Blonde

Blonde, by Joyce Carol Oates, is a fictionalized account of the short, sad, weird life of Marilyn Monroe, that is, Norma Jean Baker.  It was my first novel by JCO, and while at times I thought it brilliant, I was so relieved when I finally finished it. It was a long 700 pages.

There is no doubt that Norma Jean was enormously talented, as well exploited, abused, intimidated, and victimized.  Most of the story was painful to read, and while JCO managed her themes adroitly, I couldn't help feeling that the novelist was just one more person exploiting Norma Jean.

I did spend a lot of time on my iPad looking up images of the various people who played a part in Norma Jean's life--JCO usually used initials or nicknames or labels, such as the Playwright for Arthur Miller, and the Ex-Athlete for Joe DiMaggio, which I found a bit irritating and not a little coy.  I am inspired to watch some of her movies, particularly Some Like It Hot, which I have never seen, Bus Stop, which I caught on a Saturday afternoon matinee when I was about ten and was mesmerized, and The Misfits, which was her last completed movie. But, time, being in chronically short supply, I probably won't!

I definitely had mixed feelings about this book--I admired the writing and the storytelling, but I found it sad and tedious and was happy to close the book and swap it on paperbackswap.com for something a bit more positive to read.

This is the first book completed in the Big Book Summer Challenge, and another book to check off my TBR Pile Challenge list.

First Chapter First Paragraph - Tuesday Intros: Blonde

Diane at Bibliophile by the Sea hosts First Chapter First Paragraph - Tuesday Intros, a meme that I like but that I don't often do.  I've been reading long books lately, so not too many opportunities to blog about finished books these days, so I thought I would share the intro to the book currently consuming my reading time.

I'm reading Blonde, by Joyce Carol Oates, a fictionalized account of the life of Marilyn Monroe.  It's good, it's sad, and not only because we all know the ending.  Interestingly, the novel begins at the end.

There came Death hurtling along the Boulevard in waning sepia light. 

There came Death flying as in a children’s cartoon on a heavy unadorned messenger’s bicycle.

There came Death unerring. Death not to be dissuaded. Death-in-a-hurry. Death furiously peddling. Death carrying a package marked *Special Delivery Handle with Care* in a sturdy wire basket behind his seat.

There came Death expertly threading his graceless bicycle through traffic at the intersection of Wiltshire and La Brea where, because of street repair, two westbound Wiltshire lanes were funnelled into one.

This is a pretty typical quote from the book, which is told from Norma Jeane's perspective.  I'm only 200 pages into this >700 page novel, and she is still 18, but Oates does a good job of maturing the language and the thought processes as the character develops.