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Which Bond novel are you currently reading?

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  • MaxCasinoMaxCasino United States
    Posts: 4,703
    Revelator wrote: »
    DEKE_RIVERS wrote: »
    Sometimes I think about why they didn't choose this novel to adapt first...Maybe it was problematic in the early 60s.

    Like all commercial filmmakers, EON played it safe with potentially controversial content, and by 1954 the civil rights struggle had already begun with Brown vs. Board of Education. The Bond films were still Hollywood product, being bankrolled and released by United Artists, and Hollywood had no wish to rock the boat in racial areas. Occasionally you'd get a semi-daring film like Intruder in the Dust or The Defiant Ones, but the idea of filming a thriller with a white hero and cast of all-black villains, complete with a black master villain with a white mistress, would have been rejected in the 50s or early 60s. By 1973 things had radically changed, and the Blaxploitation craze gave EON a fresh angle to approach LALD from.

    Yes, I do believe that Tom Mankiewicz was the one above all who pushed for it. American writer, American locations. I still hold both the book and film as two of the most unique Bond adventures for several reasons.
  • echoecho 007 in New York
    Posts: 6,395
    To be fair, the novel has the American locations too.

    But yes, LALD was ripe for adaptation at the right time.

    It's kind of like Dolly's braces, but I can never remember whether Solitaire in the book is written as black or white. Setting Jane Seymour aside for a moment (she's better as an actress than many who preceded her), the idea of Diana Ross in this film is also intriguing.
  • RevelatorRevelator
    edited November 9 Posts: 2,922
    Solitaire is white in the book, and portraying a black man in a relationship with a white woman was off-limits in American media until the late 60s (and several other countries). Technically Solitaire is still a virgin in both media; in the book Mr. Big says he intends to make her his wife, while the film further accentuates her virginity, to make clear that the black villain had not slept with the white woman. But the inverse--a white man making love to a black woman--was always more acceptable, so Bond got to have sex with Rosie Carver. But even that relationship was too much for the government of South Africa, and United Artists was playing it safe by insisting that the main Bond girl be white, rather than Diana Ross.
  • 007HallY007HallY
    Posts: 4,310
    I’ve always instinctually imagined Solitare as mixed race when reading LALD. I think there’s a description in the book about her being a a colonial General’s daughter which I always thought to be euphemistic. Completely my own thoughts though, I admit.
  • RevelatorRevelator
    edited November 11 Posts: 2,922
    Here's Fleming's description of her, from chapter 7:

    "Her face was pale, with the pallor of white families that have lived long in the tropics. But it contained no trace of the usual exhaustion which the tropics impart to the skin and hair. The eyes were blue, alight and disdainful, but, as they gazed into his with a touch of humour, he realized they contained some message for him personally. It quickly vanished as his own eyes answered. Her hair was blue-black and fell heavily to her shoulders. She had high cheekbones and a wide, sensual mouth which held a hint of cruelty. Her jawline was delicate and finely cut. It showed decision and an iron will which were repeated in the straight, pointed nose. Part of the beauty of the face lay in its lack of compromise. It was a face born to command. The face of the daughter of a French Colonial slave-owner."

    The last section makes the book's racial politics even more provocative: the descendant of a slave owner (with a face born to command!) has become the slave of a black master (and obeys his commands). It's up to Bond to steal the white woman away from her blackmaster.
  • BounineBounine
    edited November 11 Posts: 2,599
    I'm currently reading 'Live and Let Die' which is my last after re-reading the other Fleming novels for the ninth or tenth time. LOL. I like to start with Moonraker and finish with LALD. Next time though, I think I'll finish with FRWL which is my favourite.

    I can't remember if my avatar is the cover of a version of LALD or Thunderball. One or the other.

    November 11 - Armistice Day and Bond's day. Happy Birthday James Bond!
  • FoxRoxFoxRox
    Posts: 12,525
    Almost a whole year since my last update unfortunately, but here I am having finished up YOLT today. I read the first half of the novel earlier in the year, but got sidetracked with many other things, then finally picked it up again recently to finish it. As unorthodox of an opinion as it is, YOLT is genuinely my favorite novel in the Blofeld trilogy, and in my opinion should have been the last Ian Fleming Bond novel, at least the last in the timeline chronologically.

    Seeing Bond at an all-time low to begin the story is an effective and fitting hook for the readers, given the way OHMSS ended. The bits with M are awesome, but I also love how the book opens with the enigmatic scene of Bond and Tanaka's game before that. Tanaka is one of the most interesting and fun to read of Ian Fleming's many colorful characters, and Bond's extensive time with him in the first half was consistently intriguing. The buildup to the threat of the Death Collector, along with all the challenging adjustments Bond makes in Japan and witty banter he exchanges with Tiger, makes the action-lite first half still a very good read. I'll admit it's a little slow here and there, but I was very engaged with almost all of it still.

    The second half is where it gets super super good, though. I find Kissy Suzuki to be a great Bond girl; she's provided with a solid backstory, a balanced personality of caring and capable, and I really feel bad for her at the end of the novel. The last several chapters are totally action-packed and thrilling, stuffed with eeriness, intensity, and catharsis. The castle is a classic, ideal villain's lair, Blofeld acts as nefarious as ever, and it's just always so supremely satisfying seeing his and Bond's feud reach its wild conclusion. I'm also glad Irma was remembered and included. The penultimate chapter gives us a nice, tidy look at Bond's life, too - a perfect few pages of lore!

