If I come across any James Bond books that I haven’t read in bargain bins or secondhand bookshops, I don’t hesitate to yoink it. These books are easy to read spy thrillers that will keep you glued on every page, but something about Bond hits different. It is difficult to separate the Bond we know from cinema to Fleming’s Bond even though there are some differences. Fleming’s Bond feels more vulnerable and flawed, as cold as he is. He is also a borderline almost psychotic raging alcoholic.
There is something visceral in every Bond novel, something base and brutal about Bond while he kicks ass in his job. Bond takes no pleasure from killing, but we need to admit that we enjoy the violence that happens in these books. Equally as much, we enjoy Bond’s innuendos with his female counterparts. Some of these depictions are really borderline sexual. What does that tell us about ourselves as readers? Escapism, yes — but the Bond novels give us an outlet for our own baseness.
The general public was introduced to James Bond in Dr No back in ’62 while Dr No is the 6th book in the Bond series. Having said that, the movie resembles the book quite closely (even though you can argue that the movie had extra padding in its story). Who can forget the opening scene with the three blind men? The iconic scene with Ursula Andres as Honeychile collecting shells was vivid in the book, and both scenes played word by word. Dr No’s luxurious hotel prison is similar in both versions.
There are highlights in the book that cannot be equalled in the movie though. The chapter of Night Passage was beautifully written — it made him small compared to nature as he rowed a small canoe to get to Crab Key. We get to learn about Honeychile Rider’s story and how tragic it was. Jamaica, where Fleming lived, was written masterfully in detail.
I usually finish a Bond book in less than two days -one if I really got nothing better to do. It’s always a perfect weekend read.
