The novels are sort of pot-boiler noirish spy thrillers. Think a poor man's
John Le Carre. Fleming was a spy during WWII and in the 1930s and wrote a
bunch of pulpy spy thrillers. Minimalistic in style, dark, and gritty. Not
long, about 150-250 pages at most.
If you ever saw Connery's Doctor No or Craig's Casino Royale? They are
similar to the books.
Can they be updated to the modern era? In a way they sort of have with
Atomic Blonde and BladeRunner. I've seen versions of it or attempts here
and there. And the macho sexism is no worse than what you'll find between
the pages of Hemingway or Cormac McCarthy.
Are they worth reading? Eh, that's hard to say. Is anything really? My
grandmother smacked my Dad upside the head for reading them as a kid. But
he loved them and they made it into our house...so I was able to read them.
My Dad also read Dickens, Treasure Island, Kidnapped, and Hemingway as a
kid. He doesn't read them now, though, reads John Le Carre. And would say
they are very dated. They don't have quite the same intricacy as Le Carre
or Graham Green, more along the lines of Robert Ludlum, but not as long and
tighter in plot. Fleming was a minimalist similar to Hemingway.
I enjoyed them as a teen. But I like noirish spy thrillers. Also loved
Robert Ludlum and Ken Follet. Fleming fits in somewhere between Ludlum and
Follet. Would I love them now? Eh, probably not. And they are dated, from a
bygone era.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
branchandroot
no subject
Date: 2017-07-27 03:49 pm (UTC)The novels are sort of pot-boiler noirish spy thrillers. Think a poor man's John Le Carre. Fleming was a spy during WWII and in the 1930s and wrote a bunch of pulpy spy thrillers. Minimalistic in style, dark, and gritty. Not long, about 150-250 pages at most.
If you ever saw Connery's Doctor No or Craig's Casino Royale? They are similar to the books.
Can they be updated to the modern era? In a way they sort of have with Atomic Blonde and BladeRunner. I've seen versions of it or attempts here and there. And the macho sexism is no worse than what you'll find between the pages of Hemingway or Cormac McCarthy.
Are they worth reading? Eh, that's hard to say. Is anything really? My grandmother smacked my Dad upside the head for reading them as a kid. But he loved them and they made it into our house...so I was able to read them. My Dad also read Dickens, Treasure Island, Kidnapped, and Hemingway as a kid. He doesn't read them now, though, reads John Le Carre. And would say they are very dated. They don't have quite the same intricacy as Le Carre or Graham Green, more along the lines of Robert Ludlum, but not as long and tighter in plot. Fleming was a minimalist similar to Hemingway.
I enjoyed them as a teen. But I like noirish spy thrillers. Also loved Robert Ludlum and Ken Follet. Fleming fits in somewhere between Ludlum and Follet. Would I love them now? Eh, probably not. And they are dated, from a bygone era.