    YOLT is like an epic fever dream, and for me the best kind of ending the original series could have potentially gotten. We get resolution to the peskiest and most infamous villain Bond ever fought, and the memory loss + open ending just feels so right to leave things off on to me. I remember liking TMWTGG fine, but just feeling like YOLT offers the right finish for this series, suggesting but not confirming Bond's adventures may not be over. I wish NTTD had taken more from this novel, honestly. Anyways, it gets a pretty high ranking from me, only topped by a few of the other elites. I love it, and for me, the Blofeld trilogy only got better and better.

    Novel Ranking:
    1. From Russia with Love
    2. Dr. No
    3. Moonraker
    4. For Your Eyes Only
    5. You Only Live Twice
    6. The Spy Who Loved Me
    7. On Her Majesty's Secret Service
    8. Casino Royale
    9. Live and Let Die
    10. Thunderball
    11. Diamonds Are Forever
    12. Goldfinger

    Short Story Ranking:
    1. Risico
    2. For Your Eyes Only
    3. The Hildebrand Rarity
    4. From a View to a Kill
    5. Quantum of Solace
  • HoagyCarmichaelHoagyCarmichael
    Posts: 28
    Just finished reading Role of Honour. It's a bit better than I thought it would be. I liked the Erehwon bit and the Geneva section with the balloon. Maybe it would make a good multipart series on Netflix or something with someone like Richard Madden or Nicholas Hoult playing Bond.
  • MajorDSmytheMajorDSmythe "I tolerate this century, but I don't enjoy it."Moderator
    Posts: 14,003
    I finished my first, and likely last, read of On His Majesty's Secret Service. That was so bad. I can overlook the mistakes, as it was cobbled together quickly, what I couldn't overlook was how it read like a bad parody of how the far left see the far right. After this, I don't want Higson anywhere near Bond again.
  • chrisisallchrisisall Brosnan Defender Of The Realm
    Posts: 17,835
    MajorDSmythe wrote: »
    I finished my first, and likely last, read of On His Majesty's Secret Service. That was so bad. I can overlook the mistakes, as it was cobbled together quickly, what I couldn't overlook was how it read like a bad parody of how the far left see the far right. After this, I don't want Higson anywhere near Bond again.

    Horowitz was good. I guess not all "H's" are...
  • ColonelAdamskiColonelAdamski UK
    Posts: 1,088
    MajorDSmythe wrote: »
    I finished my first, and likely last, read of On His Majesty's Secret Service. That was so bad. I can overlook the mistakes, as it was cobbled together quickly, what I couldn't overlook was how it read like a bad parody of how the far left see the far right. After this, I don't want Higson anywhere near Bond again.

    I've read the book too, and I can completely understand where you're coming from on this. I'd give him a second chance myself, but only because OhMSS was rushed.
  • MajorDSmytheMajorDSmythe "I tolerate this century, but I don't enjoy it."Moderator
    edited December 24 Posts: 14,003
    Ok, maybe I am being a little harsh. Even though I am far removed from the target audience, I thought Higson did a good job with the Young Bond books. I approached them cautiously, was was pleasantly surprised.
  • 007HallY007HallY
    edited December 24 Posts: 4,310
    I'd say OHiMSS is one of those strange little Bond oddities that you get from time to time, especially in literary Bond. It reminds me a bit of Gardner's Bond visiting Disney Land, or Benson's Bond visiting the Playboy Mansion in the 90s - a strange little time capsule drawing upon the popular culture of its day. It's perhaps a bit gimmicky when mixed with Bond, but ultimately it's quite harmless. I don't actually think OHiMSS is quite as 'political' as some people view it as being. If anything it's quite safe in this area (Bond becomes a kind of wishy washy 'both sides are just as bad' centrist in terms of how he thinks at one point. Not saying he'd take a firm position on anything, but I feel literary Bond would be slightly more internally thoughtful about radicals). I actually find the idea of a right wing grifter villain quite funny. I think if it'd been a short story and really trimmed down into something more compact it could have been cool.

    But I agree, I'm not a fan of it either. But it's not the worst bit of literary Bond I've ever read (that honour goes to Blast From The Past).
  • mtmmtm United Kingdom
    edited December 24 Posts: 16,624
    Yeah, it doesn't quite work - my main thought about it was how slight it is when you kind of picture Craig in the lead role, which is tricky not to do with a contemporary Bond adventure. Compared to his films (or a lot of the Flemings), it's very undramatic, and Bond has no sort of emotional involvement in what's going on, nor does the experience tax him very much. It's sort of like a 'what Bond got up to on the weekend' story; it would be the PTS of a film.

    I don't think it's very political either, not sure where that's coming from. And yeah, if a media mogul is a valid target of a Bond villain story then I think a right wing grifter populist is too. It's not like he actually believes anything he's saying so it's not really a political story at all.

    It's fun enough though, passes the time for a quick Bond buzz.
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