Live and Let Die (James Bond Series #2) Book

Buckle your seatbelts, ladies and gentlemen - we're in for another wild ride of racism and misogyny in the second James Bond book.

James Bond dives into the world of "Negro criminals," traveling from New York City to Florida to the grand finale in Jamaica. All this is on account of some old gold coins from a legendary pirate treasure showing up. The British and American governments have the idea that Mr. Big is in possession of the treasure - a huge, towering black man whose nickname comes not only from his size but his initials: his real name is Buonaparte Ignace Gallia.

The racism in this book is off the charts. I started off my reading by marking down each racist comment but stopped when I realized I was marking every page. Bond constantly refers to black people as "superstitious," and boasts that - unlike them - he grew out of being afraid of the dark as a child. He says this because there is a huge, huge practice of voodoo going on in this book. No matter where Bond goes - NYC, Florida, or Jamaica - every black man he meets (he never talks with a black woman) is absolutely certain and afraid of zombies, voodoo curses, and witchcraft.

The n-word is also used regularly, with one chapter even entitled "N***** Heaven."

The only black women that appear in the book are sexual, animalistic creatures. One is a stripper who entertains in a club in Harlem. She dances to voodoo drumming. She is described by Bond as having a face like a pug (dog), which he specifically refers to as a "chienne" face - that is, the face of a bitch. As in, literally he's comparing her to a female dog. Not "bitch" like "unpleasant female." So this woman does this striptease and is working the (black, male) audience into an almost uncontrollable sexual frenzy. She's (at the end) ordered to strip completely naked but at that moment the lights go out, Bond gets kidnapped and that's all we get about her.

The only other black woman in the book is on a date with her boyfriend at a bar. Bond is spying on them - not because they are of any importance but because he feels like "he's in enemy territory" in this "Negro world" and he wants to get a better idea of ... I don't know ... what motivations, dreams, and desires black people have? The conversation between the man and his date is rife with ... I don't know what it's called ... when authors write out an accent phonetically.

"Cmon, honey," wheedled the girl. "How come yuh-all's actin' so tahd tonight?"
"Guess ah jusit nacherlly gits tahd listenin' at yuch," said the man languidly. "Why'nt yuh hush yo' mouff'n let me 'joy mahself 'n peace n' quiyet."
"Is yuh wan' me tuh go 'way, honey?"
"Yuh kin suit yo sweet self."
"Aw, honey," pleaded the girl. "Don' ack mad at me, honey. Ah was fixin' to treat yuh tonight..."

This conversation goes on for a while, and it's basic premise is the "girl" cajoling her boyfriend into going to a boxing match where she gets ringside seats. The boyfriend immediately becomes jealous, accuses her of getting ringside seats because she's sleeping with the owner, and threatens to beat her if he ever catches her cheating. He also, in the course of the conversation, uses "big words" to try to impress her, but Bond is sniggering to himself because the words aren't real. Examples: "perzackly" - precisely/exactly; and "recasion" - reason/occasion. Message: Blacks are uneducated and it's funny when they try to use "big words" like whites do. Excuse me while I vomit in the corner.

Rather than listening to this conversation of a jealous black man threatening to beat his woman for cheating on him and coming to the conclusion that black people are "different," Bond immediately identifies with the man and says, Seems they're (blacks) interested in much the same things as everyone else - sex, having fun, and keeping up with the Joneses. Thank God they're not genteel about it. Yes, I should have known that this chilling conversation would create a feeling of empathy with Bond - after all, both he - a white man - and the black man at the table agree that women are property and should know their place.

This "black man as a superstitious, uneducated idiot" trope is prevalent throughout the book. The only black men who DON'T fit into this category are: Big and Quarrel.

