Rating: 
Summary: too much
Review: I found Blonde sad, depressing and fascinating, But I couldn't finish it. I stopped reading about halfway through. I have stopped reading novels before for many reasons: boredom, dull plot, poor characterization, or just plain bad writing but NEVER have I stopped reading because I got to angry/depressed to continue. It seems poor Marilyn couldn't buy a break.
Rating:
Summary: endlob
Review: Endlob is, obviously, Blonde spelled backwards and all mixed up, and that is how I feel after reading the book. It probably didn't help that I managed to finish it in 3 days (sick in bed and not being able to sleep), pulling an all-nighter that last night just so I could finish it. No, it wasn't because it is a non-stop page turner. In fact, I had to force myself through the first few chapters and was at times turned off by the author's style of writing. What kept me reading was the subject matter. Marilyn. Insanity. Drug use. Hollywood. Sex. I don't know how much liberty the author took (or how liabelous she was) in interpreting Marilyn's history because I never really read much about her before... dismissing her as simply, fluff. Now, however, I want to know the real truth. I also want to shake off this depression. And if JFK was really all that "Mr. President" was, Clinton, in my opinion is a saint.
Rating: 
Summary: Surprisingly engrossing
Review: I have never been too interested in Marilyn Monroe nor have I been a Joyce Carol Oates' fan; however, I found this book really held my interest. It would appear that Marilyn was doomed from infancy to lead a life that had a tenuous hold on sanity. I think this subject was best treated as fiction so that some license could be taken regarding the sources and duration of exploitation and the cause of death. Oates did a wonderful job of creating a character that deicately balanced intelligence and talent while dealing with myriad demons. I may never read anything else about Marilyn Monroe, but I will "see" her in a new context after reading this book.
Rating: 
Summary: Libeled Lady
Review: Someone's id is shamelessly exhibited here and it isn't Marilyn Monroe's. If the Freudians were right and books reveal far more about the author than the author's subject, then Ms. Oates has exposed much of herself (and much of it is grotesque), but unfortunately for the reader, almost nothing of Marilyn Monroe. The book purports to be one of those hybrid genres, in this case fiction/biography, an oxymoronic and suspect species, which Ms. Oates takes to new lows. The dead are freely and seriously libeled. Thus, to point out just two instances, Joe DiMaggio and JFK are painted as wife-beater and adulterer-murderer respectively. The Playwright, no doubt to Ms. Oates' chagrin, was alive and perhaps litigious at the time of publication. Therefore, he is accused of little more than boring Ms. Monroe--not to death--just to divorce. Of course, the most seriously libeled is Marilyn Monroe-her entire life is trashed and trivialized. Not a word of this book is based on anything other than decades-old innuendo appropriated from the tabloid journalism school of lit and Ms. Oates'own fevered imagination, which is all right for absolute fiction. But not all right here, where the line separating fiction from nonfiction is deliberately obfuscated, seemingly for no other reason than to free the writer from doing any research other than scouring decades of supermarket scandal sheets and choosing to elaborate on the nastiest from among so much nastiness. It recalls one of Mary McCarthy's quotes about Lillian Hellman's series of self-serving autobiographies and memoirs: "Every word is a lie, including the ands and buts." That something as vicious, vacuous and unnecessary as this book can so cavalierly disseminate totally unsubstantiated accusations with impunity speaks ill for the future of publishing in general and biography in particular. If you're interested in Marilyn Monroe's life (and her real life was fascinating) choose from among the dozens of biographies published over the last forty-five years. Whatever you do, do not buy this book. Do not encourage Ms. Oates and other conscienceless schlockmeisters to continue creating these noisome Frankenstein monsters, a.k.a. fictional/biography, which may be the ultimate oxymoron, but is without doubt the easiest way to make a quick, dishonest buck--short of counterfeiting--since the invention of the printing press.
Rating:
Summary: Reckless prose, reckless assault
Review: I had avoided reading this novel for several reasons. I had read many very negative reviews that took Ms. Oates to task both for the content of the novel as well as for what was described as messy, hurried writing. I had, too, been aware of the extraordinary publicity that was given to the novel--full-page ads, television interviews, magazine articles everywhere;I had never seen so much promotion before for a novel deemed to be "literary." Yet the book was not on the bestseller lists, and that seemed odd, given all that publicity. I attended a meeting of a Marilyn Monroe fan club one Sunday--I'm not a member, but I am a fan--and I heard the novel being criticized very strongly by both men and women in the club. I was surprised that there was not one exception in the criticism, and again the criticism was aimed both at the content and the writing. I bought the book, to find out for myself what was eliciting these reactions--and, very soon into it, I knew why: It is, indeed, a badly written novel. Anyone who appreciates literary prose will see that immediately, especially after having read Susan Sontag's new novel, and Annie Proulx's fine prose. Beyond the careless prose (does Ms. Oates read back over her work, let alone revise?), the "story" supposedly told from the point of view of Norma Jeane (Ms. Oates as Norma Jeane is a somewhat remote concept)is ludicrous in its excesses. Was it possible that a woman as beautiful and talented would detest herself so violently, as Ms. Oates' character does? Or is it Ms. Oates who detests Marilyn Monroe? Whatever the reason, the novel is relentless in its assault on the movie star. There were places where I became so angry that I swore not to finish the novel. But I returned to it, expecting that perhaps at the end I would understand its true purpose. But there was no revelation. The end was the worst, a heated hallucination, sexual images linked with ghastly death images. No one deserves this done to her life. I begin to wonder whether the secret of Ms. Oates' prolificacy lies in the fact that she simply writes whatever comes to her mind, and that recklessly.
