The Hero: James Bond
The Villain: Sigmund Stromberg
The Bond Girl: Anya Amasova
Supporting Characters: Jaws (Zbigniew Krycsiwiki); General Nikitin; Kate Chapman; Fekkesh; Kalba; Martine Blanchaud; Captain Carter; Talbot; May (Bond`s housekeeper)
Locations: Switzerland, Russia, England, Egypt, Sardinia, North Atlantic
This was the first Bond film that was novelized, and Christopher Wood, who co-wrote the film, is also the novelist. In many ways his achievement is astonishing. It is one of the best Bond novels, but more importantly, it`s a rich and allusive novel. A proper review would require a page-by-page, sometimes even a line-by-line analysis; a thumbnail sketch must suffice.
Wood duplicates Fleming`s mannerisms and even makes nods to the original novels. He includes the background information on Smersh (in “From Russia, With Love”), carefully updated in Chapter 3. Anya`s superior, General Nikitin, was one of the plotters in “From Russia, With Love”. We learn in Chapter 10 that another of the plotters, Lieutenant-General Vozdvishensky of RUMID, has since defected and that Bond`s time for a diploma at his language symposium for Ministry of Defence employees broke all records. There are references to other Fleming novels: “Moonraker” (the time it takes Bond to draw a gun), “Dr No” (Boothroyd deep-sixing Bond`s Beretta – which is now Anya`s choice of weapons; the rain details in Chapter 4). Stromberg and Nikitin`s eyes become pinpoints of red, a nod at Fleming`s “glint of red”. May still has that tick about calling people “Sir”. And there are more references to Bond`s late wife than in any other post-Fleming Bond novel. There are also Fleming sounding details: Chapter 2 has a Casino scene (Bond loses badly at roulette), and he chides himself for letting the soft life catch up to him. Bond`s torture in Chapter 10 alludes to “Casino Royale”. Anya stings Bond with her ring a la Rosa Klebb in Chapter 12. Only someone who respected his source material could be so meticulous.
The novelization is also much darker and more interesting than the film. Consider how Wood describes Stromberg`s background:
“This he immediately began to do with great vigour, and for a young man he showed a remarkable conversance with death, and what he described as its `packaging`. Cremation was what he advocated as the cleanest, purest and most ecologically satisfactory way to go and as business prospered he built his own private crematorium. He had to wait rather longer than anticipated for this because the firm contracted to do the business were at that time engaged in building similar, but rather larger, installations in Nazi Germany.” (Chapter 5)
Few writers are this nimble.
There are other clever touches. In Chapter 2, Sergei`s dying thoughts – Anya, the hotel, the children playing by the beach – are sensitively handled and reiterate the Greta Garbo detail in Chapter 1 (i.e. “consigning”, since nothing can ever be the same between them). At the end of Chapter 21, Bond wonders what`s become of Anya. Wood slowly and discreetly reveals her predicament, which is both horrifying and darkly funny (here, “in medias res” dialogue contributes to the effect, and is appropriate and brilliant).
Wood loves getting into the character`s heads and deserves credit for injecting so many human moments into the book. Ultimately, he`s written a novel about people, about adults. The chapters where he delves into the character`s backgrounds are remarkable (Anya in Chapter 3, Stromberg in Chapter 5, and Jaws in Chapter 12).
Bond is smarter, more fastidious, and human than Fleming`s Bond. He`s also occasionally clumsy, which is more realistic and endearing. He`s an intelligent man in an insane world who struggles against fate, but when the chips are down has that famous “Nelson touch”.
Anya is unusually complex and one of the best drawn women in the series (though she`s inconsistent and two dimensional during the middle when she`s not sure whether Bond is appealing or annoying. By this stage, she should have felt some grudging admiration for Bond; instead her thoughts are flat). She`s a professional – in Chapter 15, she leans out the window and fires two shots at a pursuing car, destroying it. She says nothing. Wood`s prose is as efficient as her trade-craft. Other subtle details shade her: in Chapter 14, she makes her bed every morning (and wonders if Bond has noticed) because she doesn`t want the maids to think that Bond doesn`t sleep with her, not that she would sleep with him. She`s also vulnerable – Wood shrewdly uses details to emphasize her childlike innocence. Almost everyone preys on her: Nikitin wants to ride her like a cossack, Jaws falls in love with her, and Stromberg sees her as the beginning of a new civilization, plucked from nothing to be the womb that furnishes an original species.
Bond and Anya`s relationship is the novel`s focal point. Discussing her Bulgarian minders, Bond says, “You must be lonely without your boyfriends.” She replies, “They are easily replaced.” This can also be taken to mean Sergei, and foreshadows her decision in Chapter 24. In Chapter 13, M orders them to go as man and wife. This has other considerations. In a nod to Fleming`s originals, Anya reminds Bond of Tracy (Chapters 11 and 17); in the latter chapter Anya even utters Bond`s last words to Tracy. It`s not all one way, either. In Chapter 11, Bond reminds Anya of her late lover Sergei (we`re meant to think that she`s with Bond in the rather overwritten first chapter; Bond and Sergei somewhat resemble each other).
