“Her problem wasn't she was a dumb blonde, it was she wasn't a blonde and she wasn't dumb.”

"Blonde"- Joyce Carol Oates

It has been a while since I've read such a well-written and well-constructed novel as this one. This is the first book  that I've read by Joyce C. Oates, but I have to give it to her for her imagination and the skills to transfer it to paper. "Blonde" basically tells the story of Norma Jeane, a.k.a Marilyn Monroe's, life from her early orphan years, to the invention of the famous/infamous Marylin Monroe, and later her death. However, the novel isn't to be read as Marilyn's biography. The backbone of the novel is built on the well-known facts, as well as rumors about Marilyn, while Oates cleverly fills the gaps in between. Norma Jeane is a complex character with many conflicting traits: She is portrayed as a sweet, naive girl while at the same time she is a sex symbol; she yearns for a man who will love her, and yet she sleeps around; she desperately wants a baby, but keeps getting abortions; & she is depicted as an acting genius but that same genius contributes to her breakdown. What was most touching for me while reading the novel was how much Marylin suffered and the fact that nobody was able to help her stay alive. 

Because Marilyn Monroe's life was so public and a lot of people know plenty about her, the excitement with this novel isn't what is going to happen, but rather how it is going to happen. And, besides, you don't have to be a fan of Monroe's to read the book, it's an interesting piece of literature even if you don't know anything about her. Despite having 700 pages, which takes quite a while to read, this book is just as mesmerizing and seductive as Marilyn Monroe herself was.