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2nd out of 6 books
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14 voters
The Secret Life of Marilyn Monroe
From New York Times bestselling author J. Randy Taraborrelli comes the definitive biography of the most enduring icon in popular American culture.
When Marilyn Monroe became famous in the 1950s, the world was told that her mother was either dead or simply not a part of her life. However, that was not true. In fact, her mentally ill mother was very much present in Marilyn's...more
When Marilyn Monroe became famous in the 1950s, the world was told that her mother was either dead or simply not a part of her life. However, that was not true. In fact, her mentally ill mother was very much present in Marilyn's...more
Hardcover, 576 pages
Published
August 25th 2009
by Grand Central Publishing
(first published August 2009)
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May 11, 2013
Marisa Annabelle
rated it
4 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
her fans, or people who interested in knowing her
I started reading this in January when I didn't know anything about her. I figured she was an over blown celebrity and didn't have an opinion of her. After reading this book my opinion changed of her.
The writer did a wonderful job at portraying Marilyn's life. She was very intelligent and not only an amazing actress. This is a great book to read if you're curious about Marilyn. The writer uses evidence and allows you to question the statements he makes, and this book is not only an eye-opener of...more
The writer did a wonderful job at portraying Marilyn's life. She was very intelligent and not only an amazing actress. This is a great book to read if you're curious about Marilyn. The writer uses evidence and allows you to question the statements he makes, and this book is not only an eye-opener of...more
Recently, I have been curious about Marilyn Monroe. Other than a vague understanding that she was a national sex symbol and actress, I didn't really know anything about her. I chose what seemed to be the most reputable biography I could find (one of the few NOT touting never-before-seen-images!), and I was not disappointed.
The author writes well. He simply presents the facts, and allows the reader to sift through them and form their own opinion. He often shares his own conclusions, but it is do...more
I must confess for many years i was not a Marilyn fan. I thought like many that she was a bimbo who didnt deserve the fame an adulation she got through her adult years. In recent years though my thoughts have changed something that this book reinforces. The secret life of Marilyn Monroe goes into great detail with Marilyn's life from her child years as Norma Jean moved from home to home that created a feeling of abandonment and not knowing her father, to her adult years as a model and movie star...more
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I read her diary/autobio My Story and got really curious about the other books based on her life. I decided to pick this up at the library and it kinda explained a bit more regarding her book My Story.
I'm not sure how accurate this book is and I intend to read more books based on her but this is very informative. It covered a small area of her grandmother and more of her mother, her father, her living situation when she was a baby up until she got married at 16, her struggles in show business a...more
I'm not sure how accurate this book is and I intend to read more books based on her but this is very informative. It covered a small area of her grandmother and more of her mother, her father, her living situation when she was a baby up until she got married at 16, her struggles in show business a...more
I left the Marilyn Monroe story more than 30 years ago having read Norman Mailer's "Marilyn" and Fred Guilles' "Norma Jean: The Life of Marilyn Monroe". The character of Marilyn was not of interest to Mailer and the gossip was. My vague memory of Guilles is that he made a lot of her as a fatherless child. Both by-passed an exploration of her relationship with her mother who was alive at the time of their publications. I don't know much of the considerable research since that time, but it appears...more
For a pop biography, I like what the author did here:
1.) The author constantly asks what the source of certain rumors is, and attempts to go back and nail down the reality. That means going back into the JFK/RFK storyline and demonstrating that there is very little reason to believe anything happened between the actress and RFK, and the relationship with JFK, according to a provable timeline, could not have been much more than a one-night-stand.
2.) The author puts Marilyn Monroe's mental illnes...more
1.) The author constantly asks what the source of certain rumors is, and attempts to go back and nail down the reality. That means going back into the JFK/RFK storyline and demonstrating that there is very little reason to believe anything happened between the actress and RFK, and the relationship with JFK, according to a provable timeline, could not have been much more than a one-night-stand.
