From Russia with Love

From Russia with Love
by Ian Fleming
read: 2013

Apparently From Russia with Love was one of President Kennedy's favorite novels, which is kind of terrifying, especially in light of how he and his staff handled the Communist threat in Vietnam. Fleming paints the Russians as cold and calculating, in contrast to the English who can be swayed by human feelings and foibles (a bit ironic given how Americans often characterize the Brits). The scheming chessmaster Kronsteen explicitly notes the advantages of asexuality in secret service work, and we see this in Red Grant and in Rosa Klebb. No U.S. foreign policy was actually based on this stuff, right?

This was my favorite Bond film, and while the book and the movie lined up more than in Moonraker or Live and Let Die, there are some interesting differences. The first third or so of the book is entirely from the perspective of the Russians, and James Bond is only mentioned in passing. We're meant to appreciate the ruthlessness and cunning of SMERSH and Soviet intelligence. In the movie, SMERSH isn't even the enemy; Grant and Klebb work for SPECTRE. And the battle on the Orient Express is certainly more epic and memorable, though Robert Shaw isn't as physically imposing as the novel suggests Grant should be.