A review by sruti_
Blonde by Joyce Carol Oates

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.