You're absolutely right. I don't think you HAVE to read
them in order. However, they are loosely
connected. My favorite thing about Fleming is each
novel he comes up with a different and novel way to put Bond
through the ringer. Each one has a new piece of torture
or action sequence that you know he had to research.
Anyone read Devil May Care yet? I hear it's pretty bad,
but I'm still looking forward to it.
-Dave
--- On Sat, 6/21/08, Patrick King <
abrasax93@yahoo.com> wrote: From: Patrick King <
abrasax93@yahoo.com> Subject: Re: RARA-AVIS: Reading
Series in Order? To:
rara-avis-l@yahoogroups.com Date: Saturday, June 21,
2008, 10:11 PM
---
On Sat, 6/21/08, David White <dpwhite237@yahoo. com>
wrote:
SPOILERS AHEAD:
I believe the Thunderball, OHMSS, You Only Live Twice, The
Man With the Golden Gun novels are loosely connected for a
few reasons. One, it begins the Blofeld plot--with him as an
ongoing villain. Then Blofeld kills Bond's wife in OHMSS,
Bond goes after Blofeld (Dr. Shatterhand) in You Only Live
Twice and ends up with Amnesia, and the half completed (by
Fleming anyway) has him regain his memory.
SPOILERS COMPLETE.
************ ********* ********* ********* *********
********* *******
Well, yes, I see your point especially concerning YOU ONLY
LIVE TWICE and THE MAN WITH THE GOLDEN GUN. I don't think,
though, that if you missed YOLT you wouldn't understand
TMWTGG, which is the case with the Ellroy novels Mario
mentioned. To my mind Blofeld is a Joker kind of villain and
the continuity of his villainies are the McGuffins in the
books where he appears. They're the fulcrum to the plots but
the reader really doesn't care about what Blowfeld's doing.
Fleming was on friendly terms with most of the leaders of the
free world due to the popularity of his books and was
encouraged to end the evil Russian theme as Kennedy and
Macmillan were doing their utmost to avert WW III. Apparently
SMERSH was a real Soviet organization. The emergence of
freelance SPECTRE as the Bond nemesis seemed a little forced
to me at the time. Little did I realize that Fleming was
inventing history and that freelance terrorists would be the
major problem three years
after his death and remain the major threat today. One
has to wonder, however, how real-life freelance terrorists
obtain financing. Blowfeld, of course, used drug dealing and
Nazi gold to fund SPECTRE. That said, ON HER MAJESTY'S SECRET
SERVICE remains my favorite of the Bond novels. I read the
entire book from cover to cover for the first time on New
Years eve 1964. That remains one of the happiest and most
memorable New Years Eves of my life. Hopefully the best is
yet to come!
Patrick King
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