2.) The author puts Marilyn Monroe's mental illnes...more
I bought this book because it was on sale for $4 and I thought "Why not?" Unfortunately, the author is clearly biased in Monroe's favor, and painted a very favorable picture of her as being good, decent, talented, and so on, if also mentally ill and ,therefore, a victim. In addition to his obvious bias, he left out a lot of details about Marilyn's life that I had read in other places. For instance, a few years ago, Playboy released an article documenting an audio tape she had made a few days bef...more
1 like · like · see review
The Secret Life of Marilyn Monroe
The myth of Marilyn Monroe is intriguing. I came to this book, which appears to be well researched, looking for a window into Marilyn, the person. I certainly got a glimpse of her and developed compassion for the child she was and respect for the woman she was. I say `hats off to Marilyn' for finding her way from what must have been a tremendously disadvantaged start in life to the heights of stardom.
It is not hard to imagine that her world of glamour and public...more
The myth of Marilyn Monroe is intriguing. I came to this book, which appears to be well researched, looking for a window into Marilyn, the person. I certainly got a glimpse of her and developed compassion for the child she was and respect for the woman she was. I say `hats off to Marilyn' for finding her way from what must have been a tremendously disadvantaged start in life to the heights of stardom.
It is not hard to imagine that her world of glamour and public...more
I actually tried to read this book once before, but at the time I was in an unhappy place and couldn't take the accounts of Monroe's family history of depression. As someone with a similar family history, and unfortunate personal experience with visiting my mother in a mental ward, it was quite odd to see similarities between myself and Marilyn Monroe. Of course this is a biography, not an autobiography, so I can't know how Monroe handled her situation emotionally. But her relationship with her...more
This was a good book. It's amazing that Marilyn or Norma Jean, had the strength to get as far as she did and live to realize her dream of becoming famous. I think her life would have turned of differently, if she was allowed to stay with the foster family that was taking care of her. Her mother, while I am sure she actually did love her, she never had her daughter's best interests at heart.
It is also a case of a big celebrity using their fame and fortune to get what they want from doctors who ar...more
It is also a case of a big celebrity using their fame and fortune to get what they want from doctors who ar...more
I recently finished an epic 500-page biography of the lovely Norma Jean entitled "The Secret Life of Marilyn Monroe" by J. Randy Taraborrelli.
Let me preface this review by saying that I have never seen a Marilyn Monroe movie, nor read any books on her. I came into this with just an image of my head that was a compilation of her most famous photos and the preconceived thought that she and JFK had some good times.
I found this book to be completely engrossing...the tale is almost too good to be tru...more
Let me preface this review by saying that I have never seen a Marilyn Monroe movie, nor read any books on her. I came into this with just an image of my head that was a compilation of her most famous photos and the preconceived thought that she and JFK had some good times.
I found this book to be completely engrossing...the tale is almost too good to be tru...more
I don't know what possess me to read Marilyn Monroe's biography. I do not even idolize her or pay attention to her that much. But one day, I decided, I am going to read up on her. It was one heck of a story the first two chapters, I was depressed, so I have to put it down. Yet I itch to find out how life was for her. From the innocent Norma Jean whose most relatives and guardians are irresponsible and selfish. Seriously her family history and background set her to doom. I think I would have set...more
Last year I read the book Blonde by Joyce Carol Oates. The book is a fictional account of Marilyn Monroe's life. However the book was so fascinating it drove to me watch many of her movies and try to find a reliable biography about Monroe.
While Taraborrelli's account appears to be a book based on reliable sources, it was not nearly as interesting as the fictional account told in Marilyn's own voice. This may be because so much of what made Marilyn Monroe fascinating were things that perhaps she...more
While Taraborrelli's account appears to be a book based on reliable sources, it was not nearly as interesting as the fictional account told in Marilyn's own voice. This may be because so much of what made Marilyn Monroe fascinating were things that perhaps she...more
I thoroughly enjoyed it! JRT tells a story very well, the characters quite vivid in my mind as Marilyn's life unfolded in the pages.
I can be such a nit-picker when it comes to details of Marilyn's life. Primary, the name on her birth certificate is Mortenson, with a O. Throughout the book it's spelled Mortensen with an E, the spelling of Gladys's second husband, but not her daughter. It's always important to get a person's name spelled right.
