� L'auteur de Rien de grave aime Blonde parce que c'est l'une de ses obsessions: avoir tout et finir avec rien. � Marie-Laure Delorme, Le Journal du Dimanche , 17 juillet 2008. Blonde ne ressemble � aucun livre de Joyce Carol Oates. Avec cette oeuvre monumentale et baroque, qu'elle compose � partir des fantasmes que lui inspire Marylin Monroe, l'�crivain a ainsi marqu� de son empreinte un genre in�dit: la � bio-fiction �. Construite en cinq actes, cette trag�die est �crite sur deux modes: l'un ...
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� L'auteur de Rien de grave aime Blonde parce que c'est l'une de ses obsessions: avoir tout et finir avec rien. � Marie-Laure Delorme, Le Journal du Dimanche , 17 juillet 2008. Blonde ne ressemble � aucun livre de Joyce Carol Oates. Avec cette oeuvre monumentale et baroque, qu'elle compose � partir des fantasmes que lui inspire Marylin Monroe, l'�crivain a ainsi marqu� de son empreinte un genre in�dit: la � bio-fiction �. Construite en cinq actes, cette trag�die est �crite sur deux modes: l'un narratif et r�aliste, l'autre surr�aliste, fait de visions et d'hallucinations. Un peu comme si la folie d'une Marylin starifi�e venait interrompre les voix de diff�rents personnages tentant de raconter son histoire. Au sein de ce choeur, on entend le souffle gracile et timide de Norma Jean, l'enfant bless�e et perdue que Marylin a d� �tre, obs�d�e par le pouvoir de destruction et la fragilit� de sa m�re. C'est donc la part d'ombre de ce personnage devenu mythique qui a inspir� Joyce Carol Oates: � Je n'ai pas d�cid� de faire un livre sur Marilyn Monroe. C'est en d�couvrant une photo de Norma Jean prise en 1944 quand elle avait dix-sept ans que j'ai eu envie d'�crire sur cette jeune fille ordinaire, quelconque, une Am�ricaine typique avec ses cheveux fonc�s et son visage rond, qui ne ressemblait en rien � Marilyn Monroe. [...] C'est gr�ce et � cause d'Hollywood qu'elle s'est m�tamorphos�e, qu'elle est devenue un miracle. Ce qui compte pour moi, c'est la vie priv�e de Norma Jean, comment cette vie priv�e s'est transform�e en produit. � Quand on sait que c'est � sa m�re que Joyce Carol Oates a pens� en d�couvrant cette photo des jeunes ann�es de Marilyn, on a tr�s envie d'entendre l'auteur de Mauvaise fille nous raconter en quoi la lecture de Blonde a �t� pour elle d'une telle importance.
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Add this copy of Blonde to cart. $94.33, good condition, Sold by Bonita rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Newport Coast, CA, UNITED STATES, published 2010 by STOCK.
With Joyce Carol Oates I started backwards: I started with We were the Mulvaneys and I tought it was great, I fell in love with her and from there I read a lot of her books and finally got to Blonde, her best book and a must read novel for Americans!!!! and of course anybody looking for a great novel!!
Edward G
Jul 29, 2010
Fabulous!!!!
If BLONDE is not the definitive biography of Marilyn Monroe, it should be! Joyce Carol Oates has an understanding of people that is insightful, heartfelt and honest.
While I grew up seeing Marilyn Monroe in movies and TV reruns, not to mention the tabloids, there was a fragility to her that touched my heart. So, too, does Joyce Carol Oates. She presents such an honest look at Norma Jean Baker, a young woman who never had a chance. MM was as fictitoius to Monroe as Hollywood itself.
Without being maudlin, by the end of the book I was in tears, my heart broken for this incredibly talented, intelligent beautiful young woman who was knocked down at every turn. She should have been doing classic roles, not the dumb blond bombshell that sold tickets and fulfulled the men in her life's sadistic sexual fantasies.
By the end of the book I also wanted to take a bat to Joe DiMaggio and Peter Lawford for "allegedly" pimping her to the Kennedy's whom I had grown up loving and now make me sick at their abuse of people and power.
Ellyb
Oct 29, 2009
Devastating
As many other reviewers have mentioned, "Blonde" is quite a weighty tome, clocking in at around 800 pages. However, at no point did I begrudge the book its length, because I was absolutely absorbed by it from cover to cover. "Blonde" is a devastating portrait of one of America's celebrity casualties. By the end of the book I actually felt like Marilyn Monroe had been created by Joyce Carol Oates, for the woman on the page was so believably and completely exposed in all her deep, fluttering insecurities, needs, and desires. I kept forgetting that Monroe was a historical figure whose life Oates spun into a fictional story, never having met the woman herself.
I highly recommend "Blonde" to those interested in the culture of 1950's Hollywood, in gender relations, and Marilyn herself. It may be a fictional biography, but it taps into the life she led and its tragic end to say something quite meaningful all the same.
ShirleyJ
Jun 14, 2007
An engrossing read
I was absorbed by this story from beginning to end. It combined the best of factual information and conjecture - a fascinating picture of Hollywood in the 50's and 60's and a gripping human story full of pathos and humour and drama - even though you know what the outcome will be, you wil not be able to put it down as the fateful end draws near.
