The James Bond Bedside Companion (43 page)

Another theme, brought back from CASINO ROYALE, is the notion that there is no difference between the good guys and the bad guys. At the end of the novel, Vivienne is treated to a fatherly lecture by Police Captain Stonor:

"In the higher ranks of these forces, among the toughest of the professionals, there's a deadly quality in the persons involved which is common to both—to both friends and enemies." The captain's closed fist came softly down on the wooden table-top for emphasis, and his inward-looking eyes burned with a dedicated, private anger. "The top gangsters,
the top F.B.I. operatives, the top spies and the top
counter
spies are coldhearted, coldblooded, ruthless, tough killers, Miss Michel. Yes, even the `friends' as opposed to the 'enemies.' They have to be. They wouldn't survive if they weren't. Do you get me? . . . So the message I want to leave with you, my dear—and I've talked to Washington and I've learned something about Commander Bond's outstanding record in his particular line of business—is this. Keep away from all these men. They are not for you, whether they're called James Bond or Sluggsy Morant. Both these men, and others like them, belong to a private jungle into which you've strayed for a few hours and from which you've escaped. So don't go and get sweet dreams about the one or nightmares from the other. They're just different people from the likes of you—a different species."

(THE SPY WHO LOVED ME, Chapter 15)

In fact, when Vivienne first set eyes on Bond, she believed that he was another one of the gangsters.

CHARACTERS

V
ivienne Michel is Fleming's most successful female characterization. Since the story is related through the eyes of Viv, the inner thoughts of a Bond-heroine are finally revealed.

Vivienne has blue, clear eyes and an "inquiring" forehead. There is a "tumble" of ordinary dark brown hair which curves to the right and left in waves. She has high cheekbones, and a mouth that is "so big that it often looks sexy when she doesn't want it to." Vivienne, described as having a sanguine temperament, was born a French-Canadian Catholic near Quebec. Orphaned at an early age, Viv lived with her aunt until she was sent to a girls' school in England. Since being orphaned, Viv's nature has always been an independent one. She usually makes her own decisions, and only rarely would she allow herself to be influenced by other people. Twice, she did so, and both instances hurt her deeply. They were love affairs with, respectively, the boy to whom she lost her virginity, and an employer who became very close to her. Both men treated her badly.

Fleming makes no attempt to conceal the fact that Vivienne has been a victim of life. The first part of the book, which deals entirely with flashbacks to her past life and romances, plays upon the reader's sympathy for the girl. She's always been mistreated: at school by classmates, by Derek, and by Kurt; only when she is alone does she seem to be happy. Yet, even then, she longs for something to rescue her from her drab existence.

Viv is a willful, tough girl—she holds her own against the two thugs who threaten her. She probably could hurt the men, but could never stop them from killing her. At one point, she attempts to attack one thug with an ice pick; she fails, but her attempt is admirable.

Fleming makes the point that Vivienne has had an unsatisfactory sex life until she meets James Bond.

I had never before made love, full love, with my heart as well as my body. It had been sweet with Derek, cold and satisfying with Kurt. But this was something different. At last I realized what this thing could be in one's life.

(THE SPY WHO LOVED ME, Chapter 14)

Another egocentric pat on the back for Fleming and his hero; but in another way, it is the only time one is aware of what Bond's partner really does feel about his lovemaking. The feelings of the woman are emphasized. This is something that had been ignored in past novels, and it allows Vivienne Michel to seem that much more realistic.

As mentioned earlier, Fleming's attempt at writing in female first-person is successful and imaginative for the most part. It's amusing that Vivienne is able to write descriptively about trivial subjects, just like Ian Fleming. Nevertheless, as Vivienne describes her wants, desires, and fears, they are believable. Only the first part of the novel tends to drag with sentimentality and a play for the reader's sympathy. Once the thugs enter the story, one is easily caught up in Vivienne's narrative; the reader willingly suspends disbelief that someone other than Ian Fleming is telling the tale.

