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Icon - The life, times and films of Marilyn Monroe by Gary Viticco-Robles. Just thought I would let you know that I am enjoying this book immensely, however due to it's size it will be a little while before I am ready to post the review - watch this space!!!

Marilyn Monroe and Joe DiMaggio, Love in Japan, Korea and Beyond by Jennifer Jean Miller

Some Marilyn books are published with great fanfare and publicity

Some Marilyn books are announced and then the publication date pushed back several times.

And then there are some Marilyn books that just appear without warning, Marilyn Monroe and Joe DiMaggio – Love in Japan, Korea and Beyond by Jennifer Jean Miller is one of them.

This book first appeared on Amazon a little over a month ago and after some consideration I decided to buy it before pay day as I have always been fascinated by Marilyn's and Joe’s story (He has always been my favourite of her husbands). A very fast delivery ensured I received this book on Tuesday 25^{th February}  and here is my review.

The book is actually larger than I expected about A4 in size for UK readers which was nice, it is a soft cover but that does not present a problem at all

The first thing I do with any new Marilyn book is look at the all the photographs in the book, the majority of the pictures in this book are from the authors own collection as she has been collecting original photos for a while now. As a fan of over 20 years it never ceases to amaze me and many of the photos in this book I have never seen before, of course there are many that are fairly common, but some of them have never been published before and Jennifer obtained many of the Korea photos from the soldiers who took them.

The story is really that of Joe and Marilyn, Jennifer gives us a brief overview of their lives before meeting and then goes in to details once the couple meet. The book is very pro Joe and you almost feel as if he could do no wrong where Marilyn was concerned and that he really was the only person who cared for her. The author writes off all subsequent relationships that Marilyn had with people as destructive and there really is a good argument for that as, the doctors and acting teachers she had never really did her any good mentally.

The book pretty much condemns the Strasbergs, Arthur Miller and Milton and Amy Greene and I know a lot of fans will not be happy with the portrayal of Milton and Amy, and yet will completely agree with the descriptions of her relationships with Strasberg and Miller.

The book goes into detail regarding Marilyn’s will and the auction of her personal effects, Anna Strasberg and the licensing legalities that have dominated the Marilyn world in recent years. This mishandling of her estate and the way that her personal effects have been treated by the Strasbergs and collectors alike is truly horrifying for anyone who loves Marilyn and believed her items should have been kept as one large collection

The book is well written but I know that some fans are dubious about the fact the Marilyn Monroe Family are involved. It must be said that the family concerned are not her half sister Bernice and niece Mona Rae but that of one of her cousins, fans doubt the surgeon story that the family have perpetuated and I am afraid I don’t actually understand that, it seems to add yet more conspiracies to a life and death that has been riddled with them. However, I am hoping that Jennifer will write a book around the Surgeon Story which will explain it fully in the future.

However, this book is well worth the price, the photos are amazing and when it comes down to it this is a love story albeit with a tragic ending. As the photos are rare and out of respect to Jennifer, I have not reproduced any of the photos from inside the book – to see them you will need to buy the book. Jennifer is hoping to sell high quality prints in the future – more news when I get it.

3.5/5 – recommended

To purchase from Amazon, please follow the links below

Amazon UK

Amazon.com

Misfit by Adam Braver

This fictional book presents an account of Marilyn’s life in short vignettes, sometimes from her point of view some times from other peoples for instance her working at Radio Plane is told from the perspective of one of her work colleagues.

It starts in 1962 and Marilyn is on her way to the Cal-Neva Lodge the weekend before her death, and the book keeps returning to this point.

The book is well written and very enjoyable with the vignettes in the most part true to the Marilyn Monroe life story, but here too is the problem, any one who is familiar with the story of MM will pick up on the discrepancies.

Most noticeable for me was having James Dougherty join the Merchant Marine when the US joined World War 2 instead of towards the end of it and the Misfits section, when Adam Braver’s narration insinuates that Marilyn had never met Clark Gable before the first day of filming, when in fact she had met him and danced with him at the wrap party for The Seven Year Itch and he in fact said to her at that time that he had recently watched Gentlemen Prefer Blondes and would like to make a film with her because she had the ‘magic’. And, while I appreciate that she most likely was nervous at performing with him it’s annoying that the narration makes it appear as if it was their first meeting.

The last vignette, I feel will be the most upsetting to fans, as it deals with the preparation of her body by the embalmer before he funeral, we have all heard the story of how the autopsy had left her flat chested and how they made her look like Marilyn again, but to end the book on this note was quite distressing and personally I would like to have had one final story set in the present day about how a fan views her more than 50 years after her death, or Marilyn’s spirit in heaven looking down on the world amazed by how much she is still loved.

The book is definitely worth a read, but if you don’t read it you are not missing out on anything.

2.5/5