Rating: 
Summary: Hail mediocrity?
Review: The only explanation I can find to explain any amount of enthusiasm for this book is that nothing succeeds like mediocrity - there has always been a market for it and there always will be. Oates seems to be making a career in that particular market. In this unfortunate book, Ms. Oates takes 800 pages to ineptly say what it would take any equally bad writer over the age of twelve to say in a few paragraphs. Okay okay, we get the message: Ms. Oates feels it's an outrage for a woman to act sexy, dye her hair and capitalize on her looks, so we shall have her raped, have her ridiculed, give her the mind of an imbecile, beat her up and degrade her over and over again. Whew! Feel better Ms. Oates?Anyone interested in reading a legitimate fictionalized account of Marilyn Monroe, with good writing and realistic events and plausible characters, I recommned "The Marilyn Diaries," by Charles Casillo (fantastic) or "The Immortals" by Michael Korda (very good). As for "Blonde" well, it's heavy enough to make a useable doorstop.
Rating:
Summary: Lingering bad taste
Review: I read this novel two months ago--in short installments; short for two main reasons: first, the prose was shockingly amateurish, as if a first draft had been rushed through into production, without care, recklessly; second, the cruelty of the treatment was difficult to tolerate, the obsession with another's sexuality displaying so much anger and perhaps envy for the object of that obsession. Even if this were a totally fictional account, the view of it as reckless would hold, if only because the writing is so bad, but also because the effect is of a fevered imagination loosed on its subject, as if in some kind of fury. That the object of all this was an actual person aggravates every criticism. Especially astonishing is that Oates has gone on record as claiming that Norma Jeane actually guided her hand along in the writing, that she, Oates, knew what it was to BE Norma Jeane! Oates as Norma Jeane, who became Marilyn Monroe,is preposterous. I cannot immagine anyone "inspiring" these truly obscene observations about herself to be placed on paper, to be leered at. I finally managed to finish the book, so that I would be able to express a credible reaction to it; and that reaction is that the book has left a lingering bad taste.
Rating: 
Summary: it will break the hardest of hearts...
Review: I began this novel interested to see how a major writer would handle such a controversial, arching, cultural figure and individual of the modern era in america as Monroe. I have to say I found Oates' novel challenging and gratifying. Oates' stays true to herself by producing a work for Monroe that is steeped in the inner life of the character. It's written in third person, but with the character's internal voice constantly in a state of expression, realization, anxiety, growth, discovery, response, and pain. Monroe is dangerous territory. She is familiar, as demonstrated in the continuing strength and influence of her physical image. Often, and for many, still, a crass, overt, easy reference for expressive female sexuality, that was, ultimately, unfortunate for Monroe in her life and her memory. Or worse, iconic and unknown, as Monroe continues to be appropriated and mythologized by her adoring fans, who, as demonstrated by many of the reviews gathered on this page, continue to isolate her from herself by, and within, their own rigid projections. Monroe's factual life is stunning. A compression of time and events rare even for celebrity. A life that continues to generate public and private discussion and reflection. It is a rich, long novel. It should have been longer. Oates, in her 'imagining' of Monroe's psychological and emotional states, her feeling, is compelling. It is as relentless a narrative as the attention that Monroe elicited. Quite justified. Riveting sections of the narrative are Monroe's childhood, her relationship with her agents, her handling of the surfaced nude photos, and her experiences on the film sets of 'some like it hot', 'the misfits' and 'niagra'. The section on miller, in fact, the whole new york period, is striking. I felt reading these words that I wasn't just in the room with strasberg, miller and Monroe, but seeing and feeling it take place as Monroe was experiencing it, and futher, observing herself and events in a dissociative parallel state. A truly unique result of the technical side of writing. It was complicated and meaningful. The novel is a rough river and culminates in a shocking, and after I thought about it, appropriate, post-modern style. Fragmented, surreal, objectified, broken. For those who believe that Oates' representation of Monroe's depth and edge, her degradation, both willing and forced, her sorrow, simplicity, and her private erotic and sexual experience and feeling, is undignified, and a betrayal of Monroe, I would urge you to watch the following film: Monroe in virtually any unscripted exchange with an interviewer or reporter, Monroe's announcement of the divorce from Miller, Monroe's arrival for admitting at Payne-Whitney Psychiatric Clinic in New York City, Monroe off-camera while filming, particularly 'some like it hot' and the 'the misfits', Monroe's arrival for the premiere of 'some like it hot', Monroe on camera for lighting checks and adjustments before production on her unfinished final film, and then the photo, i think her high school graduation photo, of the young girl from california, norma jean baker. my god, finally someone, Oates, the American Dickens, with power and devotion put words to the aching music of Monroe's life.
