Rating: 
Summary: Lingering bad taste
Review: There are those novels that continue to haunt, lingering in one's mind long after one has finished reading them--and that's so because they are so good, beautifully written, and/or narrating a story with such perception that one continues to be illuminated. There are also novels so bad, so tasteless, so embarrassing that they leave a bad, rancid after-taste. Such a novel is Oates' "Blonde." I doubt that this novel would have been published if it did not come from the very proflific writer of such huge literary reputation (the book makes one wonder what that reputation is truly based on), something like an inherited, now unexplored reputation. I can't get the ugliness of it out of my mind. That has nothing to do with the fact that it purports to be the story of an actual person--Oates clearly knows absolutely othing about the actual Marilyn Monroe and apparently didn't feel she had to; it has to do with an obsessional attitude toward the author's subject, to explore every detail of her fictional character's sexuality, and to do so clearly judgementally while pretending, in interviews, to be sympathetic to her character. And the writing! I would challenge any one of literary acumen to clarify for me passages of convoluted writing that would get excoriated in a sophomore paper. Repetition! The book might have been edited to make a short story--still repugnant but at least for a shorter time--of perhaps 50 pages. Does Oates revise? Is she so satisfied with her reputation that she feels she can simply sit down and type? I wonder whether people actually read her any more, or just simply praise her by rote. There is no other way to explain how any truly literate person might find this to be literature. The best description I can find for this novel is that it is messy, squalid. Pretentious? Some of the characters are nothing but walking symbols that Oates uses to assault her main character: The Prince, the Princess. No character emerges out of this with more than a shadowy outline, certainly not the main character of Norma Jeane, who is a prop for the author to heave sexual fantasies upon. And what fantasies!--including necrophilia. I finished the book only to be able to sustain my opinion of it. It is a total embarrassment.
Rating: 
Summary: brilliant
Review: I happen to think this book is genius, as with practically everything Joyce Carol Oates writes. It's chock full of so many wonderful, thought-provoking, and well-researched imagined details. It is interesting to note that many fans of American Icons seem to be unable to handle a revisioning or a supposing of Their Personal Hero as anything less than brilliantly unflawed. While this is not a direct counterraction to many of the negative reviews here, (everyone has a right to their own opinion) it is something that I have noted throughout my life. This book is a masterpiece, a talented vision of Marilyn Monroe's complicated, tragic, extraordinary life. I loved it.
Rating: 
Summary: Poignant and Tragic!
Review: I have read several biographies of Marilyn Monroe over that years, and this is the best yet. I understand why Oates has called this a novel. This enables her to include "imagined" material, such as stream of consciousness on the part of Norma Jeane, or "conversation" between Norma and others. But the skeletal frame of the novel, is fact. Oates takes the reader into the very mind of Norma Jeane. Other biographies make us feel as if we're unable to get close to the actual person. What emerges here, is a tragic picture of abuse, from childhood 'til the end of "Marilyn's" short, sad life. The book is also an indictment of men, in their sexual abuse of women; it's an indictment of the "Hollywood era"...My only criticism is that I think Oates pushed the "victim" button a bit too far. Feminist or not, there comes a time when every individual - even an abused woman - must accept some responsibility for his/her fate. Norma Jeane, in reality, did have some choices, and she is partly responsible for her own fate. Oates can't pass all the blame to her mother, the orphanage, the Studio, the Ex-Athlete, the Playwrite, the President - or the Fans - or even drugs and alcohol. "Blonde", though, is a super achievement and I highly recommend it.
Rating:
Summary: Extraordinary!!!
Review: What an amazing, exqisite, deeply human and touching book, covering all aspects of humanity, particularly it's frailties. That it is about Marylin is almost unimportant. What magic!!!
Rating:
Summary: Hey...
Review: Am just here to say that I liked this book, contrary to many other reviewer's views. I guess, from reading the comments, that one will either hate or love this book. Joyce Carol Oates has a very original, thought-provoking prose style that presents Marilyn Monroe wonderfully. Read if you have spare time and find the idea of Marilyn interesting.
Rating: 
Summary: very disappointed
Review: I was looking forward to reading this book... but I wish I had read some of the reviews here first. I am glad to see I am not alone in finding BLONDE just terrible! I have bogged my way halfway through and can't even finish it, it is that bad. The intent is transparent, and fails miserably.
Rating:
Summary: Blonde
Review: Tragic...poignant...a woman undone by her own circumstances and the people unable to see her for herself. Oates does a fine job of brining this character (icon) back to life. My heart breaks for Norma Jean.An ambitious book well worth the read
Rating:
Summary: One of the worst books ever written...
Review: I've read all of Joyce Carol Oates' books and I'm disappointed to see her produce this awful book. It's almost as if it were written by someone else, except it does contain much in the identifiable Oates' style. Ponderous, nasty, badly written, pretentious, this book deserves many insults. But the biggest insult is from Oates to her readers. Her bizarre infatuation with Marilyn Monroe did not need to produce a book. Her time would have been better spent in therapy and, perhaps, on an appropriate medication. Her invention of feelings and motivations for this dead actress is embarrassing and, frankly, sick. My opinion of her and her writing was seriously damaged by this horrible book.
Rating:
Summary: Morbid, exploitive novel
Review: Is this really the author who gets written about with so much praise? After reading this really terrible book, I kept wondering whether there was another Joyce Carol Oates, or whether those who praise her just do so dutifully because she's written 1000 books. Certainly, no literate person could possibly praise something this badly written, repetition on every page, vague meandering sentences (certainly not the careful stream of consciousness of a James Joyce)--and what is particularly awful is the meanness of the book, the way the author clearly despises/envies her subject. Why else is there so much obsessive conjecturing about the sex life (imagined) of a beautiful woman? Why else so much denigration? Norma Jeane/Marilyn Monroe --whatever else one may think about her--was never boring, and her life, sad, and tragic though it was at times, always fascinated. The fascination here is morbid, literally --some scenes are revolting. This was my first introduction to this well-known author, and I was truly stunned that the whole confection could be so squalid, so messy, so explotive, so truly badly written.
Rating:
Summary: feminism redefined
Review: a super exploration of how a women is defined by a male-dominated planet. in blonde, oates enters the body of norma jean/marilyn so close that the readers feels each breath. the realism of this novel transcends the notion of biography. a truly great novel.
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