Blonde begins with a hallucinatory prologue in which Death takes the form of a bicycle messenger threading his way through traffic to an address where the occupant is recorded as “MM”. Joyce Carol Oates’s “radically distilled” take on Marilyn Monroe’s life – a film of which comes to Netflix this month – delves deep into the actor’s early years when she was still called Norma Jeane, depicting a wretched childhood marked by a narcissistic, alcoholic mother; spells in an orphanage and a foster home; and marriage at 16. From there we follow her rise to fame, her largely unhappy relationships and her marriages to “the Ex-Athlete” (Joe DiMaggio) and “the Playwright” (Arthur Miller).
The narration is by Jayne Atkinson, who resists the urge to ham up Monroe’s famously breathy voice, and who conveys the actor’sMonroe’s ambition, vulnerability and anxious relationship with her public persona. Oates’s novel was criticised when it was published in 2000 for its blurring of fact and fiction. Today, though, it feels remarkably ahead of its time in its depictions of institutional misogyny, outrageous abuses of power, and a young woman struggling to stay afloat in an industry that cares little for her mental wellbeing.
The audiobook also features a postscript in which Oates is interviewed by the literary critic Michael Silverblatt. Oates reflects on Monroe’s fundamental understanding of her own exploitation and “her deep and profound masochism, as if she’s saying: ‘I won’t interfere with the world’s victimisation of me. I will see how far it will take me.’”
Blonde is available from HarperAudio, 8hr 19min.
Further listening
Godmersham Park
Gill Hornby, Penguin Audio, 10hr 58 min
Bessie Carter narrates this tale about a 19th-century governess who takes a job in the grand country home of Jane Austen’s elder brother Edward.
The Salt Path
Raynor Winn, Penguin Audio, 9hr 1 min
This moving memoir about a couple who lose their home and find refuge in nature is read by the author.
