By:
Unknown
on Friday, May 29, 2015
Title: Goldeneye: Where Bond Was Born: Ian Fleming's Jamaica
Author: Matthew Parker
Published: March 15/15 by Pegasus Books
Length: 264pgs
Genre: non-fiction
Shelf: review
Rating: ★★★★ Back Cover Blurb:
For two months every year, from 1946 to his death eighteen years later, Ian Fleming lived at Goldeneye, the house he built on a point of high land overlooking a small white sand beach on Jamaica s stunning north coast. All the James Bond novels and stories were written here. This book explores the huge influence of Jamaica on the creation of Fleming s iconic post-war hero. The island was for Fleming part retreat from the world, part tangible representation of his own values, and part exotic fantasy. It will examine his Jamaican friendships his extraordinary circle included Errol Flynn, the Oliviers, international politicians and British royalty, as well as his close neighbor Noel Coward and trace his changing relationship with Ann Charteris (and hers with Jamaica) and the emergence of Blanche Blackwell as his Jamaican soulmate.
Goldeneye also compares the real Jamaica of the 1950s during the build-up to independence with the island s portrayal in the Bond books, to shine a light on the attitude of the likes of Fleming and Coward to the dramatic end of the British Empire."
My Review:
What a fantastic history.
Parker kept my attention in a way that is rarely seen in non-fiction
works. He brings Fleming’s life to
readers in a palpable way that I found both interesting and intriguing. The pace of the novel kept me coming back for
more while the writing was very intriguing.
I loved seeing Bond come to life & what lay behind
it. The correlation between Fleming’s
life and the events in the Bond novels was fantastic. It made Bond come to life even more for me.
No comments:
Post a Comment