Let me start by saying this is still a high octane thriller but the James Bond here is not the James Bond of my mind’s eye.

Somehow, I don't see the Bond character the same when you remove the perceived flaws the author has in his writing. It's one of the reasons why the movie series have been such a huge success. The true character of Bond has never changed, from Sean Connery to Daniel Craig. He's a ruthless, mostly emotionless assassin who loves beautiful women apologetically and seduces them as they come: a typical 21st century “patriarch”. Pearson, John (1967). The Life of Ian Fleming: Creator of James Bond. London: Pan Books. OCLC 60318176. Bond and Solitaire have a surprisingly frank conversation on the train. Bond says, “And we’ll have to be up at four in the morning anyway. So there simply isn’t time to begin making love to you now.” Good logistical work there, Bond. Straight to the point. In the history of negro emancipation,’ Mr. Big continued in an easy conversational tone, ‘there have already appeared great athletes, great musicians, great writers, great doctors and scientists. In due course, as in the developing history of other races, there will appear negroes great and famous in every other walk of life.’ He paused. ‘It is unfortunate for you, Mister Bond, and for this girl, that you have encountered the first of the great negro criminals. I use a vulgar word, Mister Bond, because it is the one you, as a form of policeman, would yourself use. But I prefer to regard myself as one who had the ability and the mental and nervous equipment to make his own laws and act according to them rather than accept the laws that suit the lowest common denominator of the people.”

Bootlegs

And women? We maybe don’t think of the Sean Connery Bond as misogynist (though maybe we’d all agree he is sexist?), but in the first two books of Fleming’s series, Bond is definitely not a big fan of women, regardless of color. Well, he appears to enjoy looking at nearly naked dancers in Harlem (call them "exotic" dancers? Strippers?), but he really doesn’t hold women in high estimation. In Florida, he says of a (white) woman, she’s “too pretty to be a nurse,” and so on. Especially n the early novels he's generally rude and disdainful of women, not the image of Bond I got from the movies, not even in my recent viewing. Besides the cringe-worthy quantities of racial slur, this is the book where Bond expresses his views of the female lead character - Solitaire - as his "prize" and that this is the only way that he is able to see her. Hmmm. Ian Fleming". Ian Fleming Publications. Archived from the original on 5 September 2015 . Retrieved 2 March 2015. He sensed a lonely childhood on some great decaying plantation, an echoing ‘Great House’ slowly falling into disrepair and being encroached on by the luxuriance of the tropics. The parents dying, and the property being sold. The companionship of a servant or two and an equivocal life in lodgings in the capital. The beauty which was her only asset and the struggle against the shady propositions to be a ‘governess’, a ‘companion’, a ‘secretary’, all of which meant respectable prostitution. Then the dubious, unknown steps into the world of entertainment. The evening stint at the nightclub with the mysterious act which, among people dominated by magic, must have kept many away from her and made her a person to be feared. And then, one evening, the huge man with the grey face sitting at a table by himself. The promise that he would put her on Broadway. The chance of a new life, of an escape from the heat and the dirt and the solitude. And the title tune. Oh my goodness, the title tune. It's one of the indelible memories of 1973, along with the Rayburn Committee hearings and the Energy Crisis. Pretty good tune. But earwormy as all hell! Once in your mind, it ain't a-comin' out easy.

Accusations of the writing being misogynistic are poorly founded, in my opinion. I think that people who see it this way have simply chosen to. Bond treats his girls well. Patriarchal, some might say. I say it's a unique character. One taking life as it comes, braving danger and enjoying two of most enjoyable things in life, the things that make a Bond kind of life worth it, even for a short while: good food, and women.Bond turned brusquely away from the window. A romantic picture, perhaps. But it must have been something like that.” Once again, Bond is caught completely unawares over and over again. He not only fails to notice fairly obvious traps, but in a spectacularly stupid move he also blatantly ignores the bad feeling his clairvoyant love interest has in being left alone.