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Blonde

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Blonde

By: Joyce Carol Oates
Narrated by: Jayne Atkinson
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About this listen

 She was an all-American girl who became a legend of unparalleled stature. She inspired the adoration of millions, and her life has beguiled generations of fans and fellow artists. The story of Norma Jeane Baker, better known by her studio name, Marilyn Monroe, has been dissected for more than three decades, but never has it been captured in a narrative as breathtaking and transforming as Blonde.

In her most ambitious work to date, Joyce Carol Oates, one of America's most distinguished writers, reimagines the inner, poetic, and spiritual life of Norma Jeane Baker, the child, the woman, the fated celebrity, and tells the story in Norma Jeane's own voice: startling, rich, and shattering.

Drawing on biographical and historical sources, Joyce Carol Oates evokes the distinct consciousness of the woman and the unsparing reflection of the myth, writing as she has never written before, ecstatic, completely absorbed, inhabited as if by the spirit of her extraordinary subject. Rich with psychological insight and disturbing irony, this mesmerizing narrative illumines Norma Jeane's lonely childhood, wrenching adolescence, and the creation of Marilyn Monroe.

With fresh insights into the heart of a celebrity culture hypnotized by its own myths, Blonde is a sweeping novel about the elusive magic of a woman, the lasting legacy of a star, and the heartbreak behind the creation of the most evocative icon of the 20th century.

©2001 Joyce Carol Oates (P)2001 HarperCollins Publishers, Inc. Biographical Fiction Genre Fiction Literary Fiction Psychological Biography Fiction Heartfelt Mythology Celebrity

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Critic reviews

"Atkinson narrates Oates's fictional biography of Marilyn Monroe in an intense, slightly husky voice that immediately grabs and holds the listener's attention." ( Publishers Weekly)
All stars
Most relevant
Sadly this is an abridged version which is not noted in the description.
The narrator and content are excellent, but I returned it as I wish to read the full text.
Audible should make it clear upon purchase if a text is abridged.

Abridged version

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The more you know about Marilyn the more fascinating she becomes. I knew a lot of the information in this novel but Joyce Carol Oates has created an absorbing, disturbing and compelling piece of work. It is beautifully narrated too.

Totally absorbing

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Extremely well told, the husky voice of the narrator really added character and back bone to the book and opened my eyes. Wasn't sure at first about the book in the first 30 minutes but glad i stuck with it.

Liked it

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Wow. I wonder how many of the viewers of the film of this novel, even know it came from a novel? Even if they did, how many have read/listened to it? Not many, I’ll guess. This is a genuinely caring and interesting novel about it’s subject. It tries to show her as a thoughtful and struggling woman abused by almost all who knew her, at some level. It is all too believable, if difficult to deal with at times.
I would particularly recommend that listeners take in the author interview that is the final chapter. It provides some insight and I’d like to think will strip away much of the silly criticism of the film, too. This is not an attempt to use the image of Monroe, but to explain about the real person behind it. Yes, it’s a fictionalised account of Norma-Jean’s life, but the incidents are taken from known facts about her and similar people’s lives. It’s not an attempt at a Hollywood type of trite biography just like a hundred others. This tries to show us, through fiction, about the sort of upbringing and adult life she struggled through until she succumbed. It is very well written and narrated. If you come to this wanting to know more about her, you will learn more. I can recommend this wholeheartedly. Now, I will watch the film to see how true it is to Joyce Carol Oates’s vision of Monroe’s existence.

Sometimes fiction has more truth than reality can show.

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This novel is superb in its creation.So much has been written about the most beautiful complex woman this world has ever seen. This is not what anyone would expect to experience as we are captured by Norma Jean/Marilyn Monroe from her insides. Her duality not just imagined but the stark reality of her living as two people in one body and Oates captures this remarkably well. Marilyn was ahead of her time in every way she did not think like the female actresses or other females of her time. Intuitively she was finding her way out and creating the road map for others that will follow for eternity. The first to have a production company. She had a great future and we will never know what she would have become. What we do know is that she was incredible smart , well read , civil rights activist , yoga practitioner, feminist ,she had humour and daring. We all know she wanted to be loved but she refused to be trapped by the confines of an abusive marriage or one that cruelly mocked her. Or let lovers no matter how powerful contain her . She was a woman of the future. We are still trying to have it all .She was cruelly taken from us. Blonde will ruffle feathers but Marilyn was all about creative expression. She was a superb actress. She would understand this in all its rawness. We needed a book to let us know how human she was , how hard the acting process is, how crippling stage fright can be no matter how talented you are . This book looks at all that and presents a Marilyn that makes us think. She was so strong not weak but she was tired and yet wanted to begin her story again. In her house with her pool. Read Blonde . Hold Marilyn in your heart she is already there. Marilyn/ Norma Jean the brave .

Superb piece of creative writing .A must read.Beautifully narrated.

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Spellbound throughout. Good interview with author at the end. Excellent story telling with good narrator.

Loved it

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Two things to highlight about this book:
ABRIDGED
FICTION
This book is so good, it was a crime to chop it.
The writing is practically perfect, so is the narration.
I have never read Joyce Carol Oates but now I have another one lined up from her, which is unfortunately not on Audible. Not a problem, I will need to read Blonde as well anyway, because now that I have been so inattentive and bought the ABRIDGED version and heard the beautiful narration, I can't make myself to return it but I want the whole story.
The book wants to capture the essence of Marilyn the girl and the woman, but it is important to realise that although a lot of the characters really existed and knew her, while some are inspired by people she knew, this is FICTION.
To me, the performer's breathless, husky voice to represent Marilyn is perfection. She doesn’t overdo her characters, doesn't do "voices" and doesn’t embellish. She is just perfect.

Beautiful writing. Perfect Narration

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Enjoyed this very much (though there was some peculiar phrasing by the narrator at times) but was disappointed to find it was an abridged version, given that this isn't mentioned anywhere that I can see on the Audible app (a scene was mentioned in the author interview at the end which hadn't been in the audio book, and that got me googling).

Abridged

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Truly gripping performance of a great work of imaginative literature. Brings alive the period and the extraordinary unsung genius of Marilyn Monroe. If an audio book can be unputdownable this was it. Bravo Jayne Atkinson!

Brilliant performance of an astonishing narrative.

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Given the time slips, changes in narrator, multitude of characters and the very different personas of Norma Jean and Marilyn- this audiobook should have been hard to follow but Jayne Atkinson's talented performance makes this complex novel an audio 'page turner' of which I enjoyed every minute.

Jayne Atkinson's performance is incredible!

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