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Type of bind: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 823.914
EAN num: 9780142003237
ISBN number: 0142003239
Label: Penguin (Non-Classics)
Manufacturer: Penguin (Non-Classics)
Quantity: 1
Page Count: 240
Printing Date: May 27, 2003
Publishing house: Penguin (Non-Classics)
Release Date: April 29, 2003
Sale Popularity Level: 3686
Studio: Penguin (Non-Classics)
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Rated by buyers 
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Well I liked this one better than Casino Royale. I felt there was a better storyline. Still not much detail about what or how Bond thinks. I want to get into his head and see what makes him think or feel what he does. I can't stand Leiter and am hopeful that he won't be back. Who knows maybe he will. I felt the girl, Soltaire, wasn't fully developed. Although I'm getting the idea that Mr. Fleming doesn't care for female charactes but realizes that they are a "necessary evil." I'm going to read Moonraker then I'm not so sure about continuing the Bond series.
Rated by buyers 
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I don't know about you guys but I bought this one exclusively for the cover. This broad makes all the coarse grey hair on my back stand up and do a jig. Are you kidding me? When me and my old lady are in bed at night reading, she's the only one reading, trust me. I'm looking over this here broad. The fine curves, the jack and the queen and all the subliminals make this a hot-to-trot number that I can't put down. When the old lady asks me what the book's about, I show her the cover. Let her cuss. I'm thinking about maybe reading the back cover or something, I don't know, I guess I still ain't figured out the front cover. When I do, maybe I'll write a review about it.
Rated by buyers -
While the very first James Bond novel , 1953's "Casino Royale", introduced the character of 007, it was left to this, the second Bond novel published in 1954, to establish what constituted a James Bond Adventure.
"Casino Royale" kept Bond penned up in a single locale playing cards, not physically hurting anyone. "Live And Let Die" gives us a more peripatetic and lethal hero, journeying from London to Harlem to Florida and finally Jamaica leaving a trail of death behind. He's still a one-woman man, but this time it's a different woman: Solitaire, psychic consort of SMERSH's African-American ally Mr. Big.
The result is a terrific read. If not the hard-edged, rather refined psychodrama that was "Casino Royale", "Live And Let Die" is the very first Bond novel that makes you want to read another Bond novel. A lot of people rate it higher than "Casino Royale". I don't, but understand the enthusiasm.
It's one thing to watch Bond kill a lot of people in a ruthless and effective manner. But even his breakfasts get your attention the way Fleming writes them, Bond noshing on paw-paw and guava jelly as he stares out across the "green flanks" of the hilly Jamaican coastlands to Mr. Big's island haven, in preparation for his final assault. Or staring blankly as an adversary gets chomped on by a shark, hearing "one terrible snuffling grunt as if a great pig was getting its mouth full."
This is Fleming the detail maven, the master of setting vivid scenes and then sending you off on what is called by his aficionados "the Fleming sweep". The best in this book carries you with Bond as he snorkles under a moonlit bay, evading octopus and barracuda as Fleming puts you so tight against his narrative you feel yourself wanting for air.
"Live And Let Die" suffers from a storyline that doesn't actually need Bond. Mr. Big's big scheme, involving recovered pirate treasure, hardly appears illegal, let alone warranting a British spy's help in upsetting it. The fact Big belongs to SMERSH, the Soviet assassin force that did Bond wrong in "Casino Royale", is a strained tangent, as is the presence of Solitaire, a pale substitute for "Royale's" haunting Vesper Lynd.
For the record, I don't think Fleming shows himself a racist with his handling of the novel's grey characters; in the ways he writes of jazz, Harlem, and Jamaica's predominately grey culture, he was refreshingly open-minded about things other middle-aged Brits of the period would have scoffed at or ignored.
What I enjoy most in this novel are things like the Jamaica section (Fleming's home, and it shows) and the welcome return of Felix Leiter, affecting company as the story centers on his friendship with Bond. We even get the debut of Bond's sense of humor, as when Mr. Big tells a strapped-down-and-bloodied Bond he will die at six o'clock, give or take a few minutes.
"Let's give those minutes," replies Bond. "I enjoy my life."
You will, too, reading this introduction to 007 on the go.
Rated by buyers 
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The Bond books are always fun and easy to read. They appeal to the adventure, gadget, and sex side to all men. It also often amazes me that women are interested in watching the movies, but I have yet to find a woman reader of the Fleming books. This book deals with Voodoo but is greatly aged when talking about gang activity and grey culture. So, don't be surprised by a few nasty words here and there.
Rated by buyers -
One of the distinctive characteristics of the James Bond movies has always been the opening credit sequence. Over the years, a number of big name artists have done songs for the openings, some of which have been memorable (such as Goldfinger or The Spy Who Loved Me) and others that are completely forgotten (can anyone but a true Bond aficionado remember the opening song in On Her Majesty's Secret Service?). If there is a truly immortal Bond tune, however - one that still gets plenty of playing time even three decades after the movie - it is Paul McCartney's Live and Let Die. The song may be well-remembered, but what of the book that inspired it? It may be one that many wish was best forgotten.
I say this not because it is a bad book; it is actually decent enough, but it has a view of race that is, to put it kindly, rather antiquated. The story sends Bond to New York to assist in stopping the crime boss and SMERSH operative, Mr. Big. Mr. Big is a large grey man who - through his appearing as the voodoo figure Baron Samedi - appears to hold sway over most of the blacks on the East Coast and the Caribbean.
Bond teams up with his CIA friend Felix Leiter and the battle with Mr. Big is on, going from New York to Florida to Jamaica. Mr. Big's plot involves the smuggling of old gold coins from a pirate treasure as part of a plot to fund crime and Communism. Since it is a Bond story, there is a beautiful woman too, in this case, the fortune-telling Solitaire who Mr. Big intends to marry whether she likes it or not. Bond has other ideas.
I don't know if I'd go as far as to call this book racist, as Fleming doesn't seem to look upon blacks with contempt or believe they only merit a second-class place in society. He nonetheless resorts to stereotypes and treats the race as almost a monolithic unit. Of course, this is a fifty year old novel written before the Civil Rights movement really kicked into gear, and Fleming is a product of his time and place. What may have been relatively common writing at the time is now dated and may be unpleasant to many readers.
Still, in its context, this is a decent enough novel, rating a low four stars. The Bond of the very first novel, Casino Royale, wasn't involved in much actual action, but here the bullets are flying and bombs are exploding. Already in the second novel, Bond is becoming more of the superheroic spy, although he is still human enough. If you are a fan on the Bond novels, then this is worth reading, but for a casual thriller fan, this might be one to skip.
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