FLEMING: No, no. It didn't. It was well done. But what he does to the spy story is to take the fun out of it. This is a serious, a most depressing, book. I mean, it's a book that one reads with great respect, but it isn't a book I would take an airplane journey. Because it wouldn’t take my mind off the airplane. It might even increase my fears and nervousness—
DULLES: I didn't even know you had any!
FLEMING [Dryly]: Well done, Allen.
I tried to read Tinker, Tailor…in my mid-teens after having read all the Fleming's at least twice. I just couldn't get into it. I do have it in my 'to read box', so maybe now I'm in my mid-50s I might just try again.
1: The Looking Glass War - I've always preferred this to Spy Who Came In From The Cold, but maybe I'm just being awkward. Bleak as heck, both-sides-are-as-bad-as-each-other stuff.
2: The Russia House - alcoholic publisher goes on voyage of discovery.
3: The Tailor of Panama - Le Carré's take on Graham Greene's Our Man in Havana. Black comedy. (I recently acquired the movie with Pierce Brosnan, and I can't wait to watch it because he is just perfect for the character.)
4: The Night Manager - I read this on the back of the recent TV series. Much more action than you usually get in le Carré; feels like a conscious riff on Bond at times.
I understand there's this thing about Le Carré vs Fleming. Well, I know which side I'm on and this article,
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/tvandradio/5388581/John-Le-Carre-why-le-Carre-beats-Fleming-hands-down.html,
is full of nonsense.
That's very interesting and pretty much what I said about being the anti Bond. I do find it entertaining but it's certainly bleak and unglamorous.
Agreed, and glad you found it interesting. The entire Fleming-Dulles dialogue can be read here.
Haven't read any King for a while but really enjoyed this sort of sequel to The Shining.
Dan Torrance is all grown up and works in a hospice helping the dying to pass over peacefully, when he comes into contact with a young girl who has the most powerful shining he has ever known.
A sinister group of RV driving travellers called the 'True Knot' are after taking the girl to 'extract' her Shining for their own needs....
Great story with a climax that takes place in the spot where the Overlook hotel burnt to the ground...