A review by eliseofsoleanna
The Blonde by Anna Godbersen
2.0
This book did not deserve that ending. Absolutely freaking not.
The Blonde's premise is basically that of a history buff's fanfiction; Marilyn Monroe is actually working for the KGB in the early 1960s and her assignment is to get close to JFK and learn a secret and report back. Naturally this does not happen and instead Ms. Monroe proceeds to fall in love with JFK and attempts to escape her handler in the hopes of having a happy ending with her new Presidential loverboy.
I should say this book was written very well but it just...it honestly just wasn't interesting for me. And I'm pretty sure the only way I got through this book was by disassociating Marilyn Monroe and JFK from themselves, and I think that sums up this book's problem for me. I would have liked it more if this book was pure fiction; if the story had been about a beautiful actress who was being run by the KGB but fell in love with her target then yeah this would have been great. But it was held down by the fact that it was trying to characterize these two impactful historical figures. I hated Marilyn for at least 3/4 of this book and JFK is about as despicable as he was in real life (probably) so I didn't start rooting for these characters until after I convinced my brain to stop picturing Marilyn Monroe and JFK themselves and instead as fictional people called Marilyn and Jack. And the other issue was that it was so painfully slow. It wasn't until maybe the 3rd quarter that I became invested, and that is just way too far along for me to give this book a good rating.
Also can someone please explain to me why Walls was even a character to begin with? Like...what was his purpose again? There was absolutely no point to his character (nor his perspective chapters) except to be there at the end of the book and be a foil to Marilyn (?) and this would have worked out so much better if he hadn't been there at all. This was Marilyn's story to tell, and he was awkwardly trying to get some of the spotlight.
The Blonde's premise is basically that of a history buff's fanfiction; Marilyn Monroe is actually working for the KGB in the early 1960s and her assignment is to get close to JFK and learn a secret and report back. Naturally this does not happen and instead Ms. Monroe proceeds to fall in love with JFK and attempts to escape her handler in the hopes of having a happy ending with her new Presidential loverboy.
I should say this book was written very well but it just...it honestly just wasn't interesting for me. And I'm pretty sure the only way I got through this book was by disassociating Marilyn Monroe and JFK from themselves, and I think that sums up this book's problem for me. I would have liked it more if this book was pure fiction; if the story had been about a beautiful actress who was being run by the KGB but fell in love with her target then yeah this would have been great. But it was held down by the fact that it was trying to characterize these two impactful historical figures. I hated Marilyn for at least 3/4 of this book and JFK is about as despicable as he was in real life (probably) so I didn't start rooting for these characters until after I convinced my brain to stop picturing Marilyn Monroe and JFK themselves and instead as fictional people called Marilyn and Jack. And the other issue was that it was so painfully slow. It wasn't until maybe the 3rd quarter that I became invested, and that is just way too far along for me to give this book a good rating.
Also can someone please explain to me why Walls was even a character to begin with? Like...what was his purpose again? There was absolutely no point to his character (nor his perspective chapters) except to be there at the end of the book and be a foil to Marilyn (?) and this would have worked out so much better if he hadn't been there at all. This was Marilyn's story to tell, and he was awkwardly trying to get some of the spotlight.