The Road Revisited

So, as a start of a new quarter I will be going from the tales of the worlds most famous super spy ( whose new movie comes out friday) and be moving on to a different tale. The story I decided to read was The Road by Cormac McCarthy. Now I've read this book before about two years ago, but at the time I felt lost in McCarthy's writing style, till the point where I would sometimes skip paragraphs because they confused me. I still got the overall message of the book but I can't help but feel as if I missed something. Since then I have read two more McCarthy novels and have studied his style more closely. And after two years I decided to , re-walk  The Road.

In the novel we follow the story of two people , a son and his father. They go unnamed through the whole book but yet, even in the first few pages, we get a distinct image of their personalities. The father and son's story is set is post apocalyptic America, and it is unclear where they are or how the world became this way. That also is never told to us, all we know is what the father and son see. The cities are emptied , bodies are dried husks, roads are destroyed, ash rains from the completely gray sky. I personally assume that there was a nuclear attack mainly because of the ash raining from the sky and all the dead life. Anyway the father and son seem to be the only two left in the entire world, but we know that is not so, for the father often checks over his shoulder for others who he seems to be afraid of. The two are heading south to the coast where we can only assume life will be better. All they have is a shopping cart full of the essentials, two back packs, and a pistol. They are following a state road and its is always eerily empty and quiet. The father takes care of the son, because as he sees it, the son is the only reason he has to live. Once when asked by his kid what he would do if the kid died he responds " I would want to die to.... So I could be with you ". This kind of emotion inhabits the whole book and gives a very dark book some much needed heart. I really enjoyed it the first time and I imagine I will even more the second time around.

Movie Bond ( and how he isn't used properly)

As I begin to read more James Bond I start to judge the movies more, and I have come to a conclusion. I really don't think the movies have used Bonds character to its fullest potential. Right now in the movies they have used only two aspects of Bond, his action and his humor. While these are important they only make up about maybe a third of the Bond presented in the book. Whats really lacking is the deeper side of Bond, that we find in the novel and I think its a very interesting character. Bond is present really as a cold , and over confident person. He isn't always right but he would sure like to be . In the movies Bond may be cocky but he always wins. I also think that in the movies we don't get really a feeling of how cold Bond is. Most of the time he seems to be cracking one liners, but in the books he is analyzing the opponent and preparing himself to do what ever he needs to. And though it has not been really touched upon in the books I have read I would like to see the novel Bond find someone to care about, not just a Bond girl that leaves the next book but someone he really cares for. Would he drop working for england or would he leave the girl ( probably the second). I guess for this reason I was a big fan of the most reason Bond movie. I liked the movie for other reasons, but in particular how they portrayed him as cold and not always right( just like in the novel). And also they had him fall in love, and for a bit Bond did resign which thought was an interesting turn. Sadly his love died and now ( in the next movie which comes out in not to long) he will get revenge. It will be interesting to see how far he goes and if he will disobey Queen and country for revenge. Personally I think he will because if he has a score to settle you can bet Bond will settle it, no matter what the cost. 

The knowledge of Ian Fleming

This is post part 2! And for all those die hard fans, I have an exciting news. I have recently finished Thunderball and begun Goldfinger. Huzzah! It has indeed been interesting to compare the two books. But that full comparison is for a later blog.

As I read these books I have begun to realize how smart Ian Fleming really is. Bond as you may or may not know is very talented in many things beside being a secret agent. He is a very good card player and also talented at many other sport. Apparently Ian Fleming was to because he gives a huge amount of detail on what Bond is doing, be it his hand in cards or his gold swing, Fleming knows how to play, with what to play, and how to describe it. I think I have actually learned how to play a card game just by reading these books, which makes it very interesting to read because i can better understand Bond's character and strategy. Fleming also gives much detail in other matters besides Bond's games. He is very descriptive on the subject of clothes, he gives unique colors and sometimes goes as far as giving a brand name. Among other things described in this book is cars, which again , Fleming seems to know everything about. He describes the car, down to the engine. He describes how the car reacts when Bond shifts gears. Overall this abundance of knowledge creates a very enjoyable experience for the reader because we know exactly what is supposed to be going on and we understand the world of Bond.

Bond girl

 My blog is finally back from being accused and investigated for spam (?)

So tonight I am going to do two posts, a special treat for the hordes of readers of this blog.