James Bond steps down to a supporting role in THE SPY WHO LOVED ME. Bond is viewed objectively as a perfectly ordinary English gentleman, but a gentleman with nerves of steel, raw courage, and the ability to tackle two ruthless gangsters and save a damsel in distress.

Perhaps the most revealing aspect about Bond in this novel (aside from interesting personal details, such as his dislike of Camay soap) is that he is extremely kind to women. The coldness with which he views the opposite sex in CASINO ROYALE seems to be gone, or at least he's keeping these thoughts to himself. From the moment he realizes Vivienne is in trouble, the agent bends over backward to help her. He is gentle with Viv, and supportive in her ordeal. The note he leaves her at the end of the story is warm and encouraging. He goes out of his way to make sure the authorities trouble Vivienne as little as possible so that she may be on her way to Florida quickly. Bond also arranges that any reward for the deaths of the two gangsters be given to Viv. Even though the note, in a way, is another "Dear Viv" letter, he leaves his address and welcomes her to contact him at any time.

James Bond is a true fantasy figure in this novel. He comes out of the night from nowhere at just the right moment, saves Vivienne from death, and disappears into thin air, as if he never existed. This is Fleming at his most romantic. Vivienne sums up the mystery and wonderment of the man in this way:

I think I know why I gave myself so completely to this man, how I was capable of it with someone I had met only six hours before. Apart from the excitement of his looks, his authority, his maleness, he had come from nowhere, like the prince in the fairy tales, and he had saved me from the dragon. But for him, I would now be dead, after suffering God knows what before. He could have changed the wheel on his car and gone off, or, when danger came, he could have saved his own skin. But he had fought for my life as if it had been his own. And then, when the dragon was dead, he had taken me as his reward. In a few hours, I knew, he would be gone—without protestations of love, without apologies or excuses. And that would be the end of that—gone, finished.

(THE SPY WHO LOVED ME, Chapter 14)

The other two characters in the story, Horror and Sluggsy, are sickening villains, but do not attain to the stature of a major Bond villain. They are merely second-rate professional killers, which in a way, makes them all the more believable in this sort of story. They are frightening, however, and Fleming has succeeded in creating a true sense of terror from their evil actions.

HIGHLIGHTS AND OTHER INGREDIENTS

F
leming has managed to keep THE SPY WHO LOVED ME a continuation of the series, despite the first-person female perspective. There is even a mention of SPECTRE, and of the fact that all the allied nations are still looking for Ernst Stavro Blofeld since the completion of Operation Thunderball—a reminder to the reader that this novel is part of the Bond saga, and the search for Blofeld will continue in the next book, which is the second part of the Blofeld Trilogy.

The most impressive scene in the book is the entrance of Bond. The story, by this time, has reached a peak of excitement: Horror and Sluggsy are just
about to get down to the nitty gritty with Vivienne. Things look grim for the girl when the door buzzer suddenly rings. Vivienne answers it and sees a dark stranger outside. There is a sinister, dangerous quality about the stranger until he smiles and says he has had a "puncture." Vivienne is so relieved that the man is English and not a gangster, she almost embraces him immediately. But she retains her cool and, using discreet signals, lets Bond know what is happening. If this situation were in a film, the audience would surely applaud and cheer at this wonderful entrance of the hero. It is utterly romantic and works beautifully.

As mentioned before, THE SPY WHO LOVED ME isn't for everyone. On the negative side are a few problems with the believability of the female perspective, as well as the soap opera story in the first half of the book. The positive aspects include its fast pace, the excitement and thrills of the final third (which contains the same ingredients of sex and violence found in the rest of the series), and the objective view of Bond, which is different and revealing. If the reader has any sort of romantic inclination, THE SPY WHO LOVED ME can be enjoyed as the most escapist fantasy of the series.

