Blonde - Joyce Carol Oates

blonde
joyce carol oates
c. 2000
786 pages (481 read)
stopped reading 9/12/2008


*may contain spoilers*

I am so disappointed, but I just couldn't finish this book. I don't even really know what it was, but by the end it had just become such a chore. I was lugging it around in my purse everywhere and had to convince myself to start reading when I had time. The book just couldn't captivate me. It's an interesting subject, the life and inter workings of Marilyn Monroe's mind, but I didn't care too much about any of the characters, even Norma Jeane.

And I don't think I cared for the writing style: the nicknames for everyone (the Ex-Athlete, the Blond Actress, V, Z, Rumpelstiltskin, etc) and the confusing not quite consistent time line. And I know that the author made a big deal about how this is a "fictionalized" account of Marilyn Monroe, not a biography, and so she took creative liberties exploring just one foster home when in reality there were several, or exploring one abortion when there were reports of more, or whatever, but it was irritating for me to know what wasn't true. I don't know if I said that right, but like if you're writing historical fiction and we don't know exactly what happened and an author writes something to suggest what could have happened I think that is one thing. But when we do know what happened and an author writes that something different happened, well that irritates me. Not to say that it's bad writing and shouldn't be done, just that it is a personal pet peeve of mine and something I don't really enjoy. I don't like things to contradict.

And so, since I couldn't finish the book I have to give it a rating of 1/5.