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7 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
Not the book it could have been, 4 April 2006
By A Customer
A detailed and fairly comprehensive examination and comparison of the most popular Marilyn biographies. The depth of research is commendable, but is let down to some extent by the frequent forays into how Marilyn's image fits with aspects of feminism and feminist doctrine, and to interpretations of how her life and death are exploited by the underlying sexual desires of society.Churchwell reserves a disproportionate quantity of ink for criticism of Joyce Carol Oates' 'Blonde', which, while arguably serving to demonstrate how Marilyn's image is manipulated for profit, adds no real substance to her book and gives a somewhat churlish feel to those sections. The style of writing, while rather better than many offerings on the subject of Marilyn, is often indigestible. There are so many references and comparisons that it becomes hard work and there is a constant thread of high-mindedness throughout, which is tiresome. There is a feeling at times that the author tries to bolster her authority by the use of flowery terms and obscure language. Many of the paragraphs are simply too long. This will be somewhat of a niche book. For some readers the detail may be too much, but for serious researchers may not be enough as there are many areas unexplored or given insufficient detail. While there is no sensation of glossing-over important areas, there are some key issues she has missed and which a book of this type one should expect to contain. Churchwell reaches no conclusions from her comparisons of available sources and while this is acceptable, there is a constant feel that she derides, if not sneers at, all those whom she reviews. In a more digestible format this would be a valuable resource and earn a higher rating, but it takes a determined reader to get the best out of it and will be unlikely to appeal to a general readership. It may be worth noting that Ms Churchwell writes for The Times Literary Supplement and The Observer, the latter giving her book glowing praise, so the reader inevitably wonders if her 'in' with two of the foremost newspapers in the country assisted her passage to publication and praise. For those readers who prefer the usual hagiography of Marilyn, they will need to turn to the last chapter, in which Churchwell's own view of Marilyn is given. While making reference to accounts of Marilyn's less appealing qualities, her view is largely a dewy-eyed opinion of a stoic and fallen heroine. Nonetheless, a meta-biography has been long overdue and this succeeds in part to sort the wheat from the chaff.
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by Anthony Summers
by Matthew Smith
by Barbara Leaming
by Donald H. Wolfe
by Marilyn Monroe
