Let's see...Dr Delighted is on the lam, it's the end of January, it must be time for the type of post that people roll their eyelashes about. Yep, it is BOOK REVIEW TIME!
I have read most of the original James Bond novels, except the ones that put me to sleep (Moonraker and Thunderball being the 2). For those who think that the books are as packed with action as the films, well, you're a dipshit! The books are fairly dry at times. Ian Fleming could be quite verbose in his descriptive paragraphs.
The books, in order, are as follows: Casino Royale, Live and Let Die, Moonraker (yawn), Diamonds Are Forever, From Russia With Love, Doctor No, Goldfinger, For Your Eyes Only (a short story collection), Thunderball (yawn), The Spy Who Loved Me (a Bond story written from a female's point of view), On Her Majesty's Secret Service, You Only Live Twice, and The Man With The Golden Gun (only the first draft was done before Fleming's death in 1964).
Today's selection is one of my personal favorites, You Only Live Twice. Published in 1964, it is known as the last part of the "Blofeld Trilogy". Ernst Stavro Blofeld is James Bond's nemesis in the later novels, and is the head of SPECTRE (Special Executive for Counterintelligence, Terrorism, Revenge, and Extortion).
In the beginning of the novel, James Bond is at the end of his rope, and almost the end of his days as a British agent. He heavily drinking and is still grieving over the death of his wife Tracy at Blofeld's hand at the end of On Her Majesty's Secret Service, and his screwing up even the easiest of assignments. His boss M wants to fire him, but the Service shrink convinces him to give Bond one more chance with a mission so seemingly impossible that it will bring Bond out of the dumps.
With that, Bond is transferred to the diplomatic section with a new number (7777) and assigned the task of traveling to Japan to convince the head of secret service Tiger Tanaka to let the British secret service borrow "Magic 44", a recorder of radio transmissions from the then-Soviet Union. When Bond's offers of trade fall short (the Japanese already has what he offers), Bond offers any personal service he may render.
This perks up Tanaka's attention, and he takes Bond up on his offer with a mission of murder. He tells Bond a tale regarding Japan's high rate of suicide,a practice to regain family honor. Before Bond's arrival, a foreigner under the name of Dr. Shatterhand had arrived in Japan and took up residence on the island of Kyushu at a rebuilt ancient castle. Dr Shatterhand has constructed a "garden of death", which is drawing in more Japanese citizens to commit suicide, which is somehow a political embarrassment.
To infiltrate Shatterhand's castle, Bond must become Japanese in every way possible, though he is tall for a Japanese. Along the way, the reader learns a bit about Japanese culture, particularly the low social standing of women. On the way to Kyushu, Bond and Tanaka are tailed. Upon the tail's apprehension, photos are obtained of Shatterhand and his wife. When Bond sees these, he realizes that Shatterhand and his wife are Ernst Stavro Blofeld and his ugly wife Irma Bunt.
Now Bond is on a mission of revenge. He poses as a Japanese coal miner and takes a Japanese wife Kissy Suzuki to retain his cover. Later, while infiltrating the castle, he apprehended and Irma Bunt sees through his dyed skin.
He narrowly escapes a murder attempt and has a quite interesting dialogue with Blofeld, the latter of whom explains all of his former crimes as acts of ironic humanity. Blofeld tires of what he sees as a feeble mind in Bond, and engages his adversary in a duel of sword vs wooden staff. Blofeld is quite expert at the sword, but Bond's revenge will is stronger and he strangles Blofeld to death with all the murderous rage in the world. Bond then blows up the castle and, while escaping, suffers a head injury and gets amnesia.
Kissy tries to use this situation to keep Bond to himself. They sleep together and she gets pregnant, but Bond keeps dreaming of Russia and travels there to find out who he is, while the British community believes their prized agent dead.
This is a great read, and the occasional travelogue paragraphs regarding Japan do not interfere much. Tiger Tanaka is an engaging roguish character. To me, though, the star is Blofeld, who has self-admittedly grown mad with power over the years. He is certainly the most enduring of Bond's foes.
Which brings me to the 1967 film version. It was an entirely new story with little of the novel used except for characters. Roald Dahl himself wrote the script. Blofeld had been in previous films, but never seen except for a hand petting a white Persian cat. This was the first film where he was seen fully, portrayed by eternally creepy Donald Pleasance. In the film, SPECTRE is trying to start a war between the U.S. and the Soviet Union by capturing their spacecraft using a Jaws-like spacecraft of their own, making it seem like each other had done the deed. Bond, with Tiger's and Kissy's help, infiltrates SPECTRE's volcano base with ninjas and foils their plans. Blofeld escapes to fight another day in 2 more films (On Her Majesty's Secret Service, which closely follows the book for a change, and Diamonds Are Forever).
This is one of my favorites. It is cheesy at times and Sean Connery looks bored playing Bond, but hey, Connery reading a SHOPPING LIST is still Connery!
Overall, both stories are great, but the book version takes the top as it humanizes Bond on several levels. I recommend the books always as source material, but advise against using the movie as a reference too much.
