Blonde is a fictional account of the life of Marilyn Monroe. The style of writing is very all over the place, but it seems to me that it's meant to be representational of Marilyn's mind. The names used in the book are all either fictional or implied aka: The Playwright (Arthur Miller), The Ex-Athlete (Joe Dimaggio), W (Billy Wilder), The Brunette (Ava Garder), and so on and so forth. The use of these aliases gives the reader the feeling that Marilyn is the only character we truly know (despite spending a limited time directly in her POV).
Having read a few biographies of Marilyn Monroe it was easy to follow the story knowing how her life historically ended up. The most fascinating thing about this novel is most definately the character portrait of Marilyn: her childlike persona, her severe daddy issues (leading her to call every one of her husbands "Daddy"), and her disillusion with fantasy vs. reality.
It's the kind of book (though I know it's mostly fiction/speculation) that I wish someone had the guts to write about many of the figures in modern history.
GRADE: A-
*Shortlisted for the Pulitzer Prize 2001
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