You only live twice:

Once when you are born
And once when you look death in the face
(You Only Live Twice, Chapter 11)

You Only Live Twice was Fleming’s 11th James Bond novel. This isn't counting the short story collection "For Your Eyes Only." It’s a strange book. Through the mouths of his characters, Fleming examines the decline of post-World War II British power and influence, notably in relation to the United States. The Bond in this story reflects this. He is a shattered character who has lost his wife eight months earlier and is unsure who or what he’s fighting for.

The book itself starts strongly and declines as the story progresses. It becomes more of a travelogue. The novel deals on a personal level with the change in Bond from a depressed man in mourning, to a man of action bent on revenge, to an amnesiac living as a fisherman. Bond travels to Japan, so a reader who is familiar with Fleming’s attitudes towards foreigners immediately fears the worst. But the book isn’t as racist as I feared. Saying that, women are still offered to Bond as little more than sexual playthings.

The plot doesn’t explain the ambiguous mission Bond faces and is one of the most convoluted ever. Bond seems to mooch about for a while waiting then gets told about the villain Dr. Shatterhand. Shatterhand has created a “garden of death”: poisonous plants, snakes, piranhas, etc. Japanese people love to go to his garden and kill themselves. It’s never made clear why this garden was created, nor why Fleming thinks that the Japanese like to commit suicide? Bond realises that Shatterhand is Ernst Stavro Blofeld (making his third appearance) and sets out on a revenge mission to kill him and his wife, Irma Bunt.

The last 40 or so pages contain all the action. The novel concludes with 007’s obituary, written for The Times by M. The obituary provides biographical details of Bond's early life, including his parents' names and nationalities.

It seems that the series hit a peak with OHMSS, then Fleming started to struggle. I’ll make up my mind after about this after I read the unfinished first draft released as The Man With the Golden Gun. And of course Octopussy & the Living Daylights.

So in summary, worth reading but only just.

This picks up post-OHMSS. Bond is suffering from the shock of losing Tracy & M's sympathy is limited, but M comes up with a mission for Bond involving a trip to Japan to do some negotiating with Tiger Tanaka, the Head of Japanese intelligence. Somehow though, after several chapters where we learn - accurately or not - a little about Japan & Japanese culture a whole different kettle of fish.

Tanaka wants someone dead. A gaijin scientist who built a garden of death where suicides have a whole selection of ways to die. It turns out that Tanaka has given Bond a chance to right a terrible wrong.

It gives Bond a bit of a kicking. To the degree where we get to see his obituary in the Times, which features a nicely meta touch as M - who wrote the obit - takes a dig at Fleming's Bond books.

It's an odd book. Slightly barmy but with some moments of real power and delight. And in Kissy Suzuki one of the great women of Bond. I'm surprised no one has spun off some stories about her and her life, especially her time in Hollywood, where apparently only David Niven treated her well.

It ends on a kind of cliffhanger, which then ties straight into 'The Man with The Golden Gun.'

The thing with Fleming is even when you're not sure about the plot there's something that keeps you reading. I'm not sure what that is but it's there alright.

This was a pretty good volume of Bond. He was fully human in this one, and you could see the toll his life style and career have taken on him, as well as how much he truly did love his wife. I was a little put off by Kissy's decision in the end, but she does support him when he tries to learn more so... All in all, a pretty fun spy thriller.

Why do people review films on a book site? What the....
Anyway, this is far from being the best Bond book. In this story 007 is sent on an impossible mission to try and shake him out of his grief at losing his wife. He goes to Japan, and in exchange for the Japanese offering the British intelligence material, Bond has to kill a foreigner who has built a garden full of deadly plants and other hazards that attract lots of people to commit suicide.
A reasonable plot line, then, so what's wrong with it? Well, by now, it's hard to keep swallowing the awful dialogue, and the constant undertow of national one upmanship becomes boring by the time 007 stops fencing with his opposite number, Tiger Tanaka. There is none of the narrative charm from earlier novels, in particular Casino Royale and Moonraker. Very little action, and very few dilemmas for Bond to try and get out of. Reminds me of the last few Sharpe novels where the formula lacked a little something.

“You only live twice:
Once when you are born
And once when you look death in the face”

Ian Fleming’s 12th Bond book is set in Japan and concludes his brilliant Blofeld trilogy.

While the films use Blofeld and Spectre to a greater degree, Fleming’s Blofeld shows up in three books – Thunderball, On Her Majesty’s Secret Service and here. First published in 1964, we see Fleming at the height of his considerable narrative powers, but tragically he only had a few months to live.

