 | |
List Price: $18.00 | | Publisher: Three Rivers Press
Salesrank: 234497
Released: February 29, 2000 |
| Our Price: $7.98 |
| Used Price: $0.05 |
|
| Media: Paperback |
|
Editorial Review:
Barbara Leaming's Marilyn Monroe is a complex, sympathetic portrait that will forever change the way we view the most enduring icon of America sexuality. To those who think they have heard all there is to hear about Marilyn Monroe, think again. Leaming's book tells a brand-new tale of sexual, psychological, and political intrigue of the highest order. Told for the first time in all its complexity, this is a compelling portrait of a woman at the center of a drama with immensely high stakes, a drama in which the other players are some of the most fascinating characters from the worlds of movies, theater, and politics. It is a book that shines a bright light on one of the most tumultuous, frightening, and exciting periods in American culture.
Basing her research on new interviews and on thousands of primary documents--including revealing letters by Arthur Miller, Elia Kazan, John Huston, Laurence Olivier, Tennessee Williams, Darryl Zanuck, Marilyn's psychiatrist Dr. Ralph Greenson, and many others--Leaming has reconstructed the tangle of betrayal in Marilyn's life. For the first time, a master storyteller has put together all of the pieces and told Marilyn's story with the intensity and drama it so richly deserves.
At the heart of this book is a sexual triangle and a riveting story that has never been told before. You will come away filled with new respect for Marilyn's incredible courage, dignity, and loyalty, and an overwhelming sense of tragedy after witnessing Marilyn, powerless to overcome her demons, move inexorably to her own final, terrible betrayal of herself.
Marilyn Monroe is a book that will make you think--and will break your heart.
Description of Marilyn Monroe:
This extraordinarily thoughtful book by Barbara Leaming, a literary star among movie-star biographers, offers the last thing you'd expect in a book on Marilyn Monroe: new information from verifiable sources. Sure, lots of the tragedy is familiar: an abused, confused girl from an orphanage with a mother in a madhouse rises from sexual party favor for homely showbiz men to the movie superstar who pushes them around, until she crashes, a victim of self-loathing and drug addiction.
The thing about a tragedy is that its heroine isn't a victim--she's responsible for her fate. Leaming does scholarly spadework, digging up hard facts from sources like UCLA's 20th Century Fox collection and the diary-like first drafts of Arthur Miller's semiautobiographical work, and she makes sense of Monroe's motives. She even apparently solves Monroe's suicide with clues from the star's psychiatrist's letters in the Anna Freud collection. Her last overdose may have happened just because her shrink went to dinner with his wife and she felt abandoned.
But until pills killed her, Monroe wasn't a candle in the wind. She burned with ambition and knew how to craft a persona and play power games--with moguls and with the commie-busters hounding her husband Miller. Leaming plausibly analyzes the Miller-Monroe-Elia Kazan love/hate triangle, sizes up the Kennedy connection, busts her acting coach Lee Strasberg as "chillingly mercenary," and deftly shows just how her life entangled her art, film by film.
This book has a woman's touch: it's a work of sharp intellect and emotional insight unclouded by lust or star worship. --Tim Appelo
Marilyn Monroe Reviews:
The Arthur Miller Story - But Marilyn on the Cover Sells the Book 
2009-06-01 - I'm so conflicted about this book. On one hand, I must say that Barbara Leaming is an excellent writer. She is thoughtful and intelligent, and is able to construct narrative in a way that draws me in and keeps me reading. She uses primary sources for her research whenever possible, rather than just reprinting what other biographers have written, and she works hard at getting her facts (at least the facts as she sees them) straight.
However, I purchased this book because I wanted to read about Marilyn Monroe. What I ended up with was a lengthy treatise on the professional and personal life of Arthur Miller, with Marilyn mentioned as she relates to him (and just enough scattered anecdotes to remind us that this is supposed to be her biography). I'm not discounting Miller's importance in Marilyn's life. Nevertheless, I do not agree that he was the only important figure upon whom she relied; that is clearly the angle that Leaming has chosen to explore in this well-written but frustrating book.
Had I wanted to read long passages about Miller's difficulties in getting productions staged, or regarding his strained relationship with Elia Kazan, I'm sure I could have found biographies that would have given me this information. What I did find interesting was how savvy Marilyn could be in working the press in order to support him during his HUAC troubles. I was also impressed with how she worked with Joe DiMaggio, Milton Greene and Feldman in order to get herself a lucrative contract. These sorts of anecdotes (i.e. information about Marilyn) are what provided the most interesting text.
Leaming makes no bones about what she believes happened at the end of Marilyn's life, and presents this information as fact, with no other possibilities presented. Jack and Bobby Kennedy are virtually ignored regarding their importance in the last years of Marilyn's life, and the evidence that she was due to return to Twentieth Century Fox to complete Something's Got to Give, though mentioned, is likewise given short shrift. Leaming gives the impression that, because Arthur Miller does not figure into this part of Marilyn's story, she has no interest in exploring it.
I have several other biographies by Barbara Leaming in my library, and I intend to give them a try. I will be on my guard however. I was disappointed to find that the story I wanted to read - the biography of Marilyn Monroe - was, largely, not to be found in these pages.
