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A review by tanja_alina_berg
Blond by Joyce Carol Oates
2.0
I came across this book a few weeks ago and thought it would be one to get around to eventually. Then there was a booksale which miraculously included this book, meaning I bought it.I started reading it soon after buying, so that the length would not deter me.
I read a biography about Norma Jean Baker - aka Marilyn Monroe - some twenty years past. This is not a biography. This is a fictional account on what it could have been like to be Miss Baker. It gives insight into her vulnerability, her intelligence and her naivety when it came to men. Norma Jean had a desire to please that went far beyond what was good for her.
I found the book pretty good upto the point where Norma Jean becomes Marilyn Monroe, at around page 250 or so. After that my interest dwindled. I found much of the writing annoying. Too many "&" and "hnnhs". It's supposed to be an insightful portrait of Marilyn Monroe. I did not find this to be the case. Maybe because of my preconceived ideas.
It's pretty incredible how this goody-two-shoes girl became the greatest sex symbol of the 20th century. That even 55 years afte her death, everyone still knows her name, her look. Although what she represented wasn't anything like what she truly was. In this book she is presented as a woman who more than anything wanted to be a wife and a mother.
This isn't really very bad or anything - I just didn't like the writing. Part of the portrait painted of Marilyn is quite touching. This book, as we are warned, must not be read as a biography though. This shows throughout because real historical characters are rarely given their actual names.
Touching at times, annoying more than anything. Could have done without.
I read a biography about Norma Jean Baker - aka Marilyn Monroe - some twenty years past. This is not a biography. This is a fictional account on what it could have been like to be Miss Baker. It gives insight into her vulnerability, her intelligence and her naivety when it came to men. Norma Jean had a desire to please that went far beyond what was good for her.
I found the book pretty good upto the point where Norma Jean becomes Marilyn Monroe, at around page 250 or so. After that my interest dwindled. I found much of the writing annoying. Too many "&" and "hnnhs". It's supposed to be an insightful portrait of Marilyn Monroe. I did not find this to be the case. Maybe because of my preconceived ideas.
It's pretty incredible how this goody-two-shoes girl became the greatest sex symbol of the 20th century. That even 55 years afte her death, everyone still knows her name, her look. Although what she represented wasn't anything like what she truly was. In this book she is presented as a woman who more than anything wanted to be a wife and a mother.
This isn't really very bad or anything - I just didn't like the writing. Part of the portrait painted of Marilyn is quite touching. This book, as we are warned, must not be read as a biography though. This shows throughout because real historical characters are rarely given their actual names.
Touching at times, annoying more than anything. Could have done without.