Months after Blofeld killed Bond’s wife Tracy, Bond is a mess and M sends him East on an “impossible” mission. But this is after all James Bond and our hero crashes headlong into more trouble than anyone expected. When Bond discovers that the Japanese nemesis is in fact Blofeld, the action turns personal, as ugly as a Sicilian vendetta and Fleming’s tight prose makes the most of the scenario.

One of the better Bond stories, there were passages of this that made me think that this was some of Fleming’s best writing.

If you've seen the movie by this title....you have Absolutely no idea what the book's about.

Bond not in such good grace with the secret service and still trying to recover from "what happened" at the end of On Her Majesty's Secret Service M is considering offering him "retirement". Hummm, but instead renumbers him 7777 and gives him an extremely difficult assignment, go figure.

Bond carry's it out and in the time of it does what takes most people almost a life time to master...becomes a master of karate, judo, staff fighting, and learns to use Yoga for mental discipline. Pretty good as he does all this is a certain amount of secrecy while also hiding from M and the secret service that he's found Blofeld.

With the help of a Japanese woman named, are you ready, Kissy Suzuki he infiltrates his objective and in a duel kills Blofeld. Unfortunately he gets a head injury and comes out of it with amnesia...original huh?

Kissy then takes Bond away and nurses him back to health...without telling him who he is, see, she wants to keep him (like a puppy???? well not exactly). Bond who has been learning to act and look Japanese (there is talk of makeup, but apparently something else took place as having lost his memory I assume he won't know to put the makeup on everyday). (Everyone "back home" in England assumes James is dead)So he is living with Kissy as a Japanese fishing/merchant. Kissy gets pregnant and is planning to tell Bond about it at "the right time" hoping he will marry her. The book ends with Bond wondering about his memory (having seen a Russian city mentioned in a newspaper he finds it familiar). We never actually finds out if Bond finds out, about Kissy's pregnancy.

This is the third and last part of the Bolfeld trilogy. it is also the last book of the series published in Fleming's life time. The Man with the Golden Gun and Octopussy and The Living Daylights (short stories) were published after his death.

You only live twice:
Once when you are born,
And once when you look death in the face.

This is the haiku James Bond composes in this book, but in reality it is by Bassho, a Japanese poet.

This is a very weird book. Actually, it's my personal opinion that the death of Gwen Stacy Tracy Bond marks the point this series jumped the shark. When that event happens at the very end of On Her Majesty's Secret Service, it marks the end of good Bond books, at least to my recollection.

This book starts out strong. Bond is not the man he used to be. He has lost his zest for life. He feels physically very bad. He is screwing up on missions. He has sex with dozens of women, but feels nothing for them (I know you think this is typical, but it isn't.)

M finally calls Bond into the office, and Bond knows he's going to be fired.

But M doesn't fire him. Instead he charges Bond with a near-impossible mission in Japan. This is Bond's third chance, and M is hoping that the high stakes and dangerous work will snap Bond out of his depression.
...

The beginning is the strongest part - Bond dealing with depression and the loss of his wife. I like the psychology of Bond and his relationships with women. It's my favorite aspect of the books. However, as soon as James saunters out of M's office to kiss Moneypenny, it all goes downhill from there.

JAPAN
It's always dangerous when Bond leaves England to deal with "foreigners." In this book we have Japan. I braced myself for the onslaught. But I was shocked and pleasantly surprised that Fleming seemed to be a bit of a Japanophile. Japanese culture is one of the few cultures he chooses to treat as worthy, interesting and valuable (unlike his treatment of African-American culture or Turkish culture, to use two examples).

The only really "stereotype" that was overhyped in this book is "Japanese women are happy submissive slaves/objects." But Japanese men, history, culture, government, and customs are treated very well considering this is Fleming.

Fleming has shown time and time again his real fascination and obsession for cultures in which he believes women are treated as slaves and objects. This makes him very excited and he's always sending Bond to these places - not to fall in love with any woman (it's hard for Bond to fall in love with what Bond describes as "an insipid slave" (as discussed in the short story Quantum of Solace)) but instead to carry out Fleming's own sexual fantasies on page. Whenever James makes trips to these cultures, he ends up being a hero and having women offered to him as sexual playthings as rewards by grateful natives. Japan is no exception. It's highly disturbing to this reader.

THE MISSION AND VILLAIN
This is one of the stupidest, weirdest, and most convoluted James Bond plots I have ever had the displeasure of reading. It's ludicrous. It seems like a man who calls himself "Dr. Shatterhand" has created a place in Japan known as "the Castle of Death." This is a castle with only poisonous plants growing on the grounds, lakes filled with piranha, woods filled with poisonous snakes, etc. etc.

