Inside Marilyn Monroe
by John Gilmore
List Price:
Our Price: $10.31
You Save: $4.64 (31%)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Buy Used: from $4.28 (click here)
Category: Book
See more book details and other editions
Book Summary Information
Author: John GilmoreEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2007-04-24
ISBN: 0978896807
Number of pages: 208
Publisher: Ferine Books
Book Reviews of Inside Marilyn Monroe
Book Review: Searching for Marilyn
Summary: 5 Stars
I read this book with much interest as it is one of the few works (if not standing by itself), that has does not follow the tradition aimed at commercial priority, a dedication to harvesting "bucks" from "what's hot in the media." Rather, John Gilmore's memoir on Marilyn Monroe offers a painful interior view of a troubled, misunderstood, and grossly exploited young woman in possession of enormous potentialities and abilities never to be fully realized. I propose that it must be difficult for some readers and MM "conspiracy fans" to accept the devastating view this book tends to provide. However, it seems to round out a picture of a Marilyn we have been conditioned to ignore in favor of her cultural, societal value. One reviewer attempts to discredit the author's credentials, while another considers him a genius "of the heart". The latter reviewer has a point, considering that what Gilmore gives to us about MM goes to the heart, not only of his subject, but to the reader as well. For this, I applaud this author who has brought to me rekindled interest in all things Marilyn. I recently attended the Marilyn Monroe 45th Memorial Service in Westwood, California, where Gilmore gave an impressive and moving talk, an eloquent and glowing tribute for one who passed away 45 years ago. He was apparently swept off his feet by the Marilyn he met so long ago, and perhaps has carried a torch all these years. In my opinion, he has underplayed his past association with Marilyn considerably in the memoir, INSIDE MARILYN MONROE, yet the emotional content cannot be overlooked, nor can the reader avoid confronting it. For years, Marilyn's impact was blurred, earlier movies and the like having left little reverberation in the wake of her success. Now solidly resurrected into a media wonder, a ploy as deliberate and marketed as her blown-dress shot on Times Square, all of course to MM's credit, though the real person she was, long absent from the hoopla and commercial brouhaha, in fact overlooked or lost, emerges in Gilmore's book like a sudden gust of fresh sