Goldeneye

This is an interesting work that reads well. The history of Jamaica and the process of moving from a colony to an independent nation is equally as interesting as the bits about Fleming and his home there. The last years of Fleming's life are very depressing ( heavy drinking, excessive smoking and detachment from his family) as is the death of his son Casper due to drug overdose so the book ends on a bit of a downer. Seems to be well researched and is " breezy " in style. Blanche Blackwell ( Fleming's reputed mistress ) just recently passed away at nearly 105, and her life story as recounted in the book as well as the early career of her son, Chris Blackwell ( Island Records, etc.) add bright spots. Read this after reading Operation Goldeneye which recounts Fleming's involvement in WWII in Naval Intelligence and his contributions in keeping Franco's Spain out of the war. Good beach/vacation book.

James Bond’s creator, Ian Fleming had an interesting life and Parker’s book highlights his time in Jamaica, which seemed especially idyllic at times. Parker also suggests that James Bond’s adventures were particularly appealing to the British public after the second world war and during the years of post-war austerity because they allowed an especially appealing form of escapism. Such an approach helped lead to the novels’ spectacular success.James Bond was of course a fictional character and his vices consequently never caught up with him. The same could not be said about Fleming, who drank heavily and like James Bond smoked about 70 cigarettes a day, usually of an extremely high nicotine content. He also had James Bond’s weakness for women and often entered into difficult and sometimes destructive relationships. Late in his life, Fleming’s furious wife was provoked to suggest that if he stayed faithful for a whole three months he might even enjoy it. Fleming died of heart failure at age 56 largely because of his complete disregard for his own health. This is an especially poignant loss because life could have been wonderful at this time. In Jamaica, when he was writing the Bond novels, he usually did so from his Goldeneye beach house. He would often begin the day snorkeling on his own reef where he enjoyed the many varieties of beautiful fish, and sometimes brought a speargun to obtain his lunch. His Jamaican cook provided him with delicious meals including those made from his own catch of the day. He would then sit at a table near the beach writing his novels and enjoying the beauty of the ocean and also the tropical birds. By the time of his death, two of his books had already been made into movies, and he was doing well financially. Unfortunately, true Bond mania did not hit until the third movie, Goldfinger, was released after his death. In a weird sort of way, Fleming seem to recognize the problems with his own reckless lifestyle in his later books. In some of these books, Bond’s deadliest enemy is Ernst Stavro Blofeld, who is his exact opposite. Blofeld did not drink or smoke and was not interested in sex. He did not even eat very much. I am not a psychiatrist so I have no idea why Fleming put Bond against this sort of villain, but he seems an unusual creation. In any event, alcohol and nicotine must have been wonderful for Fleming because he gave up everything for them. And everything was a lot.

One of the best page turners I've read in a long time, other than of course, Fleming's own masterpieces, which I've only begun to discover in recent years and can't put down once I start. I've been a huge Bond fan since age 6, and it has only increased over the years. Fleming was himself chasing the ghost of the fading British Empire when he first came to Jamaica, and he used the little island to escape to his own world. A world he envisioned for himself and his closest friends and lovers, far away from the judging stares of stodgy, gray England. Likewise, Bond was basically an idealized, invincible version of himself. Immortality in print, and later, on film. The most powerful draw to me has always been the exotic locales and immense wealth and luxury of Bond's world. Sex, power, danger and excitement are always present. Monotony is not. Fleming did not live a conventional "responsible" lifestyle; rather, his inherited wealth allowed him to indulge in whatever he wanted with little time for guilt or worry.The synchronicity of all things Bond with the postwar British Empire and other nations involved in the Cold War is endlessly fascinating to me. It is a great gift to us all that someone with a life's ambition for capturing this was to become the primary guardian for Fleming's legacy after his passing. I'm speaking of course of Cubby Broccoli, who went to great lengths to bring these stories to life on the silver screen at a level of quality that pays proper tribute to the material.I recommend reading at least a few of Fleming's original novels before reading this, so you can understand his work first (and of course, you should see at least the classic era movies). After that, you can gain appreciation for where it all came from by reading this book, which is sure to please any Bond fan. This is not a lightweight read for casual fans. For hardcore fans, it is deeply satisfying, and can make you feel like you are spending afternoons relaxing on a secluded beach with Fleming himself (long before Jamaica became a major tourist destination), listening to his romanticized stories of adventure, sipping on powerful drinks without a care in the world.....you can almost feel the Jamaican breeze......

