22 replies to this topic

[Qwerty]

This thread is intended for reviews and ratings of The Man With The Golden Gun by members of the The Blades Library Book Club here. Be sure to add your review if you do vote in the poll!

Please do not reply directly to reviews in this thread, rather start a new thread to ask questions or post comments about reviews.

The Blades Library Book Club will be reading The Man With The Golden Gun from:
15 February 2006 - 15 April 2006

[Alvin Stardust]

There's a good story hiding in here, and some good set peices - that opening for one, and the gunfight on the train and in the swamp. But it's a first draft and its obvious - the unfleshed out plot, even Mary Goodnight's inexplicable hair colour change. I still can't decide if Scaramanga is a good or weak villian.

[marmaduke]

Re reading all of the Fleming originals twenty years later gave me the opportunity to re evaluate TMWTGG.I have to say that I was really impressed with TMWTGG.This was a 'stripped bare' Fleming Bond novel (for reasons we are all well aware of). I took it this time at face value, i.e. not in comparison with Fleming's earlier 'large scale' Bond adventures. Fleming

[Harmsway]

As a Bond novel, THE MAN WITH THE GOLDEN GUN is just "okay". It's certainly an enjoyable read and moves along fairly quickly, but it just doesn't all come together that well. The riveting opening is a lot of fun, but even that isn't handled as well as it should have been (it just feels rushed to me).

My biggest gripe with the novel is that it just puts Bond back to business as usual, and it really cheapens the incredibly powerful events of OHMSS and YOLT. If I had my way, YOLT would have ended Fleming's Bond, as he walked off into the sunset and possibly to his death at Russian hands.

[Shadow Syndicate]

TMWTGG wasn't one of Fleming's better Bond Novels. The begining would have been great if only he could have elaborated more, including the details of Bond's thearapy. Scaramangas death and the fact that it has Felix are what really earns it its third star.

[Bon-san]

Difficult for me to rate this one. After much reflection I gave it three stars, but I would really put it at 3 and 1/2. To give it four seems unfair to some of the four star novels, but then again...... Oh, I don't know. Let's just say it's unrated from my pov.

I have read TMWTGG more times than any other Fleming story. Mostly, this has been an accident of circumstance. One time, I was home sick for days at my mother-in-law's house and it was the only suitable thing I could find to read.

Another time, I picked it up because I wanted to re-read a few bits of that killer opening stanza, and I ended up reading it all the way through. I have also read it each time that I have gone through the full circuit of novels (CR to OP).

And what's interesting to me is that I find it imminently readable. There's something about it I must like, despite my having had the usual feelings that it is unpolished, incomplete, underwritten, shallow, small-time, etc.

Now that I've just re-read Jim's excellent articles (see links thereto in the TMWTGG: movie v. novel thread), I am quite happy to see that my enjoyment certainly arose out of the "new Bond" and sexual/political undertones. (Thanks Jim!)

In any event, it is a story that feels markedly different than the previous Fleming novels. But at the same time, there's a good amount of that old Fleming magic in there. The opening passages represent one of my favorite bits of Fleming extant. And the rest of it, I don't know, it's captivating despite it's feeling a bit different. New Bond, indeed--such an excellent way to describe it.

All in all, I am a fan of TMWTGG. I think I may prefer it to Goldfinger.

[Qwerty]

The Man With The Golden Gun does one thing in my opinion, that none of Ian Fleming's other James Bond 007 novels do: it proves that even with the weakest of his James Bond adventures (my opinion here) he still manages to have created a gripping story that makes it hard to put the book down.

The opening sequence is probably the most universally liked section of the story, and for good reason. It sets the tone for the rest of the book: fast-paced and quick to the point. It's quite different from the magnificence of previous books like Thunderball, On Her Majesty’s Secret Service, or You Only Live Twice. It's a rather simple and straightforward adventure, but it somehow works in the end.

Francisco Scaramanga steals the show as the villain of the story, and is most definitely one of the high points of the entire book. Simplicity is again stressed here in my opinion--he's not in the same league as Hugo Drax or Ernst Stavro Blofeld--but this gangster-type villain has a terrific entrance in the story line and stays pretty much up to par throughout.

No matter if it is Moonraker or The Man With The Golden Gun that a Bond fan is reading, they all work. Different strengths and weaknesses to each, but none of them are failures.

The Man With The Golden Gun:

[Genrewriter]

The last Ian Fleming novel is something of an oddity. It presents an excellent story with maybe the best beginning of any of the novels and provides an interesting opponent for Bond in the form of Scaramanga. The story stays fairly consistently interesting and exciting with a very good climax and closing scene. One can only wonder how good it could have been had it been put through some rewrites from Fleming. Sadly it was unfinished at the time of Fleming's death so we'll never know. Still, a very good read.

