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The Many Lives of Marilyn Monroe
 
 
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The Many Lives of Marilyn Monroe (Hardcover)

by Sarah Churchwell (Author)
3.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (9 customer reviews)

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Product details

  • Hardcover: 336 pages
  • Publisher: Granta Books (17 Jun 2004)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 1862076952
  • ISBN-13: 978-1862076952
  • Product Dimensions: 23.4 x 15.2 x 3.8 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 351,763 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Product Description

Review
Since her death in 1962 Marilyn Monroe has been the subject of a profusion of biographies, each insisting on their own definitive presentation of her life. Her iconic status as the ultimate screen goddess has clouded the truth, blurring the ever fragile line between fact and fiction, allowing multifarious interpretations of exactly the same events, all filtered through the writer's individual perspective. It is this insatiable Marilyn industry: cultural, social and sexual, that Sarah Churchill takes as her subject rather than Monroe's life itself, though the two are naturally intermingled. With a keen critical eye Churchill does her level best to disentangle Monroe from the many threads distorting her image and despite the difficulty of her task, certainly achieves a refreshing degree of clarity in many respects.Truman Capote once said of Monroe ' There was something exceptional about Marilyn Monroe. Sometimes she could be ethereal and sometimes like a waitress in a coffee shop.' In this dichotomy lies the secret of her eternal appeal. (Kirkus UK)

The Observer
‘Arguably the most comprehensive biography of Monroe to date...she skillfully analyses the more prominent works dedicated to this subject'

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Customer Reviews

9 Reviews
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Average Customer Review
3.0 out of 5 stars (9 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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17 of 18 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars The Woman behind the legend, 7 Jun 2004
By F. A. Penney "Fraser Penney" (Edinburgh, Scotland UK) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
Sarah Churchwell has written an objective view of Marilyn's life and death and myth through the many 100's of books and articles written about one of the most famous women in history to come up with one of the best ever "biographies."
She doesn't claim to know every detail of the actress' life or the claim to solve the mysteries that surround her death. No, she's much too smart for that, instead she explores the myth that's grown up around the woman we know simply as, Marilyn. She scratches at the surface to find what the real person was like, the person that Hollywood tried to keep in line by editing and re-writing magazine articles to suit their 'dumb blonde' image that she played so well, but soon came to detest.
Marilyn never quite broke free from her image or Hollywood's perceived idea of what she should be like but in this book she does and we are left with an honest look at the woman she really was, a truly gifted actress and entertainer that died before she reached her peak.
A great book and well written and researched.
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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Marilyn Monroe was so much more, 29 Jun 2005
By A Customer
I've grown intrigued with that book 'cause it shows you Marilyn Monroe, a person whose "official image" everyone still seems to know such a long time after her death, as a very complexe personality. Also, about many events in her life there seem to be several, often conflicting, theories.
You end up intrigued by M. Monroe; some-one who escapes the claim made by so many to be easily understood. 'Cause she was so much more.

As A conclusion, I think this books does Marilyn Monroe justice by showing her as an intelligent, at times difficult person, with convictions, hopes and strength. And humor.

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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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Most Recent Customer Reviews

2.0 out of 5 stars Difficult read
The book sounds really interesting, but I found it quite hard to read. With it's constant references to other writers, it stops and starts and I was waiting for it to get going,... Read more
Published 2 months ago by Lydia

4.0 out of 5 stars My Marilyn
A good read. I am grateful to have read this book before reading those other so called biographies. This book gives an important look at the different interpretations of MM's life... Read more
Published on 17 Jan 2007 by Jari Ahvalo

5.0 out of 5 stars Ignore the bad reviews ! this book is brilliant !!!
I just can't believe the bad reviews given for this book, because I could not put it down. I had no interest whatsoever in Monroe prior to reading this and now I am fascinated. Read more
Published on 25 Sep 2006 by Angela Griffiths

1.0 out of 5 stars Marilyn Who?
After reading this book, and many other books about MM, I find this book to be most disappointing. The author is extremely 'selective' with the images that she uses to... Read more
Published on 6 Feb 2006

1.0 out of 5 stars ‘scholarship’ as self-aggrandisement
As an academic myself, I was disappointed with the level of scholarship in this book. Ms Churchwell commits the two unforgivable sins of nonfiction writing: first, in a bid, one... Read more
Published on 19 Dec 2005 by dionysius2

4.0 out of 5 stars A little disappointing to me.
I thought this book did go on a bit in the beginning and what is it with all the stupid words, that most people may not understand although after a little while i must be honest i... Read more
Published on 12 Jun 2004

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