You Only Live Twice (novel) concerned with the actual business of a thriller", and his enjoyment was further diminished by what he considered "the grossness of Bond's manners and his schoolboy obscenities". Peter Duval Smith, in the "Financial Times", was in two minds about the book, believing on the one hand that "the background is excellent ... Mr. Fleming has caught the exact 'feel' of Japan", and on the other that "You Only Live Twice" "is not really a success and it's Bond's fault mainly. He just doesn't add up to a human being". Maggie Ross, in "The Listener" was also a little dissatisfied, writing
You Only Live Twice (novel) know whose side we are on, why we are on that side and why we are certain to win. In the real world that is no longer possible." Charles Poore, writing in "The New York Times", noted that Bond's mission "is aimed at restoring Britain's pre-World War II place among the powers of the world. And on that subject, above all others, Ian Fleming's novels are endlessly, bitterly eloquent." "The Boston Globe"s Mary Castle opined that the agent's trip was "Bond's latest and grimmest mission", which she called "Escapism in the Grand Manner". "You Only Live Twice" was adapted for