Marilyn Monroe

Rating:
Summary: Not bad!
Review: Very detailed book about Marilyn's dealings with her movie studio, her marriage to Arthur Miller, the downfall of her own productioncompany founded with Milton Greene, her one time friend and photographer. I can not agree with the suicide theory set forth with this book however, because it totally ignores the medical evidence, it doesn't even touch on it in any way. Marilyn had a lot going for her at the time of her death, a new house, she was rehired to finish "something's got to give", she was seing Joe Dimaggio again, she was busier with spectacular photoshoots than she had been in years. If anything, i think Dr. Greenson, her shrink, was acting more peculiar than Marilyn in his approach to his famous patient. He comes across as very controlling and oddly posessive of Marilyn. I recommend Donald Spoto's biography on Marilyn. Simply the best book i ever read on the subject. And his ending makes a hell of a lot more sense to me than any suicide or murder theory. Get the book and compare.!

Rating:
Summary: What you always wanted to know about Arthur Miller
Review: What a disappointing biography of Marilyn Monroe. I learned more than I ever cared to about Arthur Miller and Elia Kazan, however. Minute details about their problems with HUAC, their relationship to each other, and (somewhat incidentally) their relationship to Marilyn left me uninterested and unimpressed. Also figuring prominently were Billy Wilder, Lee and Paula Strasberg, John Huston, and Laurence Olivier (with many details of Sir Larry's problems with Vivien Leigh). I loved Joyce Carol Oates' BLONDE, and was hoping for a non-fictionalized biography to accompany her wonderful account of Marilyn's life.