Scan barcode
catwithfivelines's review
I was quite engaged, but it was also uncomfortably Freudian.
theresidentbookworm's review
4.0
When I was a kid, I liked reading People magazine. As I grew older, I transferred my interest from current Hollywood tabloid gossip to the lives of old Hollywood actors and celebrities. It's sort of my guilty pleasure. Some people watch reality TV; I read celebrity biographies.
I've read at least two biographies about Marilyn Monroe (and one about Joe DiMaggio, which portrayed their relationship in an entirely too rosy a light, I would say) so I am intimately familiar with the details of her history. What I liked, however, about this collection of essays about Marilyn from Gloria Steinem is that it's interested in viewing Marilyn in a more balanced, feminist lens instead of the harsh male-gaze from previous biographies. I were particularly interested in how Steinem shed light on the effects of Marilyn's childhood trauma on her development and suggested that her claims of childhood sexual abuse should be taken more seriously. I also enjoyed the essay in which Steinem discussed other women's relationships with and to Marilyn both as peers and as fans and how it was complicated by the era in which they lived and Marilyn's own sexy image.
If you're a Marilyn Monroe fan or just interested in her life, I would read Marilyn: Norma Jeane after a more extensive biography of her life. I recommend The Secret Life of Marilyn Monroe by J. Randy Taraborrelli, but you might also check out Goddess by Anthony Summers.
I've read at least two biographies about Marilyn Monroe (and one about Joe DiMaggio, which portrayed their relationship in an entirely too rosy a light, I would say) so I am intimately familiar with the details of her history. What I liked, however, about this collection of essays about Marilyn from Gloria Steinem is that it's interested in viewing Marilyn in a more balanced, feminist lens instead of the harsh male-gaze from previous biographies. I were particularly interested in how Steinem shed light on the effects of Marilyn's childhood trauma on her development and suggested that her claims of childhood sexual abuse should be taken more seriously. I also enjoyed the essay in which Steinem discussed other women's relationships with and to Marilyn both as peers and as fans and how it was complicated by the era in which they lived and Marilyn's own sexy image.
If you're a Marilyn Monroe fan or just interested in her life, I would read Marilyn: Norma Jeane after a more extensive biography of her life. I recommend The Secret Life of Marilyn Monroe by J. Randy Taraborrelli, but you might also check out Goddess by Anthony Summers.
meghan's review
4.0
Steinem's biography paints a Marilyn unknown to most of us today, a woman abandoned as a child who unsuccessfully tried to fill that emptiness as an adult. Throughout the book you find yourself wanting to wrap Monroe in your arms and tell her everything is going to be alright.
More...