I easily put this book down on more than one occasion 
2009-04-21 - This book is not one of those the reader cannot put down -- I put it down on more than one occasion. One theme in the book I found truly disturbing is the manner the author seemed to support the Communist cause or was at least sympathetic. While this is America and people are supposed to be able to think freely, the Communist creed is on the opposite end of the spectrum from the American Dream. People in Communist countries flee to America to escape that form of government. Yet, Communist sympathies existed and meetings were attended in the Unites States by many in the entertainment community.
Overall, I felt the book was an Authur Miller biography rather than a Marilyn Monroe bio. Authur Miller is introduced early in the book and in fact the book ends with Authur Miller. Marilyn's death and funeral is little more of a sidebar to the play right's bio. Authur Miller is not a likeable character in the book. He comes across as a selfish individual. His first wife, Mary, failed him and his second wife, Marilyn, failed him. Even his relationship with Elia Kazan is based on selfish needs. After the Congressional hearing on Communism and Kazan's testimony, Miller dumped him. Later when Miller needs a hit play and since in the past the director had helped Miller achieve success on Broadway, then Miller is willing to renew the friendship.
I also had problems with the doctors at the end of the book. Marilyn was supposedly a mentally ill patient of Dr. Greenson - suicidal and given to consuming large quantities of pills for pain and sleeping aids. Under Dr. Greenson's orders these were taken away from Marilyn. Yet Marilyn was able to con Dr. Greenson's assistant into giving her pills and he did not bother to ask Dr. Greenson to confirm Marilyn's claims for a bottle of pills. The assistant's actions seem very sloppy to say the least. In the end the whole episode seemed to be merely passed off with the, "What if....." scenario.
I believe if someone wants to read a book about Marilyn Monroe they should look elsewhere.
MM' battles with the studios, Arthur Miller, and her mother's opinion of her 
2008-10-25 -
First, let me tell you what this biography is NOT.
If you are looking for juicy gossip, look elsewhere. This is not the book for you.
Also - and this seems to be surprisingly important for many - if you are passionately interested in the events on the night of her death, or have a definite opinion on it, this is probably not a book you would find satisfying. (More on this below.)
But first, let me tell you about my personal attitude towards MM, so you know where I am coming from.
I am not a »fan« of Marilyn Monroe. I do not rave about her, I do not idolise her.
Nor do I consider her a »bimbo« or whatever the popular stereotypes may be.
(And, which I am sure would surprise some, I find her singing delicious, because I prefer expressiveness to sheer »voice« and technique.)
In short, I do not have an emotional attachment - either positive or negative - to her image and public persona.
Through the years, I have seen most of her films, and I know many bits of trivia about her - I have for years (they are rather difficult to avoid), but I had never read a biographical work about her life.
And so, for my first book book about MM, I wanted a really balanced biography: a biography that would show me MM as a person, »warts and all«, if need be. (Provided the »warts« are documented, not hear-say - unless the hear-say were properly identified as such and had a specific narrative or other function.)
After having read the reviews on Amazon, and having browsed through the book, I decided I would go with this one. The fact that the author doesn't speculate much on the manner of MM's death - or even dwell on the events (her narration of MM's final night is relatively short) - only reinforced my decision.
At this point, I should probably add that I have been an avid reader (in various languages) since I was a child.
Which is why nobody could have been more baffled than myself when I found the book surprisingly difficult to read.
The author knows how to write; she writes well.
Consider the very first sentence: "On January 16, 1951, a black Lincoln convertible pulled into the driveway at 2000 Coldwater Canyon Drive in Beverly Hills."
You feel being drawn into the story from the get go, don't you?
Alas, this particular, initial story has nothing to do with MM, except tangentially. It deals with Arthur Miller and Elia Kazan; Marilyn is nowhere in the picture.
But it introduces, very aptly, one of the the author's three main perspective points of this book: Arthur Miller and his activities.
The other main »external« perspective is MM's relation with the studios - her professional life is essentially presented through her contracts and the lobbying or other activities leading to them.
But there is no critical analysis of - or even accounts of popular and critical reactions to - her actual work. Amazingly (to me), her »break« into films is almost indiscernible in this book. I have a very good verbal memory - and yet, even after several readings of the the book, I could not describe her actual entry into cinema (if I didn't know it from other sources, that is), or her move from being an extra to speaking roles.
Her extra-cinematic activities (»mingling« with various people from the business) are reasonably well (and not at all salaciously) covered; however, I remember having to search the book, page by page, to find any reference at all to the »Asphalt Jungle«, for example. And there are no references to critiques of her work in those early films.
And finally, there is a third perspective point: a psychoanalytical one.
A much as I appreciate the contribution of psychology (and often use it myself), I do wish the author, having avoided speculation in other matters, would refrain from it here, too.
I am sure that the mother's attitude to Norma Jean (and vice versa) had a major impact on the actress' life. How could it not?
But trying to actually peer into the actress' inner thoughts and feelings regarding her mother - based on a single incident that may or may NOT have happened, to boot (her mother's alleged attempt to smother her when Norma Jean was a baby) - feels contrived.
