You Only Live Twice

FACTS Book of the Month is You Only Live Twice by Ian Fleming.  Many people who came of age in the 1960s are familiar with the James Bond films, which were derived from the books by the author Ian Fleming.  Many people who grew up in the 1980s and 1990s have seen the James Bond films on television when a network has a Bond marathon with a string of James Bond movies.  Sean Connery played the first James Bond, then George Lazenby, and then Roger Moore.  Many people have picked their favorite Bond from the two main ones – Connery and Moore.  Reading the original book gives more depth and insight into the fictional stories about James Bond adventures.  It is fun to compare the books to the movies if one has read and seen both.  How are they different?  How are they the same?  

This Bond novel is set in the middle of the Cold War in which the superpowers U.S.A. and the Soviet Union were pitted against each other in the battle between capitalism and democracy versus communism and dictatorship.  The characteristics of the Cold War are prevalent in the novel as one of Bond’s contacts from Australia, Dikko Henderson, talks of liberating the colonial peoples and giving the colonial peoples nuclear fission.  Also prevalent in the novel is the Japanese culture.  Bond is sent on a mission to Japan to investigate a castle that is killing visitors who frequent the castle.  Japan has one of the highest suicide rates, and the castle has a garden of death that people travel to in order to commit suicide.  If you have seen the movie version you recognize the difference from the book.  In the movie the evil maniac Blofeld tries to start a nuclear war by capturing American and Russian spacecraft.  Bond does have a romantic liaison with the heroine Kissy Suzuki, an Ama girl who is a proficient swimmer and hunts for awabi shells with Bond.  You Only Live Twice is an interesting read that causes the reader to reflect on how much has changed since the Cold War and the interesting characteristics of Japanese culture.  Know the FACTS!