You Only Live Twice
by Ian Fleming
read: 2014
Guardian 1000 Novels
In You Only Live Twice, Ian Fleming paints an incredible picture of Japan. Bond's mission is to work himself into the good graces of Tiger Tanaka, head of Japanese intelligence, and this involves everything from eating sashimi to getting ninjitsu training to reading haiku poetry. Tanaka and Bond frequently verbally spar about the differences between their societies, and I'm not sure anyone really gets the upper hand. I wonder if Japanese readers would find it as even-handed, or think it slightly racist.
The novel begins with the conceit that Bond is, understandably, emotionally disturbed after Tracy's death at the end of On Her Majesty's Secret Service, but we're mostly told this through an expository discussion between M and Bond's psychologist. Fleming doesn't really have the heart to take us inside Bond's trouble mind, and once the story moves to Japan it's barely mentioned.
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