[manfromjapan]

Just finished reading all the Bond books in order. I was hoping I would see GG as an under-rated classic or something, but unfortunately it didn't happen. The opening and closing chapters are great, especially the former. But the rest of the book was bland and boring. No real Bond girl. Scaramanga is just a thug. We get to go to Jamaica for the THIRD time. It is a quick read, but nothing really happens and Fleming seems to be repeating himself. If I had read this one first, I don't think I would have wanted to read the rest!! I know Ian was seriously ill whilst writing this, but I don't really know if he had enough of a base to write a Bond adventure on. I mean, this wouldn't have even made an interesting short story!!

Stil, l think Spy is worse though!!!

My order of preference - FRWL. OHMSS. CR. DN. YOLT. LALD. GF. TB. DAF. MR. TMWTGG. TSWLM.

Edited by manfromjapan, 30 June 2006 - 04:56 AM.

[MkB]

In TMWTGG, we can see developing something strange in Bond's world : nostalgia.

The first hints took place at the beginning of OHMSS, when Bond, on holidays, is daydreaming about his childhood on the beach in Royale-les-Eaux. Then, in YOLT, we can see him, depressed an drinking too much, more self-conscious of his failure and weakness, both physically and mentally :

The state of your health, the state of the weather, the wonders of nature - these are things that rarely occupy the average man's mind until he reaches the middle thirties. It is only on the threshold of middle-age that you don't take them all for granted, just part of an unremarkable background to more urgent, more interesting things.

Until this year, James Bond had been more or less oblivious to all of them. Apart from occasional hangovers, and the mending of physical damage that was merely, for him, the extension of a child falling down and cutting its knee, he had taken good health for granted. The weather? Just a question of whether or not he had to carry a raincoat or put the hood up on his Bentley Convertible. As for birds, bees and flowers, the wonders of nature, it only mattered whether or not they bit or stung, whether they smelled good or bad.

(from YOLT)

Starting from YOLT, Bond is ageing. He has to deal with past, with memories, with deliquescence. This is odd, because according to the filmography, Bond is a mythical hero, always in the present, always a "young man in his mid-thirties" (or rather mid-forties, in the movies).

Of course as pointed in the excellent article by Jacques Stewart, in TMWTGG we see a New Bond in a New World, but nostalgia hasn't been washed away. There's an incredibly sad line (to me) in this novel, when Bond is at Kingston's airport :

What were a couple of hours of heat and boredom in this island compared with memories of Beau Desert and Honeychile Wilder and his survival against the mad Dr. No? James Bond smiled to himself as the dusty pictures clicked across his brain. How long ago it all was! What had happened to her? She never wrote. The last he had heard, she had had two children by the Philadelphia doctor she had married.

Thinking about this bright Honeychile Rider as a "dusty picture" is sad enough, but my heart sank when I thought about her as an american doctor's wife. Can you imagine it ? From a golden and shiny embodiement of Mother Nature, wilderness and freedom under the Sun and Ocean, to a middle-upper-class housewife in the north of Noth America ?

And this "She never wrote" : as if Bond regretted it, as if he missed an old friend.
Oddly enough, Bond had a story before the beginning of the novels. He had had his lot of war experience, and a carreer in intelligence before "Casino Royale". But as far as I can remember, there are no allusions to his war memories, lost friends etc. in the novels. Nostalgia seems to appear with the last three ones, just like if, before ageing, Bond had just been like a boy playing a game called war.

[MHazard]

Some good insights MkB. I look on TMWGG as the third part of Fleming's trilogy: OHMSS, YOLT, TMWGG and an indispensible part of it. I think the idea was to re-establish Bond and the opening chapters are the best-brainwashed Bond tries to kill M. Although the actual plot is nothing special I actually like it a lot better than most do. I've recently read the two leading biographies of Fleming and its clear that Bond's feelings of loss, nostalgia are driven by Fleming's illness, his inability to be as active as before, his sense of impending death from the "iron crab".

I think the point you are making is that this is an older Bond. I've had this discussion before and it's clear that Bond ages in the series both physically and emotionally. He's in his thirties in the early books and by TB has to be around 40 (which is an older age comparatively in 1962 then it is now) with mandatory 00 retirement age at 45 (see MR). Tracy's death has changed him, so the drama in TMWGG is not whether he will kill Scaramanga-although Tanner is not sure if 007 at his best could do so, but will he return to being Bond or is he a broken man and a useless agent and what kind of Bond will he return to. I think Fleming is working out a lot of similar issues in his own life at the time, and I still think it's a good read, and indispensable (can't leave James in Japan forever) although clearly not the best in the series.

A long winded way of saying I think I agree with most of the points you're making.

