A review by p1ppak
Blonde by Joyce Carol Oates

2.5

I had high hopes when I started this but is one of the rare books I could not finish. Initially I did enjoy the different styles and forms of writing to convey a sort of disjointed mental state. It became repetitive and gimmicky and the ending spiralling into decline was incoherent rather than effective, and I just felt bored. I also felt it did get rather pathetic and exploitative how Norma was presented, and Oates actually failed to make her a three dimensional character in the way that her novel was supposed to invent or expose a sort of ‘truth’.