Reviews

Wrought with explicit detail for every action, it almost forgets that you can still amplify your themes without tackling traumatic experience after traumatic experience. Blonde offers us a fictional whataboutism about Marilyn Monroe's life; however, the approach it takes gives Monroe agency, though you have to understand that it's more emotionally based and less cultural. Monroe is a cultural icon, one you could write about for years; when it looks at the complexities of the mind, the novel teeters into this sardonic, bordering sadistic perspective where her being as an actress and child of abuse is the emotional weight holding it down. There are moments where we see her focusing and aiming to deliver dynamic performance after dynamic performance, that you visualize the disillusionment of her peers that weren't so entangled with methodic acting. The relationship between her and her mother and her husbands adds a lot of complex layers, and when we get to her marriage to Arthur Miller, it brings the most depth we've gotten since the beginning. The first 250 pages or so may be hard to sit through as it involves childbride-era Marilyn, and the sexual descriptors are too intense, especially with its casual, slightly confused tone. Her marriage to Joe DiMaggio focuses on her cultural impact, but most of these moments are relatively hollow and rarely deliver a sense of grandeur. I can understand the love for the novel, specifically, those keen on predominately well-written books, but this ain't it chief.

Now I ask myself; would it have benefited from expanding Marilyn Monroe's role in elevating Black musicians or some depth regarding her production company? Yes. Instead, it's more visual bleakness, and non-consenting promiscuity and rapes make you understand who she is as a performer since she brings these experiences forward and finds slight parallels with her performances. It's a challenging read, and it has been since I first read it some odd long years ago and again a few back, but as this reread ends in conjunction with the Dominik adaptation, the novel gets more intriguing and less compelling. It's hard to warrant more than a one-time read because the issues underlining the book speak more toward its characterizations than the plot progression and respective relationships. It may be the last time I go about it, but who knows?

obscuredbyclouds's review against another edition

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1.0

I was not prepared for: a) how weird this book was going to be and b) how incredibly tedious.

I'd read Joyce Carol Oates before as a teenager and had liked the books alright, but I couldn't for the life of me tell you which two out of her 50 novels it was. What I do know is that they had a normal amount of pages. Between 200 and 400 or so. "Blonde" is a 1k whopper of a novel and it does not deserve to be so long.

It's kind of written competetently but after the first 100 pages or so I already found myself not wanting to continue. Still, the reimigining of Marylin Monroe's childhood was the best part. Maybe because I think complicated family structures (her and mother's) are more interesting than the repetition of failed romantic relationships ad nauseum. And they are so weird and brutal and loveless. You never get to feel for any of the characters.

Presumably, writing this fan fiction meant that the author wanted to explore the character of Monroe? But no, she only describes her as a phenomena - which is so boring! She's seen as a dumb sex symbol and nothing else by men, when all she craves is real love. Get it? Do you get it yet? But Oates herself describes her as dumb blonde, so that often it feels more like cruel judgement than social commentary.

I could excuse all the wobbly morality of this if the novel wasn't so god damn boring.

elsafenander's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional sad tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

slb80's review against another edition

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informative sad slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

lizferneau's review against another edition

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3.0

I think I was hoping it would be more of a window into who she was as a person and not so much the scandalous stories of her lovers. I felt like most of the book focused on her relationships and less on her work. But then again her work wasn’t really much of a choice. She was raped and taken advantage of. Her life was full of loss of self by the Hollywood grip on her image as Marilyn Monroe. Sad but interesting take on a retelling of Norma Jean Baker’s life.

birdsong_28's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Good. Hard to read at first as it's very disjointed but when you get into it it's such a good read. A fictionalised account of Marilyn Monroe's life from not just her but her friends and family. My advice with this book is to just go with it and don't think too hard about what you are reading otherwise it won't make sense and will spoil the experience. Also I think you need to have some background knowledge before you read this as some things won't make sense.

t_d_brooking's review against another edition

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5.0

Listened to this on audible and it was excellently read. Highly recommend!

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