Doctor No Novel Discussion

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How do you like the book?

Personally, I find it to be fantastic. Utterly gripping, engaging, fun, suspenseful, etc. Favourite scene would have to be the centipede scene. My hairs on my legs and arms were raising.

DN gets overlooked sometimes, but I think it's easily one of Fleming's best offerings. I rate it as one of my all time favourite 'action-adventure' novels. It's tense, well-paced and quite fun.

FieldsMan wrote:

Favourite scene would have to be the centipede scene. My hairs on my legs and arms were raising.

Did you then check yourself for a centipede?

Louis Armstrong wrote:

FieldsMan wrote:

Favourite scene would have to be the centipede scene. My hairs on my legs and arms were raising.

Did you then check yourself for a centipede?

Of course I did! And I was a bit reluctant to climb into my own bed that night. :oops:

Doctor No is very much a "fun" adventure in the canon, perhaps even the entry that was most written for the sheer joy of it. Fleming here rehashed his boyhood reading of the Fu Manchu series, and he was remarkably successful in pitting his hero against that archetype of the larger-than-life villain.

One thing that adds to the impact of his tale is introducing the long shadow of No, falling all across the Jamaican Chinese populace whiole cleverly keeping the actual character behind the scenes for most of the book. This way there is little room for the reader to wonder how such an unlikely character should manage to helm such a huge and resourceful organisation.

Finally of course Bond has his Tarzan moment here when battling spiders and octopus nearly naked, with nothing but a knife and a makeshift spear. His Jane is Honeychile here, and she meets him in the absence of most textiles. But with a knife if you please.

Tremendous fun!

I haven't read it for some time, but I remember thoroughly enjoying the description of Honeychile in the bath tub. :twisted:

A rollicking good read. Love the interaction between Bond and Quarrel, and their little tete' a tete' with the girl photographer in the restaurant. Honeychile is one of Fleming's more interesting creations, as is Julius No.

I voted 10. It was the first Bond novel I've read and captured as much of my boyish imagination as any Bond I saw for the first time.