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 25th 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
thanks for this review, i think i will purchase this.
ReplyDeleteyou won't regret it Jill it's a very good read
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