Live and Let Die by Ian Fleming

Beautiful, fortune-telling Solitaire is the prisoner (and tool) of Mr Big - master of fear, artist in crime and Voodoo Baron of Death. James Bond has no time for superstition - he knows that Mr Big is also a top SMERSH operative and a real threat. More than that, after tracking him through the jazz joints of Harlem, to the Everglades and on to the Caribbean, 007 has realized that Mr Big is one of the most dangerous men that he has ever faced. And no-one, not even the enigmatic Solitaire, can be sure how their battle of wills is going to end ...

This was my second Bond novel, following on from reading of Casino Royale. I'm not going to run through the plot in this review rather I'll touch on a few points which occurred to me as I made my way through the text.

Firstly, I rated Live and Let Die more highly than Casino Royale: it had more action, was more compelling, contained more escapist adventure and was for me, much more exciting. It also contained Bonds first encounter with sharks which I love from the movies (sadly they never had lazers or bombs strapped to them, oh well!)

The book, especially the first half, suffers from the time period in which was written, i.e. before the civil rights movement had made any significant progress and before feminism became prevalent. So, be prepared for its very racist, demeaning and misogynistic attitude, for example: Fleming (as opposed to Bond) frequently refers to African-American characters as ‘negroes' and he also uses the terms ‘nigger,' and ‘jap'. So it often made me wince as I vocalised this unacceptable prejudicial language in my mind but if you manage to get past this then you'll find that in this tale Bond (and to a certain extent Felix Leiter) becomes a much more rounded character: his irritations, doubts and worries make him seem more human. Also, I guess that after I had finished it made me glad that as a society we have come a long way since the 1950s. Wikipedia makes a couple of relevant points here:

... academic Jeremy Black has pointed out that “the frequency of his references and his willingness to offer racial stereotypes [was] typical of many writers of his age”. [1] Writer Louise Welsh also observed that “Live and Let Die taps into the paranoia that some sectors of white society were feeling” as the civil rights movements challenged prejudice and inequality. [2]

It was also interesting to see Quarrel being introduced as a character, I recall he was in the movie Dr No. The introduction of Quarrel made me realised that the movies were actually filmed in an alternative sequence to the published novels. Live and Let Die also made me aware that these novels are more violent than most of the earlier movies. Additionally, the plot of Live and Let Die seems to have been used in three Bond movies: Live and Let Die (obviously), For Your Eyes Only (keelhauling) and Licence to Kill (Felix Leiter being turned into shark bait and the warehouse shoot out).

Live and Let Die also seemed to set the “Bond Blueprint” which was absent in Casino Royale; this is:

M briefs Bond about a mission > Bond visits exotic locations > a beautiful woman falls for Bond > romance ensues and then she gets into trouble after which Bond has to rescues her > lots of action ensues with Bond killing /fighting dastardly villains and henchmen > the story finally reaches a climax with the chief villain meeting a sticky end.

So, in summary a pacey tightly written period spy thriller which really is a great page-turner despite the undesirable elements which I've mentioned earlier.

Next up: Moonraker!

[1] Black, Jeremy (2005). The Politics of James Bond: from Fleming's Novel to the Big Screen.University of Nebraska Press. ISBN 978-0-8032-6240-9

[2] Benson, Raymond (1988). The James Bond Bedside Companion. London: Boxtree Ltd.ISBN 978-1-85283-233-9

Excellent listen and very typical James Bond book, is very dated now but that doesn't take away from what is an excellent spy novel at the time and also a great book for any James Bond fan.

3.5 out of 5 stars for Live and Let Die (James Bond #2)

Mixed feelings for Live and Let Die, on the one hand I enjoyed the book as (in all honesty), I have with each Bond book I've read so far. But, and there is a but. The casual racism was difficult to read.

However, It's worth noting this book was written in the 50's where racial prejudice was more accepted than it is today, and worth noting that Bond himself is not portrayed as racist (in my opinion) the causal N word drop did make me cringe a few times.

The bad guy Mr Big doesn't get as much page time as I would have liked and the same for Solitaire, the Bond girl. The Voodo inspired story was interesting but for me this wasn't as interesting as Casino Royale or the newer Forever and a Day.

Worth a read if you're a Bond fan, if your new to the series I recommend starting with either Casino Royale or the newer Forever and a Day.

Also – side note – Bond as a character is much more loving that he is portrayed in the films (and media), he basically has mummy issues (as an orphan) and doesn't know how to handle his feelings. Macho man!