Chapter 17 has many brilliant touches and is one of the book`s best chapters. The brisk, opening paragraphs, are cleverly written from a group perspective; the detail about the roses, seemingly sweet, has horrifying consequences later on. Bond and Anya limp back to the hotel – which is realistic – and fall into each other`s arms, which is psychologically accurate; danger brings people together. Wood is clever enough not to reveal the message until the chapter`s last paragraph, so that we see Anya`s reactions objectively. She looks up at the vase in Bond`s hands as though momentarily wondering why he has it – an excellent touch. She smiles and nods apologetically when she remembers that Bond is a commander in the navy and doesn`t need to be told about ships. Her tone is businesslike. She squeezes Bond`s hand: “I do not have to say anything, do I?” The humanity is unexpected and overwhelming. “This is why we are here. This is the most important thing. We can wait.” Nothing can ever be the same between them. Wood is clever in other ways; Bond and Anya discuss business (the shape of the Lepadus), which increases the tension, and more importantly is realistic and adult. Bond traces a circle on her wrist and discusses an Italian dinner – he knows something is wrong; this detail is sensitive and one of many examples where Bond becomes three-dimensional; it also properly integrates his designer goods tastes into the book (e.g. when he contemplates Anya`s clothes in Chapter 14, or helps the stewardess through his drink in Chapter 7 – so often one detail enhances other aspects).
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The last chapter (25) is appropriately sombre: Anya appears unexpectedly on Bond`s doorstep. Is she defecting? What did Stromberg do to her on board Atlantis? She is – in Ian Fleming`s words – a bird with a wing down. But Wood is clever. Bond collapses after rescuing her from Atlantis and is sent home to recuperate. In the following scene, which also shows how different the novelization and the film are, neither character is stronger than the other:
“Carter accepted Bond`s outstretched hand and grasped it warmly. “Thanks. I hope we work together again sometime. Oh, by the way” – his eye twinkled – “there was some girl hanging around on the front doorstep when I arrived. I think she wants to see you.”
“Do you think I`d want to see her?” asked Bond.
Carter pretended to consider the question and then nodded his head. “I think you might.” He raised a hand to his temple and was gone.*
“Bond stood up, feeling a mounting sense of excitement spread through him. Was he being stupid? Could it be possible? Somebody came into the room behind him and he turned, expecting to see May.”
It was Anya. She wore a black woollen coat down to her ankles and carried a large, soft leather grip. Her face was as beautiful as he had dared to remember it. Perhaps more so. She put down her bag and faced him squarely. “I have come to look after you.”
Bond looked at her lovingly. “But I don`t need looking after. I`m perfectly fit. Right at this moment I feel better than I have ever done. Anyway, I have a housekeeper to look after me”
“The woman with the stern black uniform who was putting on her hat to shopping when I arrived?” Bond smiled and nodded. “Does she hold a State Nursing Certificate, first class?”
Bond rested his hands on either side of Anya`s slim shoulders. “Now you come to mention it, I rather think she does. Sweet, darling Anya. What are you doing here? What about Russia? What about your job?”
She looked up at him and her lips trembled. “Let us say I am on holiday. I will tell you all later – much later.” She began to unbutton her coat.
The other characters are well sketched. In a major departure from the film, Wood exploits the sexual predator element present in Jaws. Stromberg is a monster even in childhood, born grossly deformed. He`s a great villain, though he`s underused – an inherent story flaw that the novelization can`t get around. In Chapter 20, Stromberg checks his wet mouth into a semblance of a smile because Anya knows what he`s talking about – Wood knows how to write moments for his characters. Nikitin – originally a Fleming character – is also wonderfully drawn (Chapters 3 and 13). Wood avoids rhetoric and lets action speak for the characters, which is more effective: Nikitin`s hand burrows up Anya`s skirt (this detail and “the scent of roses” are throwbacks to similar details in Fleming`s “From Russia, With Love”; “face of the moon” recalls a similar detail about Red Grant).
Wood uses irony effectively. Just before he`s killed, Fekkesh thinks of Felicca waiting for him at the flat, unaware that she`s dead (Chapter 9; Wood doesn`t botch it by adding, “little did he know that she was already dead”). Kalba is pleased that Fekkesh has been killed; now he just has to eliminate Kate Chapman (Stromberg`s secretary), unaware that she too is dead (Chapter 11). What does he care if she put her life on the line stealing the tracking device for him? Bond notes that Talbot`s face is unmarked by any contact with the unpleasant realities of life and imagines the teacups at the vicarage trembling when Talbot returns on leave. Moments later, Talbot is torched, and collapses on his own grenade (Chapter 21). In Chapter 18, Bond hopes that Anya doesn`t have a gun in her hand when she divulges her feelings, foreshadowing Chapter 24 (the comment about Russian women shades Anya). Nikitin intentionally withholds the news that Bond killed Sergei (Chapter 13). In Chapter 3, Anya compares the Communist faith to the Christian with horrifying consequences in Chapter 21: Stromberg selects her to be the initiator of a new civilization, akin to Mary in the Christian dogma.
There are flaws, though. Wood can`t seem to cut free from the mechanical story and this prevents the book from being more cohesive. At times he overwrites and gets bogged down in minutia: e.g. Chapter 1 (though the Greta Garbo detail is nice, as is the way that we`re led to believe that it`s Bond); ditto the beginning of Chapter 14, and most of 16 (compare Chapter 17`s sprightly beginning). His prose also has an unrefined quality; though clever, the Chapter 5 quote above is somewhat stilted (compare his prose to John Pearson`s). He likes similes – perhaps too much – they can be very useful, but are essentially static and generally unnecessary (his earliest novels overdo them). The descriptive action passages are tedious – fluid writing would have helped here; it also undercuts the impact the human moments would otherwise have. But it is one of the best books in the series, and like “Colonel Sun”, a serious novel, one that should and can be appreciated for it`s literary merit. Unfortunately, the novel is out of print – an unfortunate oversight that should be rectified.