K.J. Charles's Reviews > Dr. No
Dr. No
by
by
This is mad as a spoon and I'm not sure I'm clever enough for it, but I enjoyed it a lot.
It's on one level about a genius maths professor who studies nothing. As in, nothingness, which is not the same as zero, or as not doing anything. He is recruited by a wannabe Bond villain, aka a black American whose parents were both murdered by the US state and who wants vengeance on America (and why not). The aim is to create a superweapon that inflicts nothing on his enemies. The wordplay around 'nothing' in this book will do your head in.
It's partly a bonkers caper with lots of James Bond fun, and partly a Dr Strangelove satire on the US's racism, misogyny and state violence, and partly a mockery of academia disappearing up its own arse, and partly just a really funny novel with a hilariously deadpan narrator and lots of terrific jokes. I'm not entirely sure I entirely got it, and the caper plot is wafer thin tbh, but I greatly enjoyed the ride.
It's on one level about a genius maths professor who studies nothing. As in, nothingness, which is not the same as zero, or as not doing anything. He is recruited by a wannabe Bond villain, aka a black American whose parents were both murdered by the US state and who wants vengeance on America (and why not). The aim is to create a superweapon that inflicts nothing on his enemies. The wordplay around 'nothing' in this book will do your head in.
It's partly a bonkers caper with lots of James Bond fun, and partly a Dr Strangelove satire on the US's racism, misogyny and state violence, and partly a mockery of academia disappearing up its own arse, and partly just a really funny novel with a hilariously deadpan narrator and lots of terrific jokes. I'm not entirely sure I entirely got it, and the caper plot is wafer thin tbh, but I greatly enjoyed the ride.
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