Big escapes this category because he is half French. He speaks "like a white man," very eloquently and without slang. Bond admires his "brilliant brain" a lot and marvels that there is a black "master criminal" in existence. But even though Big is well-spoken, obviously educated, half-white, and dresses in a suit - he's still a voodoo practitioner, keeps "horrifying" voodoo paraphernalia in his office, and controls the other, "poor, ignorant, superstitious, innocent" black men with threats of mystical, voodoo punishment. Many are convinced his a "zombie in control of himself ... a witch-doctor in control of his own zombie" - something that I don't feel the book adequately explained and left me a bit confused.

Quarrel, on the other hand, is James Bond's friend. Well, I don't know if I, PERSONALLY, would use "friend" to describe this relationship because it's obvious that Bond is above Quarrel in status. They are pretty close to equal, especially considering the times - and Bond's mentality - and Bond TRIES to say that they ARE equal, but I don't buy it. 1.) Quarrel calls Bond "Cap'n" which is described as "the highest title he knew" since he's from "the most famous race of seamen in the world" (Caymen Islanders). Bond, in turn, just calls Quarrel by his name. 2.) When Bond is injured - which is often in this book, Quarrel tends to his wounds in what seems to me a very servile way. For instance, when Solitaire (the love interest) is injured, Bond (who is also VERY INJURED) strips her naked, bathes her, and tends to her wounds. Then he puts her, naked, into his bed. Then, he "allows" Quarrel to strip him, bathe him and tend to his (much more serious wounds) before driving him to a hospital. The fact that he doesn't allow Quarrel to tend to Solitaire (a white woman), but then expects Quarrel to do the sh*tload of work taking care of Bond's battered body when Bond was, apparently, not wounded enough to stop him from giving Solitaire the full treatment lets me know that Bond and Quarrel are definitely not equals like he wants me to believe.

LOVE INTEREST.
The love interest in this novel is white, blue-eyed, black-haired Solitaire: born Simone Latrelle. She is from Haiti. It's strongly implied that she comes from a powerful slave-owning family in Haiti who fell on hard times. She is 25.

She is "psychic." The book does not explain well if she is really psychic or is just really good at reading people. At times, it seems she's psychic: she'll get visions or predict the future accurately. When Bond asks her about her "powers," she claims she just reads people well. Big finds her in Haiti and takes her, keeping her as a prisoner. He often uses her as a lie-detector test - he hauls her out, shows her some man he's interrogating who's tied to a chair, asks the man questions and then orders her to tell him whether he's lying or not. Solitaire's upfront about the fact that she tells Big that the evil men are lying and that the men who she considers "good" are telling the truth. She's aware that she's responsible for the deaths of a good number of men and she shows NO remorse for this. Not only because they're evil men, but because they're black.

Big is keeping her prisoner because she's gorgeous, useful, and he wants to marry her (by force).

She's also the character who uses the n-word most in this novel.

It's also very interesting to notice the difference in Bond's treatment of Solitaire vs. his treatment of Vesper in the previous book. Unlike Vesper, who Bond described as "cold; arrogant; private", Solitaire makes it crystal clear from the instant she sees James Bond that she is sexually available to him and will go to bed with him at any time. She's described as obedient, trusting and Bond reacts to her very differently than Vesper. Whereas he was constantly fantasizing about raping Vesper, bringing her down a notch, forcing her to cry, forcing her to "want him," blah blah blah submit, he treats Solitaire as "poor female" who needs to be protected and directed and cared for. It's obvious why he never fantasizes about getting Solitaire to submit - she's obviously ready to submit to anything he might desire - and is therefore, in Bond's eyes: unrapeable.

BUT - and this is important to point out - he fantasizes about marrying Vesper, retiring from the Service for her, and spending the rest of his life with her. Solitaire is just a temporary fling - a sexual diversion that he deserves because he is Bond. He never says any of the romantic stuff to her that he said to Vesper. He instead, literally thinks of her as a prize to be enjoyed after he's done with his mission. He refers to her as "the prize" and "his prize" multiple times in the book - she's a sexual object to him and nothing more.

