{"id":4728,"date":"2026-05-13T15:00:20","date_gmt":"2026-05-13T21:00:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/benjamin-m-weilert.com\/?p=4728"},"modified":"2026-04-30T21:50:53","modified_gmt":"2026-05-01T03:50:53","slug":"book-blonde-2000","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/benjamin-m-weilert.com\/index.php\/2026\/05\/13\/book-blonde-2000\/","title":{"rendered":"BOOK: Blonde (2000)"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Blonde\"Blonde
<\/u><\/strong>Year: 2000
Author: Joyce Carol Oates
Length: 503 minutes \/ 8.38 hours<\/p>\n

There are nonfiction biographies about famous people, then there are books like Blonde<\/em>, which fuse fictional narration techniques with mostly biographical details of a person\u2019s life. While not entirely historically accurate, it is intrinsically entertaining. In fact, I would deem that Blonde<\/em> is perhaps the most entertaining version of Marilyn Monroe\u2019s life to be put to the page (given that you’re listening to the abridged version like I did). It might be too over-erotic in places, but the trauma of being deemed and treated like a sex symbol for decades really comes into focus in this intimate portrayal of Norma Jeane.<\/p>\n

Blonde<\/em> is interesting in the way that it almost feels like an autobiography from Marilyn\u2019s perspective. The almost breathless whispering affectation comes across and has such a well-thought-out explanation as to really convey Monroe\u2019s internal monologue through these words. The progression of her life feels completely out of her control, but her ability to adapt and make the most of what she wanted to get out of it. That her endless stream of male suitors feels more like a used doll passed down the line instead of something she actively pursued really highlights how little autonomy women of the era had\u2014even women as well-known as Marilyn Monroe.<\/p>\n

Trying to make Monroe\u2019s life into something more puritan would have been a disservice to the effect she had on society. While this could have been done in a less explicit manner, it drives home the central themes of the book. From a modern context, even 26 years after its original 2000 release, Blonde<\/em> shows how oppressive the patriarchy was\/is. Objectification has not improved in the meantime, even if the #MeToo movement has made voices calling out abuse more prevalent. In the end, Marilyn\u2019s life is tragic, and the contextualization in Blonde merely brings this into uncomfortable focus.<\/p>\n

An intimate and semi-fictional account of Marilyn Monroe, I give Blonde<\/em> 4.5 stars out of 5.<\/p>\n

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\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

BlondeYear: 2000Author: Joyce Carol OatesLength: 503 minutes \/ 8.38 hours There are nonfiction biographies about famous people, then there are books like Blonde, which fuse fictional narration techniques with mostly biographical details of a person\u2019s life. While not entirely historically accurate, it is intrinsically entertaining. In fact, I would deem that Blonde is perhaps the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,54,3894],"tags":[40,1954,4503,55,4506,1487,1566,223,4505,4504,4507,8],"class_list":["post-4728","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-4-5-stars","category-book","category-pulitzer-prize","tag-40","tag-biography","tag-blonde","tag-book","tag-entertaining","tag-erotic","tag-fiction","tag-history","tag-joyce-carol-oates","tag-marilyn-monroe","tag-norma-jeane","tag-review"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/benjamin-m-weilert.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4728","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/benjamin-m-weilert.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/benjamin-m-weilert.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/benjamin-m-weilert.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/benjamin-m-weilert.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4728"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/benjamin-m-weilert.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4728\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4746,"href":"https:\/\/benjamin-m-weilert.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4728\/revisions\/4746"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/benjamin-m-weilert.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4728"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/benjamin-m-weilert.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4728"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/benjamin-m-weilert.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4728"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}