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