YOU ONLY LIVE TWICE - Ian Fleming

 Well this was a surprise.

I am by no mean a big James Bond fan.  I was, however, a teenage boy in the 1970's so spies, action, and beautiful-falling-out-of-their-skimpy-costumes-women were the kinds of movies I went to see with my friends.  And while the movie version of You Only Live Twice came out a  little early for me, you can be sure I went back and rented it when I was in college. But it's only been recently that I've decided to read the originals - the books that the fanciful movies were made from.

My surprise, then, is that this book bares almost no resemblance to the movie of the same title. As Wikipedia says (I went to look it up, wondering if my memory of the movie was wrong): "(You Only Live Twice) is the first James Bond film to discard most of Fleming's plot, using only a few characters and locations from the book as the background for an entirely new story."

James Bond's wife, Tracy, was murdered shortly after their wedding.  The killer is Ernst Stavrov Blofeld. This sends Bond into a deep depression and he is not performing well in the field. He is 'promoted' (a move by 'M' to get 007 out of the field) and sent on a diplomatic mission to Japan. There he is approached by the Japanese Secret Service and asked to kill a man known as Dr. Guntram Shatterhand. When Bond later learns that Shatterhand is actually Blofeld.

Working with a retired actress, Kissy Suzuki, Bond patiently learns everything he can about Shatterhand and the impregnable island he lives on (covered in poisonous plants). There is some back and forth action as Bond makes his move and in the resulting explosion on the island, Bond hits his head and can't remember anything.  He is rescued by Kissy who convinces him that the two are lovers and they live quietly as she hopes he will propose when he learns she is pregnant.  Meanwhile the rest of the world believes he is dead and the agency he works for even makes the announcement that James Bond is dead.

This really was a surprise - and a tad bit dull.  

The first third of the book is a James Bond who is so unfamiliar.  He can't think, he can't work.  It's a good look at depression, but that's surely not something we expect to read about the world's most famous spy.  The second third of the book is a whole lot Japanese culture. If you were to take it out of the book, chances are you wouldn't miss anything connected to the story.

Japan was likely still a bit of a mystery to readers in the early 60's. A war-time enemy who was Phoenix-like, rising from the ashes of the destructive bombs that had been dropped on them, to becoming economic partners with the Western world. So with that mystery, Ian Fleming sheds some light.

Then finally we get to the action of the book.  You could almost pick up that last third by itself and read it as a short story (almost).  We get everything here.  The growing attraction between Bond and Kissy. The dangerous pursuit of the criminal, near defeat of our hero, defeat of the villain, violent destruction of the island hideout, near death of the hero, and lots of sex between Bond and Kissy. What more could you want?

Although he is declared dead, there is the suggestion of how Bond will move into his next story. But this is the 12th and final James Bond book Ian Fleming. Readers might well have suspected that this would truly be the end.

Looking for a good book? You Only Live Twice, by Ian Fleming, is a James Bond book that bears no resemblance to the movie of the same title. Read the book. Whether or not you've seen or intend to see the film, The Bond character is iconic - like Sherlock Holmes or Harry Potter or Bilbo Baggins - there may be good movies with those characters but reading them on the page as they were first created is still best.

I picked up this book in a local little free library (where it shall be returned).

3-1/2 stars

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You Only Live Twice

author: Ian Fleming

series: James Bond #12

publisher: Penguin Group

ISBN: 9780142003275

paperback, 214 pages