Marilyn Monroe
The Private Life of a Public Icon
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3.0 • 2 Ratings
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- $11.99
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- $11.99
Publisher Description
Based on new interviews and research, this ground-breaking biography explores the secret selves behind Marilyn Monroe’s public facades.
Marilyn Monroe: her beauty still captivates, her love life still fascinates, and her story still dominates popular culture. Now, drawing on years of research and dozens of new interviews, this biography cuts through decades of lies and secrets and introduces you to the Marilyn Monroe you always wanted to know: a living, breathing, complex woman, bewitching and maddening, brilliant yet flawed.
Explored through the lens of new interviews and meticulous research, Marilyn Monroe unveils Marilyn's story against the backdrop of pre-feminist times. Experience her journey from a distressing childhood to the pedestal of stardom, eloquently explaining her pursuit of ambition in face of a continuous struggle with bipolar disorder. Each phase of her life, marked by celebrated love affairs and heartrending tragedies, is a stepping stone towards immortality.
The tell-all narrative includes eye-opening revelations, from the concealed compassionate act of Elizabeth Taylor towards Marilyn to her lost semi-nude love scene with Clark Gable, chronicling the few nights before her death with Warren Beatty, where she divulges her despair during their fateful encounter.
This biography also provides a comprehensive account of her final days, meticulously examining the series of miscommunications and misjudgments contributing to her calamitous end. Embark on this enlightening journey of the life and legacy of Marilyn Monroe.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
This sympathetic biography, with its extensive bibliography and detailed notes, is a solid addition to the already vast library about the legendary star, even though Casillo (The Fame Game) produces no startlingly new insights. Applying present-day hindsight to Monroe's life, from her unstable upbringing to her death at 36, Casillo highlights the long-lasting damage from Monroe's childhood neglect and sexual abuse, and how it contributed to her later struggles with drugs, alcohol, and mental health issues. He also shows how often others, including the Kennedy brothers and her third husband, playwright Arthur Miller, sought to use the sex symbol for their own purposes, even as Monroe desperately pinned her hopes on these men and others to help her achieve personal and professional fulfillment. More than half a century later, the poor medical care Monroe received for her frequent bouts of suicidal depression and her inappropriate relationships with medical professionals like many, dazzled by her fame and charisma remain appalling. Casillo occasionally overreaches when applying modern expectations to a very different era, but he provides readers with a well-written examination of the mystique of a woman who still fascinates decades after her untimely death.