What I wish to write about is another essential part of any James Bond story, the Bond girl. As an experienced Bond fan I know very well what I want from a Bond girl, personality wise( because they are all beautiful women right). I really enjoy when a Bond girl is a match for Bond. This does not mean physically, like she could fight him. But more that she will fight as much as him. She should be persistent and should have some other goal than becoming Bond's girl. I like it when they are actual characters that frustrate Bond sometimes. A good example of this type is the Bond girl in Thunderball, Domino. While on the outside she may only appear to be a mistress of Largo( the villain) she is much more than that. She has goals that she wishes to achieve and will let no man stand in her way. For example to get revenge on Largo for the death of her brother, she is willing to put her life in danger to sabotage Largo's evil plot. I like this quality because it makes her seem more real, and someone more worth being a Bond girl. Because Bond with all his style could pick up any pretty face, but it is a girl with goals, determination, and the willingness to fight that makes it worth bond chasing the whole book after her.

007 3

Tonight I am going to talk about one essential part of a Bond Book( or movie). The villain. Bond being the worlds greatest super spy it is no wonder that he has some of the meanest or cruelest villains . In this novel Bond is faced with two villains really, the first being Emilio Largo.

Largo is Bonds main opposition for he is looking after the operation set up by SPECTRE ( who I will talk about soon.) Largo seems to be Bonds equal ,competitive, good with women, in very good shape physically and mentally. These similarities should prove interesting once they face off. To be fair the two men have already "battled" they played a card game against each other, Bond walked away with alot of money while Largo sat grudgingly broke. But their card game was interesting to watch because it was a battle of wits in which Bond prevailed. When the inevitable comes it will be fun to read their fight.

The other Villain I am going to talk about is Blofeld. For those of you who watch the movies Blofeld is Bond's ultimate nemesis, a man who tries to wreak havoc in the world but is thwarted many times by Bond. Blofeld has his revenge and kills Bond's only wife in one book. But anyway Blofeld runs the organization called SPECTRE, which is a almost terrorist organization that in this book has captured two atomic bombs and is ransoming them. I dont know much about Blofeld from the book, only that he is cool, calculating, and utterly ruthless. He seems to pull plans out of hats that threaten the world. I doubt in this book Bond will meet him face to face, but it will be something to see when Bond meets the creator of this intricate chess game that threatens the Western world, a true Bond Villian.

007 post 2

Tonight I am going to talk about the person who writes the books I am reading. The author of the James Bond series is a man be the name of Ian Fleming( who apparently at one point was in the secret service.) So what I want to write about more specifically is the writing style Fleming uses. As you can imagine one of the most important traits a secret agent can have is the ability to read people, to guess their intentions or lifestyle by studying them. James Bond can do that very well, and Fleming does a excellent  job of illustrating that trait. First when ever Bond meets someone Fleming goes into a very detailed description of what they look like , what they are wearing, and what this can tell us about them ( a basic example would be  expensive cigarettes mean high quality taste, rich, maybe over confident, as they purchase and over priced cigarette(rich) and smoke/ show it off (over confident) in public). Through this we can see two very essential and interesting things. First we see how Bond's mind works and how his so vital assumptions are made. We are given reasons and assumptions which will help us later in the book. Also these descriptions tell us about the character , what their personality is like and how they think along with giving us a very detailed physical description. These passages are fun and interesting to read, and Fleming is fast becoming one of my favorite authors to read.

007

So This is my first blog, and for this outside reading assignment I have decided to read the novels that one of my favorite film series is based off. Thats right 007. As you may or may not have known the James Bond books were written by a man named Ian Fleming. For this quarter I have decided to read the two novels ThunderBall and Goldfinger. Right now I am reading Thunderball.

So on this post I am going to talk about the character of James Bond and my first impressions of the character in the novel as opposed to the movies.

Thunderball begins with Bond being very ashamed of himself for he has a horrible hangover , has and has been smoking a drinking to much( and as he is being ashamed of himself he pours another drink). Right away we are given a view of Bond that the movies haven't expressed before. This Bond is a struggling alcoholic who's life outside of his missions is in turmoil. I think that it is interesting to have a character who is so good at saving the world, fighting bad guys, and spying, and yet he can't even manage his own personal life. The movies seem to depict Bond in a much lighter manner, a person who's only problem is getting the girl, the martini, or the pun at the right time. Thats not who Ian Fleming wrote. He wrote someone who is very insecure about himself , his only secure thing is his work, which he is excellent  at. This is shaping up to be a very interesting character study along with a thrilling action book.