[Cruiserweight]

This was actually the first bond book i ever read.Scaramanga is a great villain and it's a bare to the bone story which i enjoyed and had he had the time to revise it who knows how great it would have been? 4 stars

[MHazard]

This was actually the first bond book i ever read.Scaramanga is a great villain and it's a bare to the bone story which i enjoyed and had he had the time to revise it who knows how great it would have been? 4 stars

The biggest criticisms I'm aware of are that TMWGG has too many re-cycled elements: Jamaica, train trip, etc. I think the perhaps not quite up to his old standards Bond is a very interesting character and that a strength of the novels compared to the films is that Bond is allowed to age and grow. I think if Fleming had been in better health and had a chance to revise the book it would have been improved, which is not shocking and only makes sense. What would have been interesting would be if Fleming did another novel after (he hadn't died) what kind of Bond would we be left with? Would he be the prime Bond of DN and GF, the slightly off his game Bond at the beginning of TB, the world weary Bond of TLD and OHMSS or the not quite sharp edged Bond of TMWGG. The most interesting and best part of Amis' Colonel Sun is the beginning where he tries to answer the question by having Bond be more sedate in his personal life and not necessarily disappointed when there is no work for him. In that book Amis has him worried that he's lost his edge. The theme isn't really fully developed (the book goes downhill) but it's interesting to imagine what Fleming's answer might have been or if he'd have decided TMWGG was as far as he could go. Given the Bondmania which followed his death (due to the movies) it's hard to imagine he would have foregone the vast amounts of money likely to be made by his continuing to write Bond. I think he would have tried to develop the character more and sometimes think that his efforts to make Bond more real are what are perceived by some as Bond ageing or being more melancholy. But, of course, Fleming was ageing him and reflecting his own melancholy with Bond.

Anyway, some random Fleming thoughts before returning to work. What do others think?

[MkB]

In addition to Jacques Stewart article on CBn, here is the reference of a scholar's article showing parallels between the medieval hero Beowulf and James Bond in the novel "TMWTGG" (sorry, I can't post the article here due to copyrights) :

Webb, Bernice Larson, "James Bond As Literary Descendant of Beowulf," in South Atlantic Quarterly, Vol. LXVII, No. 1, Winter, 1968, pp. 1-12

It gives some interesting highlights on Fleming's use of mythology in this book.

To those interested in these aspects, there's also the essay The Devil with James Bond, by Ann S. Boyd (first published in 1967), developing the idea that Fleming made James Bond a contemporary image of the leged of St George slaying the Dragon.

[MHazard]

St. George maybe, but Beowulf?!!!!!

[MkB]

St. George maybe, but Beowulf?!!!!!

Surprising, indeed !

Well, the author makes some parallels. I'll try to summarize quicly:

* Both stories have mythological and supernatural connotations (Scaramanga is said to be "something of a local myth") and bigger-than-life Villains, needing the intervention of a savior from afar (Beowulf agains the Danish monster, Bond agains Scaramanga)

* Extraordinary / supernatural weapons (old sword in the monster's cave / Scaramanga's golden gun

* Both Bond and Beowulf have to undergo interrogation in the beginning of the story (Beowulf is questioned about his family, motives, etc. ; Bond has to prove his identity, as he was thought to be dead in Japan)

* Unfounded report of Bond's death / premature mourning for Beowulf when he visits te monster's cave

* Bond and Beowulf are both housed in luxurious surrounding while staying with the "monster" (Beowulf in the gold-plated mead hall Heorot, Bond in luxurious new Thunderbird Hotel), and perform similar actions throughout their stay

* The favourite distractions are similar in their parallel worlds : fighting (sword / guns), drinking (beer / bourbon), feasting ; and both heroes are exposed to "royal entertainment" during their stay

* At the end of the book, elements from Beowulf's three adventures are combined in the battle between Bond and Scaramanga (wounded enemy crossing reptile infested swamps, the hero chasing him, receives near-fatail injuries)

* Both heroes are praised for their efforts: Beowulf receives gifts, the rank of chief and eventually a kingdom ; Bond is honoured by delegates from 3 countries, and even confered a knighthood (which he declines, unlike Beowulf this time)


Well, I'm not totally convinced myself, because these elements are common to many myths, and this doesn't mean that Fleming had Beowulf in mind (consciously or not) when writing TMWTGG.

The elements about the religious and chivalresque culture (St George etc.) are far more interesting, and in my opinion this allegory was really present in Fleming's mind. But anyway, The Devil with James Bond is a bit boring, and I stil didn't make it to the end...

[MHazard]

Interesting, but don't most of the Beowulf parallels work with any Bond adventure-I started with LALD-the Supernatural elements, but certainly the similar recreations always work, maybe not the being interrogated at the beginning part. But, okay, where are the girls in Beowulf or the M-like father figure?