Rating: 
Summary: Amazing book! One of the best I have ever read.
Review: I hadn't read a Joyce Carol Oates book before and read this because it is about Marilyn Monroe. It turned out to be one of the best books I have ever read. The way Oates wrote it is brilliant. You feel you are inside Marilyn's head and seeing her life as she lives it. A great book for all women to read to think about how they feel about men and sex. Without making Marilyn appear weak, it shows the true sadness of her life from an orphaned girl of a mentally unstable mother to a likely murdered-by-powerful-men-before-she-could-expose-them-to-the-media sexpot.
Rating:
Summary: Shameful performance
Review: I read this novel after reading the "Kirkus" review on this site; the reviewer called it "one of the worst novels" ever written by a serious author. That seemed to me surprising, to say about a well-known writer I hadn't read but had read about. I decided to read the book, feeling that it could't be that "dreadful and turgid" and written in "leaden prose," as that reviewer went on to say. I am sorry to say that after the first few pages of this truly turgid prose and the outrageous imposture of Oates that she could actually assume the voice of Norma Jeane, I began to feel that the reviewer had actually been restrained. It's an embarrassing novel that pretends to follow the emergence of Marilyn Monroe as a star. The portrait Oates paints drips with contempt for the movie star, and all her characters. The only humor in the book is unintentional, when her sentences become so convoluted that they become howlers. The ending, where Oates imagines the death of Marilyn Monroe is unpardonable, violent and ghoulish. Anyone who can find humanity in this book--or good writing--must NOT have read the book that I--and apparently the Kirkus reviewer, as well as many, many other reviewers--have read, truly one of the worst, shamefully offensive.
Rating:
Summary: Best "Marilyn" book
Review: I've read many books about Marilyn/Norma Jeane that have tried to go inside her mind and explain this enigmatic woman,but none comes close to _Blonde_ .Oates takes you on a journey through a life full of pain and heartache,that is very sad yet all too true.Other reviewers have said it far better than me and so I'll just leave it to them to say what makes this book so good.Don't listen to the reviewers who say this is a pile of junk,the writing is confusing and reads like a first draft and is also insulting to the life of "The Blonde Actress".That is so far from the truth and methinks they were reading a different book then the one I read.This was the first novel by Oates that I read and will definitely be reading more by her.
Rating:
Summary: BREATHTAKING BLONDE
Review: Joyce Carol Oates will always be a serious read; isn't that why we read her work? But always, the effort is richly rewarding. With "Blonde" Oates has created a characterization of Marilyn Monroe which literally breathes. In every line I heard Monroe's voice speaking, very softly, very sadly. This is not a quickie summer read, but an immensely moving study of an entire generation of women who gamely tried to play the big man's rules and who, therefore, were perfectly prepared to be the big man's prey. With Monroe's enormous heart and brilliant talent so well evoked here, comes the recognition that for women of a certain age, "there but for the grace of God..." The sadness and loss I felt as a reader, extends to encompass us all.
Rating:
Summary: Extreme violation
Review: Although Ms. Oates asserts that her novel is not intended as biography, the fact that several readers and reviewers are taking as actual facts its many distortions about Marilyn Monroe emphasizes the extreme violation undertaken by Ms. Oates. This is even more outrageous in that she has claimed that she felt Norma Jeane guiding her fingers to write it--"from the inside." I confess that I had never read Ms. Oates' novels before, but I knew of her reputation, and so the least I expected was a beautifully written novel. Instead, I encountered writing that seems to have been left unrevised; there is repetition throughout, sentences that run on aimlessly, rambling, messy prose conveying observations that attempt to be profound and, finally, only confuse. The characters are props--cold allegorical Symbols--and the rampant, abusive sexual violence that is attached to Marilyn Monroe's name is reprehensible. I now wonder whether all of Ms. Oates' work is marred by such hurried writing, or is it just this novel that is so awkward? I don't think I shall find out, because this novel is more than enough exposure to such violent extremity.
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