A review by drjonty
Blonde by Joyce Carol Oates

5.0

I loved this book. A heavily fictionalized biography it still manages to get under the skin of Norma Jean Baker and show her transformation from abandoned child to superstar via a series of soul destroying and abusive compromises which are all too relevant to the metoo movement. There’s also Marilyn’s ambition and devotion to her craft; her attempts to improve herself so often ridiculed. The more lurid inventions bring to mind James Ellroy’s fast and loose historical crime books but Oates has sympathy for her heroine and this is what makes the book genuinely moving.