Apparently hundreds of people a year go there to kill themselves. Dr. Shatterhand has chosen Japan because of it's high rate of suicide, and has created this evil sanctuary for people to come and kill themselves, delighting in every death.

Why? I HAVE NO IDEA. It doesn't make a lick of sense. Dr. Shatterhand, who is really Blofeld in disguise apparently is off his rocker for no discernible reason. I hate that. I don't care if the plot is a bit bizarre (it certainly was in the last book!) but it at least has to make some semblance of sense. Does he hate Japan? No. He says he'll move to another country and build suicide sanctuaries if he gets kicked out of Japan. Does he have some kind of issue or emotional deal with suicide? No. Does he have an evil plan to get certain individuals, maybe government officials or spies, to commit suicide when they otherwise wouldn't? No. There's nothing. There's no reasoning here. Fleming is just like: "Oh, he's mad." But it didn't make any sense to me. Blofeld has always been a little kooky but he's always had some kind of plan or reasoning behind his actions.

This was a huge disappointment and also was stupid.

Tanaka also somehow convinces Bond to go to the island with no gun. For some cockamamie bullshit reason that was beyond MY understanding. Frankly, this whole book was sloppy, in my opinion.

THE WOMEN
Besides all the women he sleeps with in order to heal from the-event-which-will-not-be-named, Bond is "gifted" with many geisha, massage girls, bath girls, etc. etc. in Japan. But none of these really make an impression on Bond, of course he wants a woman with intelligence and spark.

We get that woman in Kissy Suzuki, the daughter of a couple who Bond is living with temporarily. She is a woman who dives almost naked for shells. She is 23. She lived for a while in America making films and is very beautiful. But she hated Hollywood.

Her expression became fierce. "Never. I hated it. They were all disgusting to me in Hollywood. They thought that because I am Japanese I am some sort of an animal and that my body is for everyone."

She vows never to go back and instead is quite happy living out her impoverished, simple life in Japan. She immediately sets her sights on Bond. Bond, of course, lusts for her, enjoys having someone he can speak English with, and admires her spirit. However, it's obvious to this reader that she's not "long-term material" for Bond - one or two months at best.

However, after Bond strangles Blofeld to death, and falls from the cliff into the sea, he has amnesia and cannot remember his name or anything about himself. Kissy takes advantage of this and endeavors to "keep Bond for herself," rather as if he were a stray dog with no name. I find this behavior disgusting and despicable. But after months and months, when Bond finally starts to remember stuff - she lets him go. Where? Back to England? NO. TO RUSSIA. Are you frickin' kidding me? This woman is going to get Bond killed, not telling him that he's an Englishman and sending him, addled and confused, into enemy territory. I can't bring myself to like her. She's also pregnant by Bond, but doesn't tell him, and he leaves for Russia without ever knowing he's going to be a father. I didn't like Kissy. Men aren't dogs. I don't think she was acting right.


OBITUARY
This book famously ends with Bond's obituary as it appears in the The Times, and it is rather meta, as it references "a man writing stories about Bond" etc. etc. Of course, no one knows that Bond is alive, but living as a Japanese fisherman and suffering from amnesia.
...

Overall, this book was a disappointment for many reasons. Fleming's Bond books really take a dive after the-event-which-shall-not-be-named. I don't have high expectations for the last two, The Man With the Golden Gun and Octopussy & the Living Daylights. We'll see.

"You Only Live Twice" is the concluding novel of the "Blofeld Trilogy" ("Thunderball", "On Her Majesty's Secret Service" with "The Spy Who Loved Me" in the middle but not part of the trilogy).

The story finds James Bond in a sad place after the murder of his wife and a fading career. M, head of MI6, wants to dismiss Bond but changes his mind, gives him a new number ("7777") and assigns him the difficult mission of convincing Japan's secret service to provide information about the Soviet Union.

The head of Japan's secret service, Tiger Tanaka, asks Bond to kill a doctor who provides people the ability to commit suicide (even if they change their mind later). Bond discovers that his enemy, Blofeld, is also involved but keeps the knowledge for himself while training with a Japanese movie star on trying to live and think as a Japanese.

The plot continues with much of the Fleming gusto, fine writing and twists we don't get at the movie theater.

The novel is a bit moody and dark, yet well written, exciting and well researched. The narrative is very engrossing and the characters are well built. However, I would NOT recommend it as your first Fleming novel.