T
he second novel in what could be called the Blofeld Trilogy, ON HER MAJESTY'S SECRET SERVICE, is a James Bond story of epic proportions. It is one of the longest of the Bond novels, and contains two seemingly unrelated tales which finally converge at the book's end. One of these plotlines concerns Bond's pursuit of Ernst Stavro Blofeld, the leader of SPECTRE, since the organization's demise at the end of Operation Thunderball. The subplot is a love story involving the marriage of James Bond. How these two stories come together at the conclusion of the novel is tragic, and the otherwise fairly upbeat book ends on a sad, wistful note. ON HER MAJESTY'S SECRET SERVICE is immediately one of Ian Fleming's best novels, despite a couple of slow patches. As one reviewer at the time of publication put it, the book is "solid Fleming."

The novel opens with a series of events chronicling the beginning of a romance between James Bond and Tracy di Vicenzo, a countess who is the daughter of Marc-Ange Draco. Draco is head of the Union Corse, a French equivalent of the Mafia. Marc-Ange offers Bond a sum of money if he will marry Tracy. Bond refuses, but agrees to continue seeing Tracy as "therapy" if Draco will tell him where Blofeld can be found. A useful lead comes from the College of Arms. Blofeld is attempting to prove that he is the Count de Bleuville, and has asked the college to authenticate his claim. Bond arranges to impersonate Sir Hilary Bray, a college emissary, and travels to Piz Gloria, Blofeld's headquarters in Switzerland, to be met by the count's personal secretary, Fraulein Irma Bunt. The count is doing research on allergies, and Bond meets the current patients: ten beautiful girls from different areas of England. As the days go by, Bond is mystified by Blofeld's intentions at Piz Gloria. After the count becomes suspicious of "Sir Hilary," 007 creates some makeshift ski clothes, steals a pair of skis, and makes a downhill escape from Piz Gloria. In the village below, he runs into none other than Tracy. Together, they escape in her car. In a moment of inspiration, Bond proposes to Tracy, and she happily accepts. Later, in London, it is surmised that Blofeld is attempting biological warfare against England. Apparently, the allergy patients are being brainwashed, then sent home to their families (who are all in the crop and/or livestock business), where they will unwittingly contaminate England's food supply with deadly chemicals. Bond then persuades Marc-Ange Draco to help him destroy Piz Gloria. Accompanied by a Union Corse helicopter team, they infiltrate Blofeld's headquarters and wire explosives. During the battle with the SPECTRE team, Bond locates Blofeld and chases him in a furious bobsled race down a dangerous chute. But Blofeld escapes by tossing a hand grenade in front of Bond's sleigh; but 007 is not hurt badly. Later, on New Year's Day, Tracy di Vicenzo becomes Mrs. James Bond. But the honeymoon is shattered by an explosion of gunfire. Bond glimpses Blofeld's face in the ambush car before he blacks out. He awakes in a highway patrolman's arms, turns, and sees that Tracy is dead.

STYLE AND THEMES

A
fter the experimental THE SPY WHO LOVED ME, about which critics and fans were not overly enthusiastic, Fleming decided to return to his reliable, successful Bond formula. ON HER MAJESTY'S SECRET SERVICE is a straight thriller on the one hand, complete with all of the identifiable Fleming elements (the Fleming Sweep, the rich detail, a super villain, etc.); but on the other
hand it is a special chapter in the James Bond saga. In ON HER MAJESTY'S SECRET SERVICE, James Bond falls in love and marries. But, as in FROM RUSSIA, WITH LOVE, the author pulls the rug from under his hero at the novel's end, and Bond's new bride is tragically killed.

Most of the novel is taken up with Bond finally locating the hideout of Blofeld and infiltrating it by means of a peculiar cover: as an emissary from the College of Arms, to whom Blofeld grants permission to come to the hideout and prove that Blofeld is a count in the direct line of the de Bleuville clan. The Fleming Sweep in this part of the story moves with confidence and readability—the suspense builds gradually until the climactic ski escape, which stands as one of Fleming's most exciting passages. After an interlude, the story continues and builds to another climax culminating with the bobsled chase at the novel's end.