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The Spy Who Loved Me (with Interview)

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The Spy Who Loved Me (with Interview)

By: Ian Fleming
Narrated by: Rosamund Pike
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About this listen

When 007 turns up at a sleepy American backwoods motel, it doesn’t take him long to realise that Vivienne Michel is in a tight spot, and that Sol Horror and Sluggsy Morant are hardened killers bent on destruction. Escaping from a past she doesn’t want to relive, Viv turns to James Bond to save her.

Includes an exclusive bonus interview with Rosamund Pike.

Ian Fleming was born in London in 1908. He was educated at Eton and worked as a journalist in Moscow and a banker and stockbroker in London before becoming personal assistant to the Director of Naval Intelligence during the Second World War. He wrote his first Bond novel, Casino Royale, in 1952 at Goldeneye, his home in Jamaica. Since then James Bond has gone on to become a global phenomenon.

Rosamund Pike is a contemporary and multifaceted actress who has earned international acclaim for both her stage and film roles. She is soon to take the lead as Amy Dunne in the highly anticipated big screen adaptation of Gone Girl, and will also star in the upcoming BBC comedy What We Did On Our Holiday. She recently starred in Hector and The Search For Happiness and Edgar Wright’s The World’s End. Past film credits include Jack Reacher, Wrath Of The Titans, Die Another Day, An Education and Made In Dagenham, among others. On television, Pike has been working on the upcoming re-invention of classic children’s series Thunderbirds Are Go! in which she will voice International Rescue agent Lady Penelope.

©1962 Ian Fleming Publications Ltd (P)2013 Ian Fleming Publications Ltd. © AudioGO Ltd, 2012. James Bond and 007 are registered trademarks of Danjaq LLC, used under licence by Ian Fleming Publications Ltd.
Espionage Literature & Fiction Celebrity Fiction Suspense Ancient Greece
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Critic reviews

"Ian Fleming keeps you riveted. His narrative pulls with the smooth power of Bond's Thunderbird." ( Sunday Telegraph)
"Ruthlessly, fashionably efficient in both love and war." ( The Times)
"Muscularly brilliant...not for prudes." ( Evening Standard)
"If there’s a better writer of pure thrillers than Fleming, the name escapes me" ( The Boston Globe)
"Mr. Fleming is splendid; he stops at nothing." ( New Statesman)

What listeners say about The Spy Who Loved Me (with Interview)

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Best narration I have heard in a long time. Wow!

Fantastic performance!!! The writing was 10/10 and the story an 8/10.
One if my favourite books, written from the first person past tense perspective.
This book is written from the perspective of The Bond Girl. (Through her eyes, not Bond.)
I think this is (technically) Ian Flemings best work, and it is incredible that he was able to capture the spirit of the character in such a dramatic way.
I would definitely recommend this book!

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2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Excellent - but make sure you know what to expect

This is not a James Bond adventure, but rather an adventure in which James Bond appears. He turns up in time to play a crucial role in the denouement but the rest of the book is just as interesting...if you're open-minded enough to try out Ian Fleming's idea of writing from a female viewpoint.
I read this book many years ago and liked it a lot more the second time, in audio form, than I did then - partly because I knew what to expect in terms of its structure and partly because of Rosamund Pike's performance. Perhaps she flatters Fleming's writing but he seems to pull off the sad and rather fraught experiences of a single girl in late 1950s / early '60s England pretty well. He certainly writes about America with his familiar mix of expert observation and waspishness.
If you can see past the cartoonish names of the bad guys, you have a couple of chilling villains, but it's the female view of Bond that's we're here for and it's satisfying enough. The pleasant surprise for me was Rosamund Pike's performance of Bond himself: she talks quickly in clipped, matter-of-fact tones that worked very well. She's excellent throughout though, keeping up Viv's Canadian accent consistently well and doing as much with hoodlums' voices as anyone could.
Give it a try for Fleming's writing, and not just the female POV, but his usual strong imagery - ill-feeling from the villains seeping across the room like poison gas - and also for Pike's reading of it. If only all of Audible's Bond books were done this well.

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Not your average Bond

I really like the shift in narrative viewpoint in this first person novel, it confounds your traditional 'Bond' expectations. Fleming was obviously trying to imbue the range with some literary weight and re-energise it. The female perspective is - mostly - very believable and it puts Bond into new territory as it’s a smaller scale adventure which is to its credit.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

not where you want to start

not where you would start if you want to begin reading the Bond books, but an interesting twist in the formula as it's written from the perspective of a woman involved in a Bond caper

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

Different ….but worth a listen

Not the usual Bond, in fact Bond doesn’t appear to around half way. The story shows bond from a female perspective which is interesting. I’m glad I listened but there are better Bond books IMO.

Rosamund Pike does a great job of narrating.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Different

I really enjoyed this one but I enjoyed all the Bond books. This was certainly different and showed Flemings ability to write in a very different way.

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Something different

Really enjoyed this one. Written from a completely different perspective, with Bond a character in someone else’s story.
Expertly narrated by Rosamund Pike, I’d definitely recommend this one.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Not what I was expecting.

I’ve never read this book, but have watched the film and this is nothing like the film at all. However, it was very enjoyable and the performance is excellent. I loved it.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Enjoyed it immensely

Loved listening to it. Miss Pike is a great narrator, hope she does more like this.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Different but very good

Rosamund Pike as very good at bring the world of The Spy Who Loved Me alive.

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