Blonde
Joyce Carol Oates, Author HarperAudio $29.95 (0p) ISBN 978-0-694-52312-2
Atkinson narrates Oates's fictional biography of Marilyn Monroe in an intense, slightly husky voice that immediately grabs and holds the listener's attention. Film actress Atkinson deftly switches back and forth between Oates's prose, a breathy Monroe (who ""comments"" periodically throughout the novel), Monroe's brassy mother, Gladys (who soon succumbs to mental illness), and a series of powerful, impatient men who callously exploit the vulnerable young actress. Her only false note is the dialogue of John F. Kennedy, which she reads without any attempt at the president's distinctive Massachusetts accent. Abridging Oates's epic is no small feat, but all the major events in Monroe's life remain in vivid and often heartbreaking detail. The audio also includes an exclusive interview with Oates, who talks about her impressions of Monroe as a person and as an icon, and discusses how she came to write the 700-plus- page novel, which she originally intended as a 175-page novella. Based on the HarperCollins/ Ecco hardcover (Forecasts, Feb. 14). (Apr.)
Details
Reviewed on: 04/03/2000
Release date: 04/01/2000
Genre: Fiction
Hardcover - 737 pages - 9780060196073
Downloadable Audio - 752 pages - 9780060814410
Paperback - 738 pages - 9780061774355
Paperback - 944 pages - 9781400001460
Paperback - 752 pages - 9780060934934
Downloadable Audio - 752 pages - 9780060794002
Paperback - 933 pages - 9786071118561
Hardcover - 992 pages - 9782234064690
Audio book sample courtesy of HarperAudio