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Blonde

A Novel

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Blonde

By: Joyce Carol Oates
Narrated by: Jayne Atkinson
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The National Book Award finalist and national bestseller exploring the life and legend of Marilyn Monroe

Soon to be a Netflix Film starring Ana de Armas, Adrien Brody, Bobby Cannavale and Julianne Nicholson

In one of her most ambitious works, Joyce Carol Oates boldly reimagines the inner, poetic, and spiritual life of Norma Jeane Baker—the child, the woman, the fated celebrity, and idolized blonde the world came to know as Marilyn Monroe. In a voice startlingly intimate and rich, Norma Jeane tells her own story of an emblematic American artist—intensely conflicted and driven—who had lost her way. A powerful portrait of Hollywood’s myth and an extraordinary woman’s heartbreaking reality, Blonde is a sweeping epic that pays tribute to the elusive magic and devastation behind the creation of the great 20th-century American star.

Biographical Fiction Fantasy Genre Fiction Literary Fiction Psychological Biography Fiction Heartfelt Mythology Celebrity
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Sadly this is an abridged version which is not noted in the description.
The narrator and content are excellent, but I returned it as I wish to read the full text.
Audible should make it clear upon purchase if a text is abridged.

Abridged version

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The more you know about Marilyn the more fascinating she becomes. I knew a lot of the information in this novel but Joyce Carol Oates has created an absorbing, disturbing and compelling piece of work. It is beautifully narrated too.

Totally absorbing

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Extremely well told, the husky voice of the narrator really added character and back bone to the book and opened my eyes. Wasn't sure at first about the book in the first 30 minutes but glad i stuck with it.

Liked it

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I have been both touched, traumatised and overwhelmed by this book which overturned my v hazy knowledge and, I now see, lazy assumptions of this iconic woman. This book is a masterclass in voice and narrative and it will linger with me forever. A person too beautiful for this world, who deserves a public apology and a book so moving and tenderly felt, a complete masterpiece. Jayne Atkinson is a terrific narrator and it’s a great production. Bravo!

Searingly beautiful and sad swan song to a legend

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A truly affecting and intelligent story based around Norma Jeane / Marilyn, sensitively told. At times it made me recoil in it’s brutality though it’s never sensational. Moreover, it’s a poetic, empathetic and thoughtful study of a woman who seems to have such little self-esteem and who falls into relationship after relationship with abusive and coercive men.
An unsettling, insightful magnetic listen.

Absolutely riveting

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