Scan barcode
staralfur's review against another edition
5.0
Most people have seen Andre De Dienes' wonderful pictures of Norma Jeane looking happy and youthful on the beach, with wind in her hair and a big smile on her face. De Dienes is one of the most noteworthy photographers who took pictures of her in my personal opinion, and I love this slipcase of two books.
The first book is an edited version of some of Mr. De Dienes' personal memoirs along with many of his best photos of her, and the second one contains his full machine typed and hand written memories that involved Marilyn. So this is not just a look at a young Marilyn through his camera lens, it is also a glimpse into his world.
Overall a beautiful collection of pictures and text!
_bailee_'s review against another edition
4.0
This book has amazing photos in it! Just the right amount of text! And even though it was secondhand stories about Marilyn Monroe, I feel like I got insight into the person she truly was. I enjoyed the stories and am glad Andre De Dienes' draft was included as well. I appreciated what he said and the stories he told, but there were times when you could really tell that it was a straight man from 50+ years ago narrating. I mean that in a way to point out his hypocrisy at some points. He didn't like the way other men looked at Norma Jeane/Marilyn and he didn't like how she was being used, but that's exactly what he wanted to do to her. That's what bothered me the most about the book. He kept saying how he wanted to take her away from this life and have her as his own and he would treat her right and she could do his cleaning and laundry. And I was just thinking, "WHAT?" Obviously, she didn't like the way she was being treated but she wanted to be an actress and she was going to go for it. Oh, yeah, that reminds me. Marilyn Monroe was a true Hufflepuff! (At least, that's what I think.)
One more point, it's interesting the connection Andre and Marilyn had and his almost psychic abilities. I'm sure he was hard on himself sometimes if he felt like he could have done something to change the way anything turned out.
One more point, it's interesting the connection Andre and Marilyn had and his almost psychic abilities. I'm sure he was hard on himself sometimes if he felt like he could have done something to change the way anything turned out.
More...