01621cam a2200217 4500 66364390 TxAuBib 020304s2000||||||||||||||||||||||||eng|u 9780060196073 0060196076 (OCoLC)733725821 TxAuBib Oates, Joyce Carol, 1938- Blonde. New York : Ecco Press, 2000. 728 pgs. Bottled Blonde There is no denying that Marilyn Monroe is one of America's most beloved icons. Still, when the reader is confronted with a massive copy of Blonde, Joyce Carol Oates's fictional retelling of Marilyn Monroe's life, a question does come to mind: What could Oates possibly have written about Monroe's brief life and career that could fill more than 700 pages? The answer? Sex. Blonde is one long, racy read. Oates recounts every telling event in the life of Norma Jeane Baker, from her early days with her grandmother to the years spent with her crazy mother to her teenage years in an orphanage and, following her mother's institutionalization, in a foster home. After Norma Jeane's first marriage, the hagiography continues with the birth of "MM," her subsequent marriages, stardom, and the "questionable" circumstances of her death at the age of 36 (not surprisingly, Oates suggests that, rather than succumbing to an accidental overdose, or intentional suicide, Marilyn was murdered). And the thread weaving together all 36 years is sex. 20020311. Monroe, Marilyn, 1926-1962. TXPLE