Gowldfingaaaaaa! Ba baaah baah!
OK, enough of that. I recently finished another Bond audiobook, this time
Ian Fleming's '
Goldfinger', read by Lord Grantham of Downton himself,
Hugh Bonneville.
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'Goldfinger'
by Ian Fleming, read by Hugh Bonneville
(AudioGo, 2012) |
On the way back from a tough job in Mexico, Bond is saved from morbid musings by a chance encounter with Junius Du Pont, one of the card players who joined him at Le Chiffre's table in '
Casino Royale'. Du Pont has a problem and hopes that 007 can help. The multi-millionaire is losing thousands of dollars daily to Auric Goldfinger, whose almost Midas-like ability to turn every canasta game his way has left Du Pont both frustrated and certain he is being cheated. Ready for a distraction, Bond takes on the challenge of unmasking the greedy Goldfinger. But when our favourite secret agent discovers that he is also of interest to MI6, the chance encounter leads to one of Bond's most perilous cases yet...
This book draws together elements of a number of other Bond stories, so it does sometimes feel like we're going over old ground. Like Le Chiffre, Goldfinger is SMERSH's money man, like Drax in '
Moonraker', we first meet him cheating at cards and like
Dr No, he's a proper, scary, mad-as-a-box-of-frogs Bond villain. But, at the end of the day, Fleming did knock out the Bond books rather rapidly, so it's understandable that he mined his other works in an attempt to strike gold once more.
And, on the whole, he does. Although I don't think this is pure, 24-carat Bond, it's a welcome return to a proven, successful structure, focussed on 007 himself and full of tension and danger for our hero and those around him.
 |
'Goldfinger'
by Ian Fleming
(Penguin Modern
Classics, 2004) |
As many of you will know, this is the novel which has a - whisper it now - lesbian in it. I hope I've not shocked you too much by mentioning it, please take a few moments to get over your vapours. As you can imagine, the subject really brings out the dinosaur in Bond. Perhaps the bitter, spiteful, homophobic vitriol he spouts represents the view of the character, highlighting jealousy or insecurity or fear or maybe all three. Or perhaps it's the view of the author, who seems to have written Bond as some kind of fantasy alternative identity. I don't know, but I did find myself shouting at the CD player, which even for me is quite unusual. Yelling at the TV or radio is pretty much a daily activity, but shouting at the CD player is something new. Anyway, it did make me wonder why some sections weren't excised from the book, but at the end of the day, it is a novel of its time and it's good to be able to map how far we've come through popular culture. The 1950s clearly weren't a golden age for all. But if you find it hard to take a step back and see '
Goldfinger' as a historical document, this probably isn't a good read for you.
Overall, this is a decent James Bond novel, giving you everything you'd expect. The audiobook, however, is brilliant. And it's made so by Hugh Bonneville. It felt like he was on the same journey as the listener from beginning to end, sharing the same excitement at each tense plot twist and amazement at every death-defying escape. I'd gladly listen to more books read by him in the future. Talk about solid gold.
Now, what next...
Related Posts
'
Casino Royale'
'
Live and Let Die'
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Moonraker'
'
From Russia with Love'
'
Dr No'
'
For Your Eyes Only'
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Thunderball'
'
Octopussy, the Living Daylights and Other Stories'
