In this ambitious book, Joyce Carol Oates boldly reimagines the inner, poetic, and spiritual life of Norma Jeane Baker—the child, the woman, the fated celebrity and idolized blonde the world came to know as Marilyn Monroe. In a voice startling, intimate, and rich, Norma Jeane tells her own story, that of an emblematic American artist—intensely conflicted and driven—who has lost her way. A … powerful portrait of Hollywood’s myth and an extraordinary woman’s heartbreaking reality, Blonde is a sweeping epic that pays tribute to the elusive magic and devastation behind the creation of the great twentieth-century American star.
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A view of Marilyn that seems extremely realistic. A great character development.
Seems to fall apart near the end, maybe as Marilyn did.
A different kind of book. Intense at times, sad and poignant. Marilyn stayed with me after I finished the book
Marilyn Monroe was a film icon when I was growing up. She was glamorous and mysterious with her well-publicized romances that included rumors of JFK, the Rat Pack, and Joe DiMaggio who took flowers to her gravesite for the rest of his life. This perspective share details of Monroe’s upbringing, her neediness, and her attempts to stay relent is the world of movie making.
The Blonde by Joyce Carol Oates
This was an exceptional book in many ways. I have enjoyed it greatly and will go on to read Oates’ other literary offers, realizing that she is a shining star among countless other writers.
Having lived in most of the era of the subject “blonde”, my understanding of this tragic and beautiful phenomenon we have experienced as Marilyn Monroe was greatly altered by the Oates perception which was compassionate and realistic at the same time. It doesn’t matter to me if the author described Norma Jean quite faithfully or used poetic license in places to to attain a greater truth. Am giving Joyce Carol Oates the highest recommendation possible for this novel which seems to require an almost new description of genre. Lee Costello Scott
Oates weaves an intricate story with which we can identify . Her characters stay with you.