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blaithinr's review
1.0
This book s well written and i get it but, i just think it's so weird to make up such a personal life about someone who was alive.. weird behavior
lynn63's review against another edition
5.0
I think this is JCO's best book since Them. A sympathetic portrait that deals with the long history of exploitation of women by the film industry as well as the origins and manifestations of mental illness.
susieliston's review against another edition
Started out interesting, but I bogged down fairly early on. Creeped me out a bit.
linn1378's review against another edition
3.0
A lot of people don't like this story because it's not 100% true to Marilyn Monroe in real life, but it says right there on the cover that this is a novel. The Netflix movie has gotten some backlash for the same reason, but neither the book nor the movie claim to be biographical.
'Blonde' Movie vs. the True Story of Marilyn Monroe | Fact-Check
I'm giving it three stars because the story was slow and not very engaging, but there was also nothing to hate about it if I'm not hating it for being fiction.
'Blonde' Movie vs. the True Story of Marilyn Monroe | Fact-Check
I'm giving it three stars because the story was slow and not very engaging, but there was also nothing to hate about it if I'm not hating it for being fiction.
reillybr's review against another edition
4.0
This 700 page book took me a long time to get through, but I was never bored. If anything, JCO built up the suspense and tension so that toward the end I was barreling through it. Her writing style is more poetry and prose, so sometimes I has a hard time sifting through the pages, and sometimes I was caught up in how she put things. Mostly though, it's made me fascinated by Marilyn. Her portrayal of her was so human and so disturbing. This book is very dark, but very worth it.
tresajmf's review against another edition
5.0
Everyone on the planet is my enemy now because no one recommended this book to me I had to discover it through Ana de Armas.
sruti_'s review against another edition
4.0
This took me months to read, not because it was boring or convoluted but because it was big and I was distracted. It was sweeping. It was confusing at parts, but such an experience, reading it. This not only gave me Norma Jeane Baker's story, but also a story of the US. Politics, Hollywood, "American" values were all examined and found to be lacking. JFK was not only a philanderer, he was a heartless one at that. Movie stars confronted with the mortality of their look and fame: is it any wonder their tragic fates, given the unreasonable demands of the public, of their careers, of their own aspirations? Also, in a deeply patriarchal world, Norma Jeane's struggle defined feminist efforts, even as she was and still is typecast as a dumb blonde.
bibliorow's review against another edition
5.0
Of all the JCO books I’ve been working through on my shelf, I saved this for last, because I knew it would be my favorite. I’ve always loved Marilyn Monroe and have read one or two biographies on her. This was a fictional account of her life but so many of the events were a real part of Hollywood history, and in that way it felt so much more heartbreaking. I’ve seen so many different genres and writing styles from JCO but the way she captures Marilyn Monroe’s life is her best work I’ve read so far. I loved this as much as it was sad to read. It paints a tragic picture of how Marilyn was treated by Hollywood and men, and the unfortunate hand she was dealt in life. I liked how most of the men in her life aside from a select few are only identified by letters of the alphabet or just a placeholder for their name - Z, C, W, H, the Ex-Athlete and the Playwright, and how for a lot of the novel she herself was referred to as just the Blond Actress. It gave a vivid clarity to the story and focused the lens solely on Marilyn in a devastating way. JCO writes the scattered thoughts, deep feelings and turbulent emotions of Marilyn so beautifully that it makes you feel like Joyce knew Monroe personally. This is fictional but it feels incredibly real. Marilyn’s story is one of Hollywood’s greatest tragedies to me, and this 700-page journey through her life gives so much more detail and insight than any other account I’ve read. It also portrays a conspiracy about her death which I somehow never considered before but which I am now entirely fascinated by. This was just so powerful and moving and I loved it so much.