Rating: 3.5* of five

1967's film version of the book apparently kept nothing to speak of from the book's plot, little enough of the characters, and broke new ground in space science, if only physics would agree to operate by Bondiverse rules. So that raises the question:

What the actual fuck. Undetectable space launches from a densely packed island nation famous then as now for being xenophobic? Volcanos hollowed out and repurposed because they're extinct and then *KERPOW* they blow up on cue? The sorriest ninjas on record being trained in what appears to be a suburban garden?

Yeesh. No wonder Sean Connery was ready to leave the role after this turkey.

You might have noticed that Connery is, by Western standards, a large man. Tall. Muscular. Imposing. And he's now going to pretend to be Japanese. Forty-five years ago, there were very few Japanese men over 6ft tall. To the best of my knowledge, there are to this good moment a vanishingly small number of Japanese men with Scottish accents and furry chests. So when Bond is presented as a native husband for a local girl WITH HER OWN HOME AND BOAT, I rolled my eyes so hard I'm pretty sure I saw my brain. Like every damn single man on that island wouldn't be all up in Bond's business from second one, seeing as how he nabbed the most eligible woman in Japan!

So it sounds like 3.5 stars is ridiculously generous, doesn't it? There are reasons: 1) Bond's death scene at the beginning of the movie. So cool I get frostbite from watching it. 2) Blofeld's big blond henchrat. Scenic. 3) The Toyota 2000GT that Bond's first gal-pal drives:


Über cool car. And, trivia for the five of you still reading this, Toyota delivered the car to the filmmakers a couple weeks before shooting. Connery did not fit in the vehicle. At all. Toyota's staff said, "oh no, so sorry, we'll fix it" and they DID. I am constantly amazed that this level of customer service ever existed on the surface of the earth.

The house I live in presently was built in 1938. It's got golden oak floors, painted baseboards, dentilated crown moldings...very NOT 1960s decor. The films have reminded me of the ocean of blond wood, teak, copper, and faux stone that permeated the built environment of the day. Glass tables, horrible things they were too. An amazing number of ceramic lamps with cylindrical paper shades. As familiar to me as my beard, but not today's design vernacular by any stretch. I wonder, is it off-putting or old-fashioned looking to kids of the 1980s? (Kids HA most of y'all got kids of your own now.)

So at least one star added for taking me right back into a world I liked a lot, because it was the first one I ever knew. It had its charms. I prefer today, but that doesn't lessen the draw of a familiar past. That's a big part of the fun I get from rewatching these films.

ETA The song! I forgot to mention Nancy Sinatra's rendition of "You Only Live Twice", a syrupy ballad with a screechy violin hook that embeds itself in the brain extremely deeply. The hook is played over a lot of lovely scenery shots, so repetition does its ugly work. Still, it's nowhere near as horrible as the Tom Jones rendition of "Thunderball." That is just heinous.

Depressed James Bond meets Ian Fleming's newly honed travel writing skills on a sake-soaked roadtrip throughout Japan and comes to grips with Blofeld.

I thought some of Bond's interiority in this novel was interesting, and I appreciate knowing how he ends up in the hands of the KGB at the beginning of The Man With The Golden Gun, but... mixed feelings about the majority of this novel, especially Bond's(/Fleming's) descriptions of Japan.

I'll just turn to Diamonds Are Forever next for my (now yearly) reread of that novel.

The Bond girl in this book is called Kissy Suzuki. Incredible.

I find have more to say about a comparison of You Only Live Twice with Agatha Christie's They Do It with Mirrors than a consideration of these works separately. Maybe also because I read one after the other at a time when I really needed them. In both, the stories lead inexorably to the total, delicious defeat of a dirty dog of a villain by a sublimely efficacious hero. Miss Marple quietly breaking through the confusion of a baffling puzzle to let everyone know what's what, and James Bond, depressed and defeated in his mind, nevertheless pushing forward to oppose with his last reserves of energy the supremely confident villain. Every reader knows they will win, and many savvy fans anticipate how they will win. But it really doesn't matter, for what we fans need is the fix of what some call an escape from reality, but what is really spiritual fuel inspiring us to get through a world with far too few defeated villains and efficacious heroes.

Serious literature is totally different. For instance, I am now reading Middlemarch, and I know it will have a depressing, unsatisfying ending, though what goes before is fascinating and edifying. In fact, serious literature rarely ends. It stops. Or fades away. My piano teacher once pointed out that one great innovation Beethoven brought to music was the sense of an unequivocal, triumphant ending. No composer had had anything comparable to the finale of the Fifth Symphony. Who was literature's Beethoven? I'm not sure at the moment, but Ian Fleming and Agatha Christie are two great upholders of that tradition.