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This is one hell of an imaginative fictional biography/autobiography of our iconic Marilyn Monroe.

In eerie third person narration, the reader is lured into a voyeuristic thrill that evokes pity at the same time as we delve into the psyche of a lost soul, consumed like meat (in the book, Norma Jeane Baker is referred to as "meat") and then mercilessly spat out by all the men who consumed her as if she were a human meal of desire.

The novel alludes to the famous men who have all consumed Norma Jeane as selfish, oversexualized and did not want to truly understand the little girl lost under the veneer of sex and fame.

However, Ms. Oates does not simply give them their real names- but portrays some of these men as archetypes: The Playwright and The Dark Prince for example. But we do see men such as Joe DiMaggio, John Kennedy, Arthur Miller and Darryl Zanuck hover around the novel, not seen in the most flattering light. Its hinted that Otto Ose was The Dark Prince.

It's a haunting and disturbing novel that was overly long, and it could have been more economic and succinct- as many film lovers and readers already know the myth of Marilyn.

Note: Postscript 2023- The review above was from a 2010 reading of Blonde. I recently watched the Netflix film adaptation starring Ana De Armas in her Oscar Nominated performance as Norma Jeane. I read that Professor Oates herself that she admired director Andrew Dominik’s vision of her novel, of how it was faithful to her own vision of the tragic life of Norma Jeane's.

I found the tone of the film to be uneven, and a bit too long. However, if the novel was a monster to read- it made sense that the film should execute it's vision as close as possible.

Ms. De Armas was a magnetic Norma Jeane, capturing her heart, and her longing with pathos. It's an affecting performance that deserves its Oscar nomination alongside the legendary performances that Michelle Yeoh and Cate Blanchett have given. What amazing company!

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