The whole mix up of the chapter of "Jasper Dies" is a...more
I can be such a nit-picker when it comes to details of Marilyn's life. Primary, the name on her birth certificate is Mortenson, with a O. Throughout the book it's spelled Mortensen with an E, the spelling of Gladys's second husband, but not her daughter. It's always important to get a person's name spelled right.
The whole mix up of the chapter of "Jasper Dies" is a...more
From New York Times bestselling author J. Randy Taraborrelli comes the definitive biography of the most enduring icon in popular American culture. When Marilyn Monroe became famous in the 1950s, the world was told that her mother was either dead or simply not a part of her life. However, that was not true. In fact, her mentally ill mother was very much present in Marilyn's world and the complex family dynamic that unfolded behind the scenes is a story that has never before been told...until now....more
I'm not sure why, but I have always been fascinated with Marilyn Monroe. Perhaps it is something about dying young(I feel very sad when I think of Heath Ledger as well), but I also believe it goes beyond that. I think it is the belief that had she been born later and lived in this day and age, she would have gotten help with her mental illnesses and perhaps had better movies in which to play. Having said that, I've only actually read two books on her. I read Goddess, but that was written over 20...more
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Upon leaving they "show business"..lol..well entertainment business so to speak I thought it would be medicinal to read something about the world famous actress. This book is so sad and interesting. I havent been able to put it down. I'm not quite done with it yet. I am hoping there are more happy stories comming up in it..it pretty much just kind of details her love affairs, and medical problems and her difficulties and successes as an actress. I think the next time I read another book about h...more
Marilyn Monroe let probably the most fascinating life in the previous century, and the fascination with her, her image, her movies and, never to be forgotten, her death is still raging now 50 since since that fatefull night August 4, 1962. Since then many stories, rumours and lies has been told about this icon in history, and in this book J. Randy Taraborrelli tries to chip it all away and find the real woman behind. Needless to say, that's not a simple quest to embark on, since the main charact...more
The Secret Life of Marilyn Monroe is about a woman who through all the pain, heart-ace, and sorrow, thrived to meet her goals.
The book travels through the story her life, being with her grandmother, then mother, and finally young Norma Jean (Marilyn Monroe).
From being raised in foster care, then traveling from home to home, simply just to give away her virginity to a man she didn’t love, Jim Dougherty, her first husband, to escape the pain and problems of foster care, only to become an unhappy...more
The book travels through the story her life, being with her grandmother, then mother, and finally young Norma Jean (Marilyn Monroe).
From being raised in foster care, then traveling from home to home, simply just to give away her virginity to a man she didn’t love, Jim Dougherty, her first husband, to escape the pain and problems of foster care, only to become an unhappy...more
While this biography is certainly comprehensive and exhaustively researched, I felt like the author was working at cross purposes. He constantly praises Marilyn's performances and acting ability while repeatedly beating the reader over the head with how beautiful she was and how guileless and childlike she was. He keeps trying to elevate her and her talents while completely reinforcing all of the Marilyn stereotypes - namely, her unmatched beauty, tragic vulnerability, and her sex-bomb persona....more
I haven't read any other biographies on Miss Monroe so I don't really have a measure to place this experience against.
After reading this book I have become entranced with the effects of fame on 50's era celebrities.
I had no idea how troubled Marilyn's ubringing was before reading this book. She was basically tossed around amongst several mother like characters with a total lack of father figures in her life.
That explains a lot when it comes to the image that she created for herself.
Her constant...more
After reading this book I have become entranced with the effects of fame on 50's era celebrities.
I had no idea how troubled Marilyn's ubringing was before reading this book. She was basically tossed around amongst several mother like characters with a total lack of father figures in her life.
That explains a lot when it comes to the image that she created for herself.
Her constant...more
I have read a lot of biographies about Marilyn Monroe and found this particular book to read well. I actually found this book to clarify certain claims made by other authors with evidence to support the facts. I liked the way this book began with her birth and kept with the family and people throughout her life. A tragic tale that reads like a work of fiction, but good fiction. Would highly recommend.
The Secret Life of Marilyn Monroe by J. Randy Taraborrelli is in essense a story of Beauty and the Beast. A beautiful young woman with so much potential who is chased throughout her life by the beast of disappointment, heartbreak, abuse, drugs and doubtful self esteem. A story of a beautiful young woman whose life is but a roller coaster ride with so many ups and down it's no wonder the tragic outcome.