The book is about Ian Fleming' s last 10 years, Goldeneye his holiday home in Jamaica and the creation of the $6 billion dollar man. Fleming was a complex man who lived his life according to his own rules. He bought and fell in love with Goldeneye which became the haven he needed to enable him to write all of the Bond books. In this period of his life he witnessed the decline of the British Empire, the tension of the cold war and the increasing influence of America. The book covers the history and development of Jamaica during these years, world events as well as the friends, celebrities and lovers who visited Goldeneye. Matthew Parker covers in detail how these events affected Fleming and inevitably shaped Bond. James Bond's existence if Fleming had not been introduced to Goldeneye is probably as unlikely as the Beatles if McCartney had not been introduced to Lennon. Matthew Parker must have thoroughly enjoyed researching and writing it as much as I did reading it. Highly recommended.

Author Matthew Parker has used Ian Fleming's Jamaica house, Goldeneye, as the central device around which to base an account of the creation of James Bond, the decline of the British Empire, and the complicated evolution of Jamaica's history.The house, austere and close to nature, reflected Fleming's own self-contained character. He was never entirely at ease amongst the colonial British on the island, and disliked the society gatherings. He rejoiced in being known as the Commander, feeling it gave him status without the necessity to mix with others.Through the pages pass a procession of other well-known names associated with Jamaica: Errol Flynn, Noel Coward, Alec Guinness, Chris Blackwell, and a slew of colonial governors and administrators.Goldeneye is where all the Bond novels and stories were written, and Jamaica forms a background in several cases, beginning with Live and Let Die. Parker describes the influence of the island on each of them, and follows through to the first Bond film, Dr No, with Sean Connery's arrival for the location filming.Fleming had become steadily more disillusioned as Jamaica moved towards independence, and as much of the island's beauty was desecrated by a particularly vulgar brand of tourism. In the end, as his own heavy drinking and smoking habits destroyed his health, he had become rather a forlorn figure.Matthew Parker's account is fascinating, even for those readers who have little interest in James Bond.

Being both a working class woman and a child of the 90s I would have been appalled to have lived in the 1950s. My life is immeasurably superior today then it would have been in a world of sexism, rationing and poverty. But oh to have been a man with money back then! Never have I wanted a sex change and a time machine quite as badly as I did whilst reading about Fleming's life at Goldeneye.The endless parties, the sun, the sand, the wildlife, the flowers, the swimming, the famous men and women that he knew and loved. It was a place that only the Empire, a deep wallet, a privileged upbringing and a rich imagination could have created and it would have been glorious to experience it in its heyday. I'm sure that some feminists will down vote me for saying that but I don't care; the best that Western history has to offer has been almost universally dominated by rich white men, and no amount of righteous indignation will change that. All we can do is to try and make sure that our sons and daughters never have to experience such inequality in the future.As an aside this is by far the best Fleming biography I have read. It is fresh, engaging and well-written. This should be your first point of call if you are as much in love with Fleming as I am.

An amazing book. A double biography really, of the island as much as of Fleming's extraordinary retirement. Wonderful to read about his unlikely friendship with Coward, Goldeneye's role in the Panama scandal, the origins of Island records, and heartbreaking to discover Errol Flynn's true character. Really engrossing.

I was hoping for a book that gave a little more insight to Fleming's work routine, perhaps early drafts and how the Bond books were shaped while in Jamaica and even after he left Jamaica and though this book didn't quite offer this info it offered so many other things that I can't not give it the full 5 stars.This is writing of a wonderful standard. It's research that needs commending and above all it's entertaining, informative and highly recommended. Well done Parker!