Marilyn Monroe

Rating:
Summary: Marilyn's Death a Suicide? Hardly, but this author says so.
Review: Although this book is interesting, it offers nothing new about Marilyn. While it is a very detailed account of her life, Barbara Leaming describes Marilyn's suspicious death in all of 3 pages. She takes the easy way out to end her book by just saying "everything pointed to the conclusion that Marilyn had killed herself." Everything? What about the facts that Bobby Kennedy was seen at her house the evening of her death, the police files on her death "vanished," her autopsy specimens were "discarded" before they were analyzed, and the fact that most of the people involved the night of her death have changed their stories numerous times? Monroe's time of death was estimated to be approximately 5 hours before the police were called! There wasn't even a glass in Marilyn's room with which to swallow the pills! Marilyn was obviously murdered, and the cover-up continues. Leaming does Monroe no justice by perpertuating the myth that she overdosed. This book will be disappointing to Marilyn's true fans, and it is yet another attempt by an "author" to make money retelling the same stories.

Rating:
Summary: author sympathetic to the use and misuse of Marilyn Monroe
Review: Barbara Leaming was a very sympathetic author towards "the girl",Marilyn Monroe. When this mega movie star lived, there were so little known about the psychological mind. Now a days it would be easy to see the lost little girl in MM and realize her inner child was all alone in a complex and very brutal world. Ms.Leaming was quite adept at showing the reader just how cutthroat the movie business was in the 1940 and 1950's. Marilyn Monroe certainly was ill-equipped for stardom. She was very fragile and so often a pawn. This author was in tune to the stars unfortunate upbringing. We can see that star shining out from beneath all the gloom. Marilyn will always shine brightly in eyes of those who appreciated her struggle, the tragedy of her short life,her battle with substance abuse and early death.

Rating:
Summary: Enlightening and somber
Review: Blows the old books away.Gives a very sad account of a child's life.Barbara makes you fall in love with this misguided child/women.Lots of name dropping.Lots of references.A good read.

Rating:
Summary: Nothing special.
Review: Detailed account of marilyn's Life...but a bit dull.
I have the biggest problem with the way the author delt with the explanation of marilyn's death.
Not that it isn't plausible that it was a suicide, i find it curious that the entire medical facts and autopsy finding were totally ignored, as were the strange behavior by the housekeeper and doctors present...and the somewhat staged deathscene.
There are a lot of details missing when it comes to marilyn's last few hour.
But it certainly is better than any of those the "kennedys/mafia killed her" accounts...

Rating:
Summary: disappointing.
Review: Don't buy this biography of Marilyn Monroe if you are at all curious about her thoughts and feelings, details of her personal life, or her mysterious death. However, if you want to read hundreds of pages all about Marilyn's battles with 20th Century Fox studios, her dissolved partnership with Milton Greene, and how she spent her money, then this is the book for you. Leaming's primary source was Marilyn's extensive file at Fox, which leads to an extremely disappointing and impersonal look at a dynamic icon. I recommend _Legend_ by Fred Lawrence Guiles instead, though non-conspiracy fans tend to prefer the Donald Spoto biography. Either is preferable to this one.

Rating:
Summary: disappointing.
Review: Don't buy this biography of Marilyn Monroe if you are at all curious about her thoughts and feelings, details of her personal life, or her mysterious death. However, if you want to read hundreds of pages all about Marilyn's battles with 20th Century Fox studios, her dissolved partnership with Milton Greene, and how she spent her money, then this is the book for you. Leaming's primary source was Marilyn's extensive file at Fox, which leads to an extremely disappointing and impersonal look at a dynamic icon. I recommend _Legend_ by Fred Lawrence Guiles instead, though non-conspiracy fans tend to prefer the Donald Spoto biography. Either is preferable to this one.

Rating:
Summary: best book on monroe, finally some logic.
Review: For the reader who claims that this book repeats the old stories about Monroe, the problem is that you seem to want this fantastic thorough writer to create/fabricate stories that never have happened, such as perhaps murder conspiracy theories, people want a soap-opera life for Monroe, whereas the truth is much more simple. She died by an overdose. Why can't people accept that? Perhaps suicide or even accidental suicide is not enough for some people's imaginations. But this book makes Monroe's life and death come as a reality and not another "let's make money on Monroe book" by making up stories. She was depressed, unhappy, and she died by her own hand. That's all.

Rating:
Summary: don't bother...
Review: for those of you who believe and have instilled in your mind that MM was murdered don't bother with this depressing read. I don't know where this writer got her facts, but she makes MM out to be a suicidal freak. and I don't see her that way at all. I only finished it out of curiousity

Rating:
Summary: Something new to say about Marilyn?
Review: Hmmmmm....I found it hard to believe that there could possibly be anything new to say or a new take on Marilyn Monroe. However, this book does provide a new angle. I had no idea of the extent/nature of her relationship with Elia Kazan, if this account is to be believed. The book concentrates heavily on the "Arthur Miller" period of her life and the HUAC. I have to say that after reading this, my opinion of Miller is considerably lower than it was, nearing contempt...what a pathetic, weak loser he was. There is not nearly enough on her childhood nor her relationship with DiMaggio. Still, it does manage to paint a very clear picture of her tortured soul and made me weep. Worth reading if you are a diehard Monroe fan. Final word: I find the excruciating detail in some parts (for example: she arrived 20 mintues early for this; arrived at 7:00 for that...) too much picky detail to be believed (who the hell kept these kind of records?) and undermines the credibility of the book to some degree.

Rating:
Summary: A surprising and moving portrait of Monroe.
Review: I found this the first truly three-dimensional portrait of Marilyn. As with Leaming's wonderful Hepburn biography, this is much more than a "movie" book--it is to be measured by the standards of serious biography. The vivid portrait of sex and politics, and of the political witchhunts of the 50's will certainly reverberate for readers in terms of what is happening to America today.