The reboot of the James Bond franchise in Casino Royale was one of Hollywood’s pleasant surprises last year. I left the movie with an appreciation for the character that I hadn’t previously possessed and a desire to give Ian Fleming’s novels a try. I purchased and quickly devoured Casino Royale, finding the book a gripping, tightly written adventure story. I determined then and there to try to get through all the Ian Fleming 007 books this year. The second on the list, Live and Let Die, has nearly derailed that uberlist goal.
Why? It is certainly not because of the framework of the story itself. Live and Let Die ratchets up the tension of Casino Royale and sustains it throughout the book. What disappointed me tremendously about Live and Let Die was the rampant use of the ‘n’ word in describing self-proclaimed American gangster Mr. Big and his entourage.
In Casino Royale it was obvious that Ian Fleming wrote with some of the prejudices typical of the time period in which he was living/writing. In addition there were slight anti-American, anti-Russian, and anti-Chinese statements consistent with a person who served in the British secret service. Most of these few comments could be chalked up to patriotism rather than prejudice. I understand that completely. I consider myself patriotic and I would imagine that a great deal of the indoctrination of that type of service, both in the 50’s and today, would include sentiments against certain peoples and nationalities. What I cannot understand is the purpose of the prejudice in the first half of Live and Let Die.
Live and Let Die was initially a serialized tale which becomes more obvious as you read the story. It is as if Ian Fleming completely changed his tact about the tale mid-way through. The first half, while boasting an intense, fast-paced story, is filled with enough derogatory references to African Americans that I was embarrassed to be reading it. The second half of the book drops that angle completely and the story continues to unfold with danger, page-turning suspense, and romance.
More than anything Live and Let Die left me wondering about Ian Fleming. My observation is that his use of the ‘n’ word and 50’s era stereotypes about the role that black people played in America at that time came much more from the narrator’s voice as opposed to the character of James Bond. In fact there are characters in the book that Bond befriends of which nothing derogatory is said at all. It left me wondering how much of this may or may not be Fleming’s own prejudice and how much of it might be a commentary on the attitude of America at that time towards African Americans. Whatever the reasoning, it left me very confused and disappointed.
Live and Let Die is a fantastic story despite these negative elements. As it did in the novel Casino Royale, the brutality of these stories suprises me. The violence in these first two stories is much more akin to the recent film than any of the previous Bond films. The plot is suspenseful and tight and drags the reader along at break neck speed to the tense climax. The characterization of James Bond is very interesting and I thought the female character, Solitaire, was a well-written potrayal of a strong, independent woman. It is unfortunate that racial stereotypes and slurs mar what is a very good book. Because of that this is a book that I cannot recommend and one that I cannot imagine keeping on my bookshelf. I am about to sink my teeth into Moonraker, the third in the series, in the hopes that this book was an anomaly. I can understand and overlook a marginal amount of nationalism and prejudice considering the world Fleming grew up in and the assumed indoctrination of his chosen profession (before writing, that is). What I will not be able to take is another book like this. I am hoping that Moonraker is a book that mimics Casino Royale rather than Live and Let Die. If anything, Live and Let Die has increased my desire to read a biography on Ian Fleming with the hopes of revelation and insight both into his person and maybe into the reasoning for writing this story the way that he did.
If, like me, you want to read all the Bond books, you may want to skip this one. It felt dirty (not in a wink, wink, nudge, nudge way) and made me feel guilty that I liked the story itself despite the racism.
What a shame that the book is marred by such racism. Even though we know it existed to that degree it’s still shocking to come face to face with it. I read a book set in the thirties, in Africa, and I had to put it down when they slaughtered a whole herd of elephants for the fun of it. You know those things existed, but it’s still a shock. Like you, I felt guilty for reading it. I wanted to read Ian Fleming; I think I’ll skip this one.
Seriously!
No, no, no, no, just no!
Yes he uses the ‘n’ word. Everybody did, accept that when the book was written people used it. I can guarantee that had you been alive then you would of, you can probably find the ‘n’ word in a 1920’s children’s book like Winnie The Pooh.
If I were you I would cast this aside and not think of the word. And don’t think for one minute that I’m racist,what I’m saying is accept it because if you don’t I expect to see YOU! Protesting against the clue clucks clan, I presume your American by your comment.
Just because it is perhaps an accurate portrayal of the time does not mean it has to be accepted out of hand. It is one thing to see the word used in a book like Huck Finn, but completely another in this one, where it is used heavily in the first half of the book and then dropped largely in the second half. That inconsistency and my exposure to the other Bond books makes me feel like this was done partially for shock value and partially as an exaggeration of what was obviously a really ugly part of American history.
