Though outright rape is still portrayed negatively, Fleming was known for. I guess it is not so surprising coming from an industry dominated by white old men but it should be done anyway. Vesper Lynd in Casino Royale (2006), and M in Skyfall. Several documentaries were made about the making of the various Bond films, TV programs with interviews of the producers and various people involved in the making but nothing about the treatment of women. For the 50th anniversary of the saga, a book about the Bond Girls came out but nothing about the sexism in the films. I do not think it is difficult to include something telling people that this kind behaviour is not okay anymore and that it was never acceptable to begin with. She was coerced into passing them information when. This book gives us a very human Bond who struggles with his emotions and the implications of his actions as a spy, and I wasn't expecting that.These films are regularly released in special DVD editions and show on big screens but nothing is said about how the majority of the saga promotes sexism, abuse and violence towards women. A note has been left for him, in which Vesper explains that she was a double agent working for the Russians. But then he apologizes for being too rough with her and backs off when she says no and spends hours lying on the beach looking up at the sky and realizing that he's in love with her. Yeah, his fantasies of essentially raping Vesper are hard to read and are not excusable. In either case, I wasn't expecting to be given a front-row seat to Bond's thoughts and emotional state. Is it a commentary on the fact that underestimating a woman is what ends up hurting Bond the most, or is the narration really trying to say that trusting a woman is the worst thing you can do? Are we supposed to come to the conclusion that a cold man like Bond was stupid for falling in love, or are we meant to see the tragedy of Bond falling back into being a machine like Mathis accuses him of? It's hard to tell how much credit to give to Fleming for the nuances I saw while reading Casino Royale.

And I certainly wasn't expecting this book to be a tragic romance. And he definitely is those things in this novel, but what I wasn't expecting was the exploration of his character. I've only seen one James Bond movie and it was over twenty years ago, but I feel like the cultural osmosis from the franchise painted James Bond as an intelligent womanizer in my mind. Before I read it, I expected it to have decent writing and an intriguing and fast-paced plot at best. I'm baffled by how much I liked this book.

Casino royale was vesper raped