need help with Ian Flemming's James Bond novels??

[vicb]

So I know this sounds like an odd question but here goes...

My DS age 15 has expressed interest in reading the original Ian Flemming James Bond novels. He has seen a couple of the movies (so have I). When I checked out the prices on line I noticed the book covers are a bit racy which got me wondering just how descriptive the novels are? I haven't read any of the books... but if you have can you shed any light.

I know there is sex in the movies but they are rated PG or PG-13 but just how descriptive is this in the novels?

Thanks for any insight!

 

[gina2000]

The books were written in the 50s. They are sexy for the era but are tame by today's standard. The books are also very different from the movies.

 

[kirstenb1]

The books are very tame. Wouldn't hesitate to let a 15 yr old read them.

 

[vicb]

Thank you both! I wonder why the covers are so racy...

http://www.amazon.com/Live-Let-Jame...=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1287974151&sr=1-1


http://www.amazon.com/Goldfinger-James-Bond-Novels-Fleming/dp/0142002046/ref=pd_sim_b_1

 

[Magpie]

Um... it depends on the novel, but in general I wouldn't call them "tame". In Casino Royale Bond is tied naked to a seatless chair and his genitals are flogged. Plus, women regularly die in horrible ways.

Sure, they were written in the fifties and there's no explicit "naming of parts", but they were written for the entertainment of adult men.

There's a fair bit of what I consider highly entertaining sexism and misogyny, but I don't know if I would consider it appropriate for a teenaged boy without some context. The highest compliment Bond can give a woman is that she does something "just like a man" (ie, drives like a man, shoots like a man, etc...).

Basically, I think whatever book you give him from the Bond series, you should read it for yourself first. Then you can talk about some of the 50's era attitudes towards women and minorities (blacks and foreigners don't get a great shake, either).

I do love Fleming, though... I love the way Bond keeps falling in love with every woman he meets, I love how rarely he actually gets laid, and I love the weird little bits, such as where Fleming will spend several paragraphs rhapsodizing over a man's naked body. He's as enthusiastic in his description of a woman's breasts as he is of the patch of hair just above a man's buttocks. I really wonder about that guy, sometimes!