I must confess this is the first I have read of this actress and am glad for the opportunity to...more
I must confess this is the first I have read of this actress and am glad for the opportunity to...more
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In this age where we keep losing our brightest, shining stars to their deepest, darkest addictions, this book is a fascinating account that shows how just how very far back in time this epidemic began. Throughout the entire tale of Marilyn's life, her drug addiction is unraveled, layer upon layer, and while everyone around her saw it and was terrified by it, no one did anything to stop it. Doctors even back then were "yes men" to the stars, enablers, "Conrad Murrays." How she survived as long as...more
The Secret Life of Marilyn Monroe by J.Randy Taraborrelli is the newest book on Marilyn Monroe’s life. When in high school I did my senior research paper on the many theories of Marilyn’s death. I read a lot of books at that time and became interested as many others are in Marilyn’s life. I have read more books on Marilyn since that senior year; I have watched all her movies and the movies made about her so when this book came to my library I had to read it. I found that this book was written af...more
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At about 500 pages, this was a hefty biography. But it didn't drag at all...the writing was personal and compelling and kept me reading. And Taraborrelli definitely needed all of that space to give an fair and accurate portrait of Marilyn's complicated life. I enjoyed this biography, and I think that's what I most liked about it: a recent book, this sifted through all of the fabrications about Marilyn's life (some that she even created herself!) to get to the meat of what was going on with her....more
When choosing to read this Marilyn biography to read over other Marilyn Biographies, I considered the reviews on Goodreads and chose this one. Ultimately, I think I chose right despite some annoyances I had with the author.
First, this book clearly attempts to combine all current resources, interviews, facts, photographs and records of Marilyn's life, which makes it more updated then other biographies. I also appreciate that Taraborrelli focuses more on Marilyn the person rather than Marilyn's c...more
First, this book clearly attempts to combine all current resources, interviews, facts, photographs and records of Marilyn's life, which makes it more updated then other biographies. I also appreciate that Taraborrelli focuses more on Marilyn the person rather than Marilyn's c...more
I've read several books on Marilyn Monroe and often come away feeling like I'm missing a lot. Not in this book. The research here is better done than any other book and the author documents everything instead of relying on gossip or "I know because so and so told so and so who told so and so". If he couldn't document the story he said it was out there but there was no proof. This was especially helpful with the tie-in with the Kennedy family. Some things are true but there is much more that is j...more
I've never been a huge Marilyn Monroe fan. I picked up this book because it was on sale. This was very well written and well researched. Taraborrelli writes about Monroe's life from birth to her death, going through the many-publicized aspects of her life. A few surprises about her I never knew was she had a co-dependent relationship with many authoritative figures (acting coaches and psychiatrists) in her life; she was a severe drug addict (think Michael Jackson levels) and was formally diagnos...more
I am grateful for my very good friend who lent me this book. Who also happens to be the same (brilliant) person who refered me to GoodReads. What a legend.
Due to study and work (and given the length of the book itself) it is one that I chose to read in small segments. Coming back and forth to it made me look forward to something – I think that we need that in life sometimes, a sense of excitement and fulfilment towards the future. I learnt this, as well as other great things, from the work of Ta...more
Due to study and work (and given the length of the book itself) it is one that I chose to read in small segments. Coming back and forth to it made me look forward to something – I think that we need that in life sometimes, a sense of excitement and fulfilment towards the future. I learnt this, as well as other great things, from the work of Ta...more
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“Her makeup artist, Allan Snyder, recalled applying her makeup in the morning while she was still flat on her back in bed. “There was no other way,” he said. “It would take her so long to get up in the morning, we had to start with the makeup before she was out of bed.”
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2 people liked it
“She had told Kazan that she was bored with the roles she was playing because so many of them had been basically the same kind of empty-headed characterization. She wanted nothing ore than to challenge herself with more complex parts--and also wanted others to think of her as being more than a caricature.
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Anytime she had an opportunity to broaden her mind, she wanted to take advantage of it.”
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Anytime she had an opportunity to broaden her mind, she wanted to take advantage of it.”
Jul 14, 2011 11:22pm