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Title: Blonde: A Novel by Joyce Carol Oates, Atkinson Jayne ISBN: 0-06-093493-X Publisher: Ecco Pub. Date: 10 April, 2001 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $15.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 3.31 (148 reviews)
Rating: 1
Summary: A reckless, extreme exercise
Comment: I read in an interview with her that J.C.Oates claims that during the writing of this novel, she came to know what it was like to be Norma Jeane, and felt Norma Jeane's hands guiding her to write this novel. Not only is that very strange, but it is certainly extreme, to blame Norma Jeane for writing this really scurrilous novel about herself. Yes, it's a novel, and not to be taken as biography; but Oates uses Monroe's name and plays coy with other real people in her life (the Playwright, etc.) How would she respond if a similar novel appeared using her name, and exporing, judgementally, the most intimate aspects of her life? Aside from all that, if the novel were a masterful literary creation, as her abusive fans keep claiming it is, insulting anyone who thinks otherwise, then all could be tolerated. But it isn't even a good novel; some of the prose reads like a first draft, not even read through by the author after she typed it, repetivie and convoluted. There are good passages throughout, but they're smothered in verbiage, pseudo-lyric passages that are undecipherable, especially those attributed to a contrived "Actor's Manual." As to the content: The obsessive references to Monroe's odors (or those of the character Oates names Norma-Jeane/Marilyn-Monroe), her bodily functions, the constant sexual denigration of her--all signal a somewhat vengeful detestation of her own protagonist, not the claimed compassion. Certainly Norma Jeane would not have encouraged J.C.Oates to write those passages (invented though they are) while using her name. What remains is what others have indicated, and exposed themselves to attack for pointing out, that the name of Marilyn Monroe sells. The whole matter of invasion of another's life in such a reckless, hostile manner (fictionalized or not, but using an actual name) is sad, really sad.
Rating: 4
Summary: A Fast and Riveting 700+ Pages
Comment: It was no surprise to me to see that most of the reviews for this book were polarized - most readers either loved it or hated it. I have been a major JCO fan for a long time. I find her writing intelligent and her insights astonishing. Frankly, I am not a Marilyn Monroe fan. First, I was too young to remember her when she was alive, and I have never seen any of her movies. So why read a long book about her? Because Joyce Carol Oates wrote it. Because Ms. Oates has taken liberties with fact (she does, after all, refer to this as a novel)it really wasn't necessary to know anything about Marilyn/Norma Jeane. The fact that her life was so fascinating, troubled, and dramatic makes for great fiction. Some readers objected to Oate's writing style. But for those of us who have enjoyed her previous writings, this was a gourmet feast! If you are a Marilyn Monroe fan you will probably enjoy this book, and if you're not, you will still enjoy it, because it covers so much of what fascinates us - madness, sex, drugs, drama and pathos. 700+ pages went surprisingly quickly.
Rating: 1
Summary: A Disgrace
Comment: Ok, Don't read BLONDE.If you respect Marilyn.Or, if you respect literature.Or, if you just respect yourself.
Joyce Carol Oates is, dare I say it?, a sick woman.A perverted woman to whom smut and crudeness is 2nd (if not 1st) nature.How does she show this to her family!?
Disguising itself as a Blockbuster novel, this book is nothing more than a porn-novel.I swear it is.I'm not being prudish.I can indeed be prudish but here I speak in all honesty.If you are looking for an "adult" novel that drivels on with no meaningful content and plenty of dirty scenes wherin the author lives out her filthiest fantasies on paper, then this is the book for you.
DOn't be fooled by the many many pages, into thinking that all that writing means GOOD writing.
If you are a Marilyn fan, skip this.JCO has simply used the fame of MArilyn's name to write a pornographic book that will sell by the truckload.
Does Joyce have talent and some clever literacy?Maybe. Maybe the people who claim the book is clever are right to some small extent.
But, basically, this is just pages nad pages of what I have already mentioned.
The glimpses inside this book of Marilyn's life and insecurities are surely obligatory pieces that lead to what Oates was really dying to write.What I have aforementioned.Along with a whole lot of fiction.
Again, Oates longed to write an, ahem, "adult" novel and used Marilyn Monroe as the central character.
If it's really Marilyn you want to read about, I suggest My Sister Marilyn.Her sister respected her.Even writers who didn't know her had some kind of respect for her and for literature.And for themselves.And for theri readers.Not this author.
This "novel" is a farce.
Rest in peace, Marilyn, if you can.
Linda M Rowe
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Title: Beasts by Joyce Carol Oates, Joyce Carol Oates ISBN: 0786711035 Publisher: Carroll & Graf Pub. Date: 22 November, 2002 List Price(USD): $11.00 |
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Title: Them by Joyce Carol Oates ISBN: 0449206920 Publisher: Fawcett Books Pub. Date: 12 December, 1984 List Price(USD): $7.99 |
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Title: Wonderland by Joyce Carol Oates ISBN: 0865380759 Publisher: Ontario Review Pr Pub. Date: May, 1992 List Price(USD): $14.95 |
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Title: Middle Age: A Romance by Joyce Carol Oates ISBN: 0060934905 Publisher: Ecco Pub. Date: 01 October, 2002 List Price(USD): $14.95 |
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Title: I'll Take You There : A Novel by Joyce Carol Oates ISBN: 0060501189 Publisher: Ecco Pub. Date: 16 September, 2003 List Price(USD): $13.95 |
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