Furthermore, the intimacy (however treacherous) of this perspective clashes with the other two viewpoints mentioned: her marriage to Arthur Miller and her involvement in his activities, and her battles with the studios.
Between these three viewpoints, I find MM as an adult, a woman, independently of her relation to Miller and/or the studio bosses, simply - missing.
Her other marriages are dealt with rather summarily; so are some (very few) of her affairs. Her coaches, Natasha Lytess and (especially) Paula Strasberg, do get a little more »air time« - but the information at times feels somehow randomly chosen. That's because we learn virtually nothing about MM's friendships, if she had any. (BTW, there are also a few errors of »continuity« if you will. I remember reading that »Like Natasha Lytess twelve years previously, she sensed something wrong«. The problem is... there is no description of that first event, twelve years earlier, to which this sentence refers.)
This is not a criticism of the author's chosen perspective. It is as valid as any, I suppose - and much more valid than many other, more »personal« (code for »gossipy«) approaches. It is certainly dignified.
I am just saying that, while I personally enjoy reading biographies that do not indulge in perpetuating gossip as if it were the gospel truth, I do like getting an insight into the person from the perspective of her interaction with other people - not just (predominantly) one husband, the studio bosses, and her publicists.
And I do find it slightly infuriating (it's an oxymoron, I know ;) that nowhere in the book is the choice of these viewpoints even explained.
To me, it is not at all self-evident why her marriage with Miller would be more relevant than her marriage to Dougherty or DiMaggio; or why a detailed look into each one of her contracts and the machinations leading to them would give more insight into her personality than her relationships with, well - PEOPLE.
And frankly, the final verdict about her sad end, closing the circle established by the psychological point of view, sounds somewhat contrived: »Marilyn had finally given in to her mother's judgment.«
So do the last sentences in the book: MM, says the author, »promises us that sex can be fun, without dangers. That indeed may not be the truth, but it continues to be what we wish. And that is why Marilyn remains, even now, the symbol of our secret desires«.
Who are »we«? It is not at all self-evident.
Which »secret desires«? They have not been identified.
Furthermore, what is »sex without dangers«? What IS dangerous about sex, for that matter?
None of those fine-sounding premises has been satisfactorily explained in order to warrant such a conclusion.
Far be it from me to dissuade anyone from buying or reading this book (and I mean it)!
It is an honest and certainly dignified effort to peer into the »inner works« of the pop icon; and personally I find it refreshingly free of speculation about the circumstances of her death, or salacious hear-say.
But anyone looking for insight into the actress' personality and life as is revealed - inevitably so - through her interaction with a variety of other people, might want to read Michelle Morgan's Marilyn Monroe: Private and Undisclosed first, followed by Sarah Churchwell's The Many Lives of Marilyn Monroe.
Glossy Cover But Little New Information!
2008-01-31 - When I think of Marilyn Monroe, I think of her troubling death. If you believet that she committed suicide, then this book is detailed enough for you about her poor life. One cannot help but feel sorry for her despite her unstable upbringing, her mentally ill mom and relatives. She was looking for a father figure in her husbands like playwright Arthur Miller and Joe DiMaggio. She spent part of her childhood in an orphanage because she was shuffled around from home to home. We know her first marriage was probably better than her marriages to high profile icons like DiMaggio who loved her as Marilyn and not as Norma Jean Baker and Miller who was in love with her as his muse. Marilyn wanted more than to be a movie star. She wanted to be loved. She loved kids who returned their love back because she never talked down to them. When she was Norma Jean is when I believed that she was the happiest. She has the vulnerability in her smiles and face. She desperately wanted unconditional love. A friend of hers, Jeanne Carmen stated that she was the loneliest girl in the world despite all her superficial friends, relatives, and acquaintances. Her fans to this day love Marilyn as the icon that she was created but we do not know the fragility of Norma Jean Baker who lived as Marilyn Monroe, the ultimate character. She wanted to act desperately to escape the misery of her life. The book glosses over her relations to the Las Vegas Mafia and the possible foul play of her death. Whether Marilyn was murdered or committed suicide, this book does not answer those questions at all. It's glossed over much like the cover of the book. I think it's still worth a read for any Monroe fan. I appreciated the author's research into the theatrical background of films, television, and theater in New York City where I think she loved to be and London where she filmed a film with Lord Laurence Olivier. Despite her difficulties on set and problems, was she worth it? You damn right she was worth every moment.
Good, but missing something 
2006-08-12 - I am a Marilyn Monroe bio junkie, and this bio was good; however, I was disappointed in the ending.
I felt the author tied up Marilyn's death too quickly, simply stating that the actress committed suicide. The reason this bothered me as a reader is because there are questions as to whether Marilyn really did commit suicide.
This is a good book to learn about Marilyn's youth and her start in Hollywood, as well as her marriages; however, if you want to investigate the death of Marilyn, I recommend Goddess: The Secret Lives of Marilyn Monroe by Anthony Summer OR Marilyn Monroe: The Last Days by Donald H. Wolfe. Both books are thoroughly researched, and the authors inform their readers of how they obtained information.
