Marilyn
Monroe is still a fascinating woman and the many book that have been published
about her also shows that people still want to read about her.
The
question is if these books can bring something new to the table. In 2012 Marilyn, the passion and the paradox by
Lois Banner was published. She is a
historian and a feminist and wanted to use that to discover a new Marilyn and
this book is the result.
It follows
the usual lines of a biography about Marilyn Monroe. Her childhood with a
mother who went crazy and the many fosterhomes she lived in. Then the first
steps into the world of entertainment and showbusiness. Photographs, then small
roles in movies and finally success and fame. And with the success and fame
came an even more turbulent personal live, resulting in a lonely death.
A book
about Marilyn Monroe can never be boring, because she was not boring. But I do
not know if this book gives us that much news.
That does
not have to be a problem. A good biography can still be enjoyable even if all
the facts are already known, but if you are saying you will bring something
new, do it right and bring some substance.
What makes
the book irritant to read is that the writer constantly says how great she
herself is. She was the first one to discover this, the first one to interview
that person or to see how important this or that was. And of course her
viewpoint is new and important en therefore much better than that of all other
biographers.
Lois Banner tries to make out if Marilyn was a feminist, a
trivial and moot point if you ask me. She tries, but does not succeed, Marilyn
was too complex to be captured in such simplistic terms.
It also
becomes irritating how Lois Banner
constantly emphasis that Marilyn had lesbian feelings (based on an incomplete remarke Marilyn made) and what her attitude to
sex was. The many repetitions also made it a bit weird to read.
It is not a
bad biography. It is interesting and it does give some extra information about
Marilyn’s childhood.
I would not
recommend to read this book as the first or only biography about Marilyn
Monroe, but as an addition to the many other excellent biographies there are (and yes, there are many!),
this book does have value.
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