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A review by canaanmerchant
Live and Let Die by Ian Fleming
3.0
People have often made mention that the novel version of James Bond is much rougher but I found that an increased interiority of the character made up for his acknowledged harder living. We read about Bond actually feeling with pain and dealing with guilt and regret that hardly eer comes through in any of the pre-Craig movies.
The book is unfortunately casually racist. It's easy to ascribe that to the time it was written and move on but we need to acknowledge the discomfort and say that Fleming was simply wrong rather than unrefined. It's one thing to have a villain who's identity is wrapped up between several types of Western Hemisphere blackness (voodoo, Harlem, the south) but it's entirely another thing to focus on the blackness of the nooks sent to beat up James Bond.
I was also disappointed in the ending. James Bond showed incredible cleverness in getting out of tight spots but when it comes to actually saving himself and the girl at the end it basically boils down to the fact that Bond happened to be prepared earlier and just got lucky with his timing.
The book is unfortunately casually racist. It's easy to ascribe that to the time it was written and move on but we need to acknowledge the discomfort and say that Fleming was simply wrong rather than unrefined. It's one thing to have a villain who's identity is wrapped up between several types of Western Hemisphere blackness (voodoo, Harlem, the south) but it's entirely another thing to focus on the blackness of the nooks sent to beat up James Bond.
I was also disappointed in the ending. James Bond showed incredible cleverness in getting out of tight spots but when it comes to actually saving himself and the girl at the end it basically boils down to the fact that Bond happened to be prepared earlier and just got lucky with his timing.