The Blonde by Anna Godbersen Pages: 400
Published by Weinstein Publishing on May 13, 2014
Genres: adult, Biographical, Fiction, Historical, Romance, Suspense/Thriller
Source: Finished Hardcover from Publisher
From the New York Times bestselling author Anna Godbersen and Alloy Entertainment, a chilling reimagining of the life of Marilyn Monroe that is part biography, part love story, and part thriller.
Marilyn Monroe is at the height of her fame, the object of the world’s desire. Attention is her drug, the very definition of who she is. Her own wants and needs have become fleeting at best, as if she sees herself only through others’ eyes. But there is one thing Marilyn still wishes for beyond all else—to meet her real father. That’s the part you already know, the legend—but here’s the part that’s never been told.
In Anna Godbersen’s imaginative novel, set at the height of the Cold War, a young, unknown Norma Jean meets a man in Los Angeles—a Soviet agent? A Russian spy?—who transforms her into Marilyn the star. And when she reaches the pinnacle of success, he comes back for his repayment. He shows her a photo of her estranged father and promises to reunite them in exchange for information: Find out something about presidential candidate John F. Kennedy that no one else knows. At first, Marilyn is bored by the prospect of, once again, using a man’s attraction to get what she needs. But when she meets the magnetic Jack Kennedy, she realizes that this isn’t going to be a simple game. What started with the earnest desire to meet her father has grave consequences for her, for the bright young Kennedy, and for the entire nation. The Blonde is a vivid tableau of American celebrity, sex, love, violence, power, and paranoia.Part biography, part spy thriller, and part love story, THE BLONDE is a whip-smart re-imagining of the relationship between Marilyn Monroe and John F. Kennedy that draws on historical events to create a dark tale of American celebrity, sex, love, violence, power, and paranoia.
The Blonde is Anna Godbersen’s first adult novel. And boy oh boy did she start off with a bang! (ha ha) The Blonde is the fictionalized historical telling of Marilyn Monroe. Going off the premise…what is Marilyn Monroe was a spy. Does that sound cool? Well it really was. There is tons of classic Marilyn woven into these pages. Lot’s of sexy, flirty Marilyn, and under it all- a very lonely woman. The story starts with a flashback to her childhood and from then on it flashes forward to the height of her fame. The chapters are each labeled with the location, month and year. It was a nice progression for the story. Sometimes there were multiple chapters per month and sometimes only a few.
This part of the summary actually says it all about the blonde:
“Part biography, part spy thriller, and part love story, THE BLONDE is a whip-smart re-imagining of the relationship between Marilyn Monroe and John F. Kennedy that draws on historical events to create a dark tale of American celebrity, sex, love, violence, power, and paranoia.”
How can you not want to read that??
The actual story line was wonderfully imaginative and addictive. I had so much fun reading about the actual historical events wrapped up in Godbersen’s intriguing re-telling of it all. And the most impressive part was that she captured the spirit of Marilyn so well. I felt like I was reading some of Marilyn’s lost diaries. Anna Godbersen introduces us to a russian man called Alexie who was the one that jump started Marilyn’s career, simply saying that he would be calling in a “favor” later with her. And so started her secret career as a spy.
The espionage and spy thirller aspect of the story was the coolest melding of history and fictions. I just ate it all up. Anna Godbersen’s writing is magic. That is the only way I know how to describe it. She casts this spell with her words as she weaves them into a story that even though you know is fiction, seems both too fantastical and yet somehow plausible. It is crazy. I had so much fun living in this re imagined view of history. I loved picturing Marilyn as this reluctant bombshell spy. It was a cool twist on her relationship with the President. The Blonde is so unlike other stories. It was so well thought out and expertly created. I loved The Blonde and I think you will too.
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Reading this book contributed to these challenges:
I tried her historical series and liked it but wasn’t in love with it for some reason but this one really does sound like something I would like. I love a good suspenseful mystery.
It is denser than most books I read for fun, but it was still really cool. I haven’t read anythign quite like it.
[…] {#Review} The Blonde by Anna Godbersen ~ Book Briefs […]
Ok! I’m going to have to give it a shot. The synopsis didn’t really interest me and that crushed my soul a little bit because I LOVE Anna Godbersen. So happy to hear that you enjoyed it.
This one is going to be a bit denser than YA, but it was still really interesting!