[MkB]

You're true, it's a bit far-fetched. :-)

Nevertheless, the M figure can be paralleled (according to the author) : Beowulf is serving Hygelac and Hrothgar, Bond is carrying out M.'s orders.

[MHazard]

Grendel's scarier than Scaramanga (but not scarier than Goldfinger, Dr. No, Red Grant, LeChiffre or Blofeld) and Bond is cooler than Beowulf. Let's close out this portion of the festivities. What about the criticism that Mary Goodnight isn't up to snuff as a Bond girl? And I give Fleming points for making sure (however implausibly) that Felix Leiter shows up in the last book of what I consider his great trilogy.

[Judo chop]

My biggest gripe with the novel is that it just puts Bond back to business as usual, and it really cheapens the incredibly powerful events of OHMSS and YOLT.

One could say the novel has more in common with DAF the film than MTWGG the film.

[MHazard]

An interesting point Judo, and although I think I agree, I think the comparison unduly slams the novel.

OHMSS takes Bond on a journey to new emotional and relationship places. Tracy is a different and more serious relationship which occurs to a different and more serious Bond than his Vesper relationship which also ends in death. The key emotion is responding to Vesper's death is the sense of betrayal. His key emotion in responding to Tracy's death is his own sense of failure. Contrast "the bitch is dead" with "We have all the time in the World." Bond finally lets someone into his world, decides to start a new chapter with someone he will share a life with and open up to and all of a sudden, due to what he clearly has to regard as his own carelessness, she's dead. End book.

YOLT opens with a shattered Bond. He's a mission failure, he doesn't care about his work anymore, flings don't interest him, and he feels like hell. He's about to be cashiered from the service. Going on a mission that is important but seems impossible but supposedly is not dangerous starts to bring him out of his funk and then he discovers Shatterhand is Blofeld. He gets revenge but sustains a blow and a glancing gunshot to the head. His still somewhat fragile psyche suffers a brain injury and he loses his memory and becomes a Japanese fisherman who has fleeting fragments of confusing memories. He recognizes the name Vladviostock and realizes he must go there because it might provide a clue to his identity (now that I think of it why doesn't Kissy just tell him who he is at that point rather than let him go to Russia-a question for another day). End Second book of trilogy.

Now, TMWGG the novel. Bond returns from Vladivostock, but he's "stage Bond" somethings not quite right. After interrogation by the soft man he sees M and tries to kill him because the Russians have explained everything to him. He collapses. He is treated by Sir James Malony who gives him enough shock treatments to turn a real life brain to jelly. He's supposedly cured, but who knows if he can be Bond again. So M sends him on a mission to either get killed or redeem himself, either being better than where he is now. Tanner wonders if OO7 in his prime could even take on Scaramanga. Bond goes to the Carribean and chases Scaramanga. His memory doesn't seem perfect (Honey Rider is Honey Wilder, for example, although this happens in real life) and he seems a bit more melancholy these days (hmm, wife murdered, tried to kill the man he respects most, brain probably isn't firing on all cylinders). He infiltrates Scaramanga's circle, similar to in GF (a criticism of TMWGG)is sloppy at times (gets drunk and shows off at gunplay) but, in the end, with help from Leiter and Mary Goodnight dispatches Scaramanga and his various mob/Russian accomplices. Presumably he has gone through hell and redeemed himself-at least to showing he can still be a valuable member of the Secret Service. The hanging question left is what kind of person is Bond now?

It doesn't strike me that in TMWGG he's a the bad stuff never happened to me guy (but unless you're assuming that the DAF Connery Bond had shock treatment also at least he's got an excuse for forgetting) but simply a guy trying to persevere and show he's still got what it takes. The purpose of TMWGG was to bring Bond back. What's left unfinished is the answer to what is Bond like now that he's been through all this. Amis tried to answer this, but essentially left it unfinished in Colonel Sun, and one can agree or disagree with his take.

So, Judo my friend (and it's nice to engage you in a discussion of the literary Bond) I think one can fault the execution of TMWGG but not its concept of bringing Bond back. After all, how would we all feel if he'd been left in Japan?

[Byron]

Maybe it's the Jamaica setting or the melancholy feeling but I've always had a soft spot for TMWTGG.

In fact i much prefer it to either DAF or GF. At the moment GF, although it has its moments, would have to be my least fave Fleming. Ian dropped the ball on the final third, which i find less convincing than even that giant squid.

[Rose]

Could you please send me the essay of Bernice Larson Webb, "James Bond As Literary Descendant of Beowulf,"in South Atlantic Quarterly, Vol. LXVII, No. 1, Winter, 1968, pp. 1−12 ?
I have to compare Bond to Beowulf and the essay could be very interesting.
Please!!