It's also interesting to note that (as in Casino Royale) he COMPLETELY IGNORES when his female tries to warn him about something. In this novel, even though Bond KNOWS that Solitaire is psychic/astute and she has proven her abilities to tell the future and read people again and again and again - he completely ignores her when she begs him not to leave her alone in the hotel. He basically tells her she's a silly female who's overreacting and then leaves with Felix. She promptly gets kidnapped. In the previous book, Casino Royale, Vesper tells Bond again and again that someone is following them, that there are still bad guys after them - and Bond says the same thing to her. Oh, silly woman, don't worry your pretty little head. In both books, the women are right and Bond's misogyny causes him to overlook something important. THIS IS NEVER ADDRESSED. Bond never admits he should have listened to the females' warnings, and he never even acknowledges the fact that they were right. NEVER.

When Solitaire kisses Bond forcefully, actually daring to run her hands through his hair - she's described as "kissing like a man...as if Bond were the woman." o.O

Also, little known fact - James Bond despises old people. He spends all his time in Florida discussing how disgusting old people's bodies are and making fun of them for playing bingo and walking slowly. It's as if he thinks he'll never age (of course, he won't, because he's a fictional character). He's very vocal and adamant about his disgust and contempt for the elderly. I found this offensive.

As in all Bond books, the best part is the villain's speech(es). When Bond is captured (usually once, but in this book it's twice) the villain always ties Bond up and then gives a long speech about how he's so great, Bond will never defeat him, there will be no rescue, blah blah blah. These are always epic, very entertaining speeches, with Bond occasionally breaking in to make a smartass comment or two. They are very cinematic and fun. Best part(s) of the book BY FAR.

Exciting parts: Bond fighting octopi, barracuda and sharks underwater with a harpoon gun. The octopus battle is extremely fun. At the end, Big decides to kill Bond and Solitaire by tying them together, face to face, butt-naked and dragging them behind the boat through a coral reef so that they get all bloody and sharks and barracuda eat them.

Sex: Sexual scenes (numerous) between Bond and Solitaire. This feels much better than with Vesper, it's clear Solitaire is a willing, consensual (and at times even aggressive) sexual partner.
The black stripper scene is a few pages long and VERY descriptive about her "animal" attractiveness and oiled body.
The finale when the black criminals use a knife to cut the clothes off of Solitaires body and bind her face-to-face with an also naked Bond.

America: James Bond is giving many funny "tips" on how to act and look American. He starts dressing in more casual clothes to blend in. Also, he's told that sleeping naked is the normal American standard and is encouraged to get rid of his pyjamas. Lastly, his advisors tell him to only use monosyllabic words. O.o

UPDATE: Okay, I saw the film version (1973) with Roger Moore. What a joke! It's almost a spoof movie. Moore is a dork, and wholly unconvincing as a charming secret agent. I like Jane Seymour in general and her beautiful eyes, but she just had no personality in this movie. The plot is only loosely based on the book and it ends up being very silly.

In the book, James Bond makes an effort to wear "normal" American clothes. In the movie, he wears a suit in EVERY scene, even though it makes him stick out like a sore thumb.

Quarrel and Felix Leiter are actual characters in the book. Quarrel and Bond spend a week together in which Quarrel teaches Bond all about the ocean and its wildlife. Bond gets into much better shape under Quarrel's care and tutelage. Quarrel has only a handful of lines in the film and no character.
Felix and Bond are friends in the book. There's even a whole cute page of them gently teasing each other and joking around. Bond always knows that Felix has his back. In the film, they just talk on the phone a few times for information and Felix has no character.

Solitaire is pretty brainless in both the movie and the book. But in the movie they create this whole "she is psychic because she's a virgin and if she ever has sex she'll lose her magic powers" - which is a popular trope but very unnecessary.

The chase and fight scenes are beyond ridiculous, especially when Bond uses crocodiles as stepping stones to get to the other side of the water. Really, at times they are obvious about making the fights a big joke. The movie is rarely serious.

If you have to pick between the two, I'd recommend the book over the movie. At least it develops it's characters and has exciting fight scenes and villain show-downs.