Not sure I understand your Ku Klux Klan comment, nor the comment about the 20’s, which is not when these novels were set.
I have this one, but thankfully my cover art doesn’t look like porn.
And reading your review makes me wish there was an edited version as well.
Ick.
I don’t mind the cover art so much…course I’m a guy. It reminds me of the cover art of books like this, Mike Hammer, etc. I like the throw back art. And though tame by today’s standards Bond’s relationship with women still is predominately about sex so I don’t have as big a problem with it advertising as such. This one is a bit racy though. 😉
I’m not one for wanting to change an author’s work but I too wish there was an edited version of this one as the story itself is very entertaining. What I am most curious about was why there was such an abrupt change in the tone of the story half way through.
Uh oh. As soon as I saw the cover, the theme song to the movie version popped into my head…I think I will have to go and listen to something else to get rid of it…
It’s an occupational hazard of reading older books, things like the racism. I haven’t read Live and Let Die, but can it possibly be as bad as any of the Fu Manchu books by Sax Rohmer? Those are…amazingly …um… intolerant.
I also listened to this recently on audio and let me say that hearing the racist sterotypical satements on audio is even worse than reading them. I’m of the same mind as Carl on this book. It’s such a let down after enjoying Casino Royale so much to follow it up with this. I have high hopes that Moonraker returns to the form of the Casino Royale novel. Here’s keeping my fingers crossed.
I don’t generally have a problem with older books that have some prosaic, backward, or racially/ethnically insensitive comments or attitudes in them. That is to be expected for the time period. (Which is easy for me to say, being a white American male). It is difficult, however, to read a book that is full of constant derogatory language and ideas. I think it is even worse when he stops doing this halfway through the book because the absence of that kind of language is so glaring that it spotlights just how bad it was in the first part of the story. And I’m perfectly willing to admit that I may be reading the story in the wrong way. Fleming could have had very different reasons for making the story that way other than being a racist. In fact he probably did, but that does not take away the fact that it is a very uncomfortable read and one that I cannot imagine ever wanting to read again, let alone own.
Carl – I don’t really mind the racy cover art either. Can you imagine how that cover would go over these days?
That’s a pretty interesting cover. I imagine if the books are anything like the movies, it covers one of the main themes of Bond quite well.
The books, in my opinion, don’t come off quite as racy as the movies…at least that is my experience after only reading two books. The sex is as much implied as anything else and though probably risque for the 50’s, it doesn’t amount to much now. I think the movies (minus the most recent one) played off on a crass sexuality that is not present in the books thus far. He doesn’t seem as much like a playboy to me as they make him out to be in the movies. That’s just my opinion though.
And hey, the cover is just shy of soft core porn, don’t get me wrong. I just don’t care so much as I love the new designs of these editions and don’t mind the throw back to older covers…I’d prefer it wasn’t so risque myself but it is what it is.
I hope it’s indicative of a move forward in our country that those sorts of prejudices and words assault our feelings.
I’ve been toying with the idea of reading Casino Royale, which I think I’ll stick with now that I’ve ready our review of Live and Let Die. What a cool book cover, though, huh?
I know right!
All the book covers for this series are great. One of the main draws for me to pick up these versions of the books.
Relying on my memories, I’d say that the most offensive thing about LALD is not the use of the N-word, which I believe was used only three or four times, and mostly in reference to a street named that by someone else besides Fleming, but the book’s reliance on the idea that Blacks are inherently superstitious and can dominated by a voodoo-using crime boss.
LALD was not initially serialized by the way–like CR it was simply published as a complete novel. Much of LALD is very offensive nowadays, but I don’t think Fleming hated Blacks. I think the novel’s attitude is best described as affectionately but offensively patronizing. That might explain sentences such as “the negro races are just beginning to throw up geniuses in all the professions…It’s about time they turned out a great criminal…They’ve got plenty of brains and ability and guts.”
This thread reminds me of how I felt reading some of Burrough’s Tarzan books. Burrough’s made some sweeping statements about “Black Africans” that left me feeling uncomfortable. Kind of like the feeling Carl and I got a couple of years ago when we watched some episodes of the original Little Rascals with our daughter. Caucasian and African American children are playing nicely together, but the African American adults are depicted as “wide-eyed and scared of ghosts” in several scenes. I think the actors were playing the parts that were open to them at the time, but now it seems like they were really being taken advantage of or being made out to be laughable characters in a humiliating way.
I agree with booklogged: “I hope it’s indicative of a move forward in our country that those sorts of prejudices and words assault our feelings.”
