The Spy Who Loved Me: A novel free download by Ian Fleming
Publisher: Penguin
Having recently read Andrew Lycett's excellent biography of 007 creator Ian Fleming, I found rereading "The Spy Who Loved Me," his tenth James Bond novel, a very unconventional story.
James Bond doesn't appear until page 100. The novel is told from the perspective of Vivienne Michel, a Canadian woman traveling across the USA after two devastating relationships. "Viv" is an strong, sympathetic character--considering that her creator was generally the type of cad who broke her heart! She remembers her deflowering (Fleming had lost his virginity the same way) and her career before fleeing to America (like Fleming, she worked for a newspaper).
But she's a tough, resilient woman, just the type of female who would appeal to a secret agent like 007. Drawn into an insurance scam at a remote New England motel and menaced by two repellent thugs, Viv is threatened with rape and murder until a mysterious Englishman gets a flat tire on a nearby road.
"The Spy Who Loved Me" was an interesting experiment in Fleming's writing that didn't pay off for him. He discouraged any reprints and considered destroying all unsold copies. Who knows what other directions and what risks Fleming might have made if "Spy" had succeeded. In fact, when the producers of the Bond films were looking for their next entry in the series, the Fleming estate allowed them to use only the title of this one.
Reading the novel now in 2007, it appealed to me because Viv's painful past relationships and her determination not to be bitter reflect many women I know now--or wish I knew.
It was also fascinating that the unfeeling men in her past resembled the author more than the main characters. Viv was the strong, beautiful woman he wished he had. And James Bond, as usual, was the dashing super stud he wished he was. Just like the rest of us.
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