DanySpike

Two stars. I knew that Bond books were filled with sexist comments, coming from a time when everyone a bit misogynist. At first I found it so bad it was funny: "women are only for sex"; "Why the hell couldn't they just stay at home and mind their pots and pans and leave men's work to the men"; "The silly bitch", etc... but then it went beyond that and I couldn't even laugh. I mean, just read this gem: 

"And now he knew that she was profoundly, excitingly sensual, but that the conquest of her body, because of the central privacy in her, would each time have the sweet tang of rape."

Sweet tang of rape? Seriously? 

But even if we forgive his sexism, Bond is also a racist and a complete idiot. While he spends his time thinking he's the best in everything and complaining about women and foreigners, he has to be rescued from every situation because he's too full of himself to realize what he's doing. 

Since this is my first Bond book, I had a completely different idea of what I was going to read. The Bond in the movies is really smart, sexy, and a bit of a ladies' man. The original is just a poor, sad guy.

-- I'm counting this for the letter "C" in my 2014 Alphabet Soup Reading Challenge --