Octopussy and The Living Daylights

Octopussy and The Living Daylights
by Ian Fleming
read: 2014

In "Octopussy," the title story to this collection, Ian Felming describes a character Major Smythe, who becomes rich through a combination of luck, murder, and deviousness. His wealth doesn't bring him happiness, however; he becomes an alcoholic, has a couple heart attacks, his wife commits suicide, and he's socially ostracized and basically drinking himself to death when James Bond arrives on the scene. It's similar to some of the studies in books like Stumbling on Happiness where researchers find lottery winners and those who lose a limb are equally happy a year after their respective events. I don't think that data was present in Fleming's day, but he had an intuitive understanding of the phenomenon.

The Man with the Golden Gun

The Man with the Golden Gun
by Ian Fleming
read: 2014

It's become a cliche that Bond villains, when they finally have Bond captured and at their mercy, always deliver monologues rather than the coup de grace, but in The Man with the Golden Gun we see Bond similarly self-impaired:

Jmaes Bond got into the car behind Scaramanga and wondered whether to shoot the man now, in the back of the head - the old Gestapo-K.G.B. point of puncture. A mixture of reasons prevented him - the itch of curiosity, an inbuilt dislike of cold murder, the feeling that this was not the predestined moment ...

James Bond knew he was not only disobeying orders, or at best dodging them, he was also being a bloody fool.

This sets up an interesting scenario - Scaramanga is a faster draw than Bond, so Bond can't take him in a fair gunfight, but he is reluctant to ambush him unawares. Fleming has to jump through some hoops to set up a scenario where Bond can win and keep the moral high ground.

You Only Live Twice

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.

On Her Majesty's Secret Service

On Her Majesty's Secret Service
by Ian Fleming
read: 2014

In On Her Majesty's Secret Service, Bond finally finds (and marries) a woman who is willing to take him for what he is:

I wouldn't love you if you weren't a pirate. I expect it's in the blood. I'll get used to it. Don't change. I don't want to draw your teeth like women do with their men. I want to live with you, not with somebody else. 

The Spy Who Loved Me

The Spy Who Loved Me
by Ian Fleming
read: 2013

The Spy Who Loved Me is unique among James Bond novels, written in first-person from the perspective of a young woman thrown into an unfortunate situation - which, of course, Bond rescues her from - with Bond almost a minor character in the story, first appearing more than halfway through. The story of heroine Vivenne Michel is interesting, but suffers from Fleming's misogynistic world view. Viv's best memories and regrets all have to do with her past relationships with men, and she can only be saved emotionally by encountering a Real Man - James Bond, of course - who treats her like a Real Man should. Fleming tried something different here, but it's not as successful as the standard Bond formula.

Thunderball

Thunderball
by Ian Fleming
read: 2013

I was going to write that Thunderball seemed to be the point where Fleming was consciously writing for the big screen ... but according to Wikipedia the screenplay actually came first for this one. Makes sense.

For Your Eyes Only

For Your Eyes Only
by Ian Fleming
read: 2013

For Your Eyes Only isn't a novel but a collection of shorter James Bond works. "From a View to a Kill" and "Risico" are fairly boiler-plate Bond, but the other three stories have interesting angles that flesh out Bond's character a little more. In the title story, M uses Bond as an instrument for personal revenge rather than England's interests, and Bond ruminates some on the guilt of killing, even bad men for a good cause. "The Hildebrand Rarity" examines the lengths to which people will go when pushed, and Bond is more Nick Carraway than Nicholas Cage in it, uninvolved in the major action. "Quantum of Solace" is a story-within-a-story about marriage gone wrong and how cruel spurned lovers can be; it's curious that Fleming thought of it as a Bond story at all.

Goldfinger

Goldfinger
by Ian Fleming
read: 2013
Guardian 1000 Novels

Ian Fleming is terrific at describing games and bringing out the tension and drama in competition. In just about every Bond book, there's a game of chance against a villain. In Goldfinger, there are two: the canasta game at the beginning (where Bond catches Goldfinger cheating) and the golf game in the middle. Fleming makes golf exciting!

Dr. No

Dr. No
by Ian Fleming
read: 2013

Dr. No was the first James Bond book made into a movie. But c'mon, guys - you couldn't get the fight with the giant squid in the film?

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.

Diamonds Are Forever

Diamonds Are Forever
by Ian Fleming
read: 2013

So James Bond meets up with his female contact, and it turns out she's a smoking hot babe! Who saw that coming?

The fun thing about the books is that you get inside Bond's head a bit. As he's contemplating a life with Tiffany Case, he imagines that, due to being gang-raped as a teenager, her trust in the first man she sleeps with means things will have to be forever. At the same time, he realizes that, as a member of the secret service, he can only truly be married to "M." Bond never reaches a resolution, but glimpses like these into his mind give the character an emotional depth he doesn't have in the films.

Moonraker

Moonraker
by Ian Fleming
read: 2013

So the novel Moonraker doesn't have Roger Moore in space, but it is still a bit silly. Hugo Drax is a classic Bond villain, and the scope of his villainy - the destruction of London!- is the sort that Dr. Evil mocked in the Austin Powers movies. Somehow the characters seem in less immediate danger than in Casino Royale or Live and Let Die, which gives things a Moore-ian feel.

Through three novels, I'm struck by Bond's relationship to the women in the stories. He's presented as a promiscuous playboy and a commitment-phobe, but he develops real feelings for the women he encounters. That has never really come through in the films for me, other than maybe the Daniel Craig Casino Royale.

Live and Let Die

Live and Let Die
by Ian Fleming
read: 2013

Casino Royale is the first James Bond novel, but Live and Let Die is the first real James Bond novel. Casino Royale takes place in just one location, and it's a subdued and largely internal book - Bond never even kills anyone. Live and Let Die, on the other hand, is full of action from start to finish, spans from Harlem to St. Petersburg to Jamaica, features battles on land and sea, and has a more cinematic pace and scope. Mr. Big is a much more imposing villain than Royale's Le Chiffre, and his showdowns with Bond are more satisfying. This is the James Bond I know.

Casino Royale

Casino Royale
by Ian Fleming
read: 2012
Guardian 1000 Novels

I've seen most of the James Bond films, but I'd never read any of the novels until Casino Royale. It's surprisingly not very action-packed; Bond doesn't kill anybody, and doesn't even really get in a fight with anyone. Fleming makes the baccarat scenes impressively compelling, and captures Bond's paranoia and his romantic confusion with Vesper Lynd. A lot more of the action takes place in Bond's head than in the movies.

Bond is a misogynist, and it's unclear to what extent Fleming is trying to excuse his misogyny. Bond's lack of respect for women is set up partially to make his falling for Vesper all the more tragic, but when he starts talking about "the sweet tang of rape," that's a bridge too far. Any character development of Bond's attitude towards women is erased by the events of the novel, so I expect more cringe-inducing moments in the subsequent books.

Bond at one point gets in a discussion with fellow agent Mathis about the moral value of what they're doing, but his argument lacks the moral weight found in The Spy Who Came in from the Cold; it feels abstract and  shallow, and Bond ultimately comes to feel it a childish perspective. Casino Royale isn't as complex as a le Carre novel, but it's a gripping read and I'm sure I'll read more novels in the series.