Rating:
Summary: BOOOORRRRIIIINNNNGGGGG!
Review: Couldn't get past the first few pages. Hard to follow. Boring. If you're a Monroe fan, save your money because this book is definitely not worth purchasing. Sorry Joyce---try again!
Rating:
Summary: Excellent, compelling, haunting
Review: Tour de force - a compelling book that goes deeply into Marilyn's psyche. I didn't know what to expect and was completely swept into this 'biography'. A must read.
Rating:
Summary: Shoddy narrative, shoddy writing
Review: That some reviewers are assuming this to be a "true" rendering of Marilyn Monroe's life adds shame to this clumsily written novel. Putting aside Oates' shocking invasion of another's life--a life she clearly has envied and resented for long, and now assaults for that reason--the book is an example of bad writing throughout. It's not that Oates experiments; it's that she now feels she can punch out anything and get it published. All anyone has to do is to read it even cursorily to find sentences that result in howlers; dangling participles throughout, repetition, pretentious observations that can't stand scrutiny and are clearly intended to be profound. The year isn't over; but I doubt that anything like this truly monstrous novel will be published, unless, of course, Oates is on her way to publishing her billionth novel, without even reading over it, or, apparently, having her editor read it over for glaring errors. This book is surely among the worst ever written by a writer who takes herself seriously.
Rating:
Summary: Marylin from the inside
Review: I read about one Joyce Carol Oates book a year and like every other one. I loved this book even though it is depressing to learn how Marylin did her best to survive in spite of her tragic circumstances. Oates tells the reader that this is fiction but I think it is fact. Oates manages to tell the story from Marylin's point of view. It is believable, sympathetic, feminist and documentary of the times. It is amazing that Marylin survived as long as she did because she had nobody, nobody to help her. She tried so hard to reach her Mother but her Mother was not able to respond. You get the sense from the first paragraph that the story is spinning out of control, that the tragedy is inevitable in the way Greek drama is inevitable. Oates is clearly one of our great writers and I recommend this book highly especially to women as a documentary that is probably more valid than not even now, even in the United States.
Rating:
Summary: DESERVES ZERO STARS...BUT THAT ISN'T AN OPTION!
Review: Thank god I received this book as a gift!!! I would never spend my hard earned cash on something so awful. I tried to read Oates once before and am not even a fan of her style of writing. It is just not user friendly. There is too much weirdness going on. I am, however, I very big admirer and fan of Marilyn. It still amazes me that someone actually spent money and bought this book. I couldn't even finish it, I made it about 1/4 way through. Hoping that it would get better, but that didn't happen. I have nothing good to say about this book, it was boring. It is also very poorly written. I saw the picture of Oates on the back(she got hit with the ugly stick), and I think she was just jealous of Monroe's beauty. this was her revenge.
Rating:
Summary: Believable
Review: I liked it, I really liked it. It's as if Oates channeled MM for this book. I felt like I was reading the truth. Oates makes Monroe out as an unstintingly complex character, showing how she was shaped by her tumultuous past. Monroe is more than just a cartoon character.
Rating: 
Summary: Well-written FICTION
Review: I wonder how this book would have been received and reviewed if there had never been a real-life Marilyn Monroe. So much of the reviewers' reaction is to the impugnment of an actress and the people in her life. The truth seems to be so shrouded in mystique that the general public is left with supposition and subjective observation. It is doubtful that the entire truth about her life and death will ever be known. Joyce Carol Oates is a superlative writer who approached a topic of general and prurient interest with all the substantial talent she possesses. Let's not hold her to a different standard than other fiction writers for selecting Marilyn Monroe and her entourage as the subject of this book.
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