This book has left me feeling deeply moved as I feel as though I finally understand James Bond, the icon which I grew up with, as a character more than ever.
That feels like a rather profound statement because, ironically, Bond is very much out of his element in this novel. However, this is why the novel works as a character study, it de-constructs Bond to his very core and then rebuilds him as a new man.
Bond loses the love of his life prior to this novel and the next to go is his 00-status, along with the dangerous assignments and weapons of which it goes hand-in-hand. He is then stripped of his infamous lifestyle and even his physical appearance, name and culture as he goes undercover as a Japanese miner. It could be argued that Bond also loses his sense of duty to his country as, upon finding out that Shatterhand is in fact Blofeld, he keeps this to himself so he can kill him personally.
However, at his core, Bond does retain his sense of right and wrong and this, along with his wit, courage and sheer fighting spirit is what he is left with as he stands unarmed and half-naked against the looming figure of his opposite, Blofeld. I think the whole scene is symbolic to James Bond's core, with Blofeld representing the guilt that Bond feels about the dark side of his chosen profession and how it robbed him of his wife. This guilt has captured Bond in it's 'Castle Of Death', which perhaps represents Bond's mind (as it is very much focused on death throughout the novel, not to read into things too much).
Yet, it is the sense of right and wrong, wit, courage and fighting spirit which brings Bond out on top by killing Blofeld and destroying his very evil lair. Thus his soul is cleansed and the broken man experiences redemption. Before he loses his entire identity through amnesia and literally becomes a new man (even to the point of which he, James Bond, loses his sexual drive!), we see his whole life flash before our eyes through M's obituary, and as a final salute to the character, we learn of his philosophy through his quote "I shall not waste my days in trying to prolong them. I shall use my time."
I believe this novel also gives us perhaps the best idea as to Bond's demeanour, since his sense of humour is better than ever and the character radiates the confidence and charisma of the on-screen Bond (of course, these qualities are present in the other novels, in spite of what some people think, but it feels as though it has all built up to this point). The moment when Bond returns from the question room, about to be executed and just casually sits down and lights a cigarette is the sort of thing I can imagine any of the Bond actors doing, and it makes it oh so much more poignant when later on we see Bond struggling in the water, swimming around in circles with no idea what's going on.
Obviously I could go on about how well written the other characters are, how amazingly vivid Japan is, and how haunting the Garden of Death is in this book, but it's rightly all been said before, but I quite simply wanted to talk about Bond as a character now I have seen him in a very different light, and how I admire the character more than ever.