I’m not sure, it seemed like more than 3 or 4 times to me. That coupled with the voodoo stuff you mentioned along with several statements (which may have had some truth to them at the time) that the only jobs a black person could get were cab drivers, etc. plus way to many early dialogue choices like “Sho ’nuff” made me feel like this book went way over the top with this kind of dialogue. It hasn’t turned me off to Ian Fleming’s work and I am perfectly willing to give him the benefit of the doubt and keep reading the rest of his works to see what they are like. Again, this one was just too much.
And let me state here that I am not PC. I hate political correctness and all that it stands for. The blanding down of everything so that no one will get offended is patently ridiculous. But I also not pro stereotypes and language that attempts to place a race, ethnicity, religion, etc. in a place inferior to another. It is absolutely stupid.
I take Live and Let Die as a product of the times but that doesn’t take the sting off of my disappointment at that element of the book.
Good conversations everyone!
And LK, you should read Casino Royale. It is great and different enough from the movie that it really does feel like a different story. And speaking of covers, here is the one for Moonraker:
(a gift for me from Jeff for Buy a Friend a Book week….belated). Thanks Jeff! It is not quite as greenish as this picture shows and is very cool. And much more modest! 😉 I love the 50’s rocket in the background. I am really looking forward to reading it as soon as my current book is finished.
I have seen Casino Royale twice and, much though I adored Pierce Brosnan (such a gorgeous guy) daniel craig is, in my opinion, the best Bond ever. I read this book when I was about 13, rght under the nose of my maths teacher, with it hidden behind a pile of text books. She didn’t seem to notice my abstraction though i suppose I was always like that in maths class….
The quality of Fleming’s stories have long been forgotten in the Bond franchise and Casino Royale was hard, gritty and tough and quite a shock for a 13 year old Convent educated schoolgirl I can tell you! I went on to read all the others and feel I may have to revisit them now. The film stuck very very closely to the original story and instead of laughing at the gung ho fights in the previous movies, I found myself wincing in this one. Much much closer to life.And the final line of the film as the dying baddies says Who are you? and comes the answer ‘The name’s Bond.James Bond’ and we know that all he has gone through in this film has produced the man we now see. Brilliant
I agree Elaine, I found the film far superior to any other Bond film and a big reason that the books so far (with the exception of what I didn’t like about LALD) have been such a big hit with me is that they don’t resemble the other films at all. They are not tongue in cheek, over the top books. They are gritty and rough and sometimes brutal and full of mystery and adventure and (Bond’s form of) romance. Moonraker is calling to me but I’m resisting. I have 100 pages to go in my current Asimov read and then its on to Moonraker.
Interesting discussion. How much stereotyping and racism is too much, and what will people in the future find offensive in the popular books of today?
My husband just took my son to see Casino Royale for his 16th birthday. The next day, he went to the library and came back with James Bond movies, soundtracks and a book on spies. He’ll probably be on to the books next, as he’s a big reader.
So thanks for this discussion–I’m sure it will prove helpful in the months to come!
You’re very welcome!!!
I understand having racism and stereotypes in certain books if it really is a part of the story. Too Kill a Mockingbird is a good example of this. I don’t see the racism in Bond as serving a purpose, but that might just be me.
Andrew Lycett – “Ian Fleming: The Man Behind James Bond” – very interesting bio of Ian. — I enjoyed Live and let Die for its general tale, the first time i read it i was a bit shocked, but the second and third times i more just enjoyed the thrill of action. and detailed descriptions
I don’t think Ian was an outright racist so much as he was as ignorant as the rest of the white world. Perhaps he was trying to be a little progressive but was worried about everyone else being racist so thought he had to write in a racist manner to be able to write about ‘negroes’ at all. who knows
i do think however if you like casino royale then despite any bumps in LALD you should still read all his books as they each have their own flavour and in some ways get better. and in some ways each have their own racism! but i dont think a work of fiction that was written in a certain time period with some racist or sexist or whatever unndertones worries me much or gets in the way of a good story. A non fiction book or a social cometary/essay or opinion in a newspaper with racist tones i would find much more offensive. Flemming’s bond novles where fiction.
Thanks for the visit. I am certainly planning on reading all of the Fleming Bond books, and currently reading Goldfinger. I’ve enjoyed each one. I think my favorite thus far is From Russia With Love but other than the racist stuff I complained about with this novel I have thoroughly enjoyed each and every one that I’ve read thus far.
I have just recently purchased all 14 of the Bond books for £14, and I am really enjoying them. Reading through Live and Let Die and I have really not noticed much ‘racism’ as it were. I accept that at the times they were written that is how people thought, and nothing can be done, and I do not even think about it, let alone make it ruin the book as a whole. As you say, it “ratchets up the tension of Casino Royale and sustains it throughout the book.” So clearly you enjoyed it, please don’t let the view of the times ruin such a book. Read any of the other books yet? Will be nice to see your reviews of them.