In her most ambitious work to date (and the basis for the April 2001 CBS-TV miniseries) one of America's most celebrated writers examines the inner, spiritual life of the woman who became Hollywood's most enduring legend--Marilyn Monroe--as seen through her own eyes. "Grimly compelling".--"Wall Street Journal".
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In her most ambitious work to date (and the basis for the April 2001 CBS-TV miniseries) one of America's most celebrated writers examines the inner, spiritual life of the woman who became Hollywood's most enduring legend--Marilyn Monroe--as seen through her own eyes. "Grimly compelling".--"Wall Street Journal".
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With Joyce Carol Oates I started backwards: I started with We were the Mulvaneys and I tought it was great, I fell in love with her and from there I read a lot of her books and finally got to Blonde, her best book and a must read novel for Americans!!!! and of course anybody looking for a great novel!!
Edward G
Jul 29, 2010
Fabulous!!!!
If BLONDE is not the definitive biography of Marilyn Monroe, it should be! Joyce Carol Oates has an understanding of people that is insightful, heartfelt and honest.
While I grew up seeing Marilyn Monroe in movies and TV reruns, not to mention the tabloids, there was a fragility to her that touched my heart. So, too, does Joyce Carol Oates. She presents such an honest look at Norma Jean Baker, a young woman who never had a chance. MM was as fictitoius to Monroe as Hollywood itself.
Without being maudlin, by the end of the book I was in tears, my heart broken for this incredibly talented, intelligent beautiful young woman who was knocked down at every turn. She should have been doing classic roles, not the dumb blond bombshell that sold tickets and fulfulled the men in her life's sadistic sexual fantasies.
By the end of the book I also wanted to take a bat to Joe DiMaggio and Peter Lawford for "allegedly" pimping her to the Kennedy's whom I had grown up loving and now make me sick at their abuse of people and power.
Ellyb
Oct 29, 2009
Devastating
As many other reviewers have mentioned, "Blonde" is quite a weighty tome, clocking in at around 800 pages. However, at no point did I begrudge the book its length, because I was absolutely absorbed by it from cover to cover. "Blonde" is a devastating portrait of one of America's celebrity casualties. By the end of the book I actually felt like Marilyn Monroe had been created by Joyce Carol Oates, for the woman on the page was so believably and completely exposed in all her deep, fluttering insecurities, needs, and desires. I kept forgetting that Monroe was a historical figure whose life Oates spun into a fictional story, never having met the woman herself.
I highly recommend "Blonde" to those interested in the culture of 1950's Hollywood, in gender relations, and Marilyn herself. It may be a fictional biography, but it taps into the life she led and its tragic end to say something quite meaningful all the same.
ShirleyJ
Jun 14, 2007
An engrossing read
I was absorbed by this story from beginning to end. It combined the best of factual information and conjecture - a fascinating picture of Hollywood in the 50's and 60's and a gripping human story full of pathos and humour and drama - even though you know what the outcome will be, you wil not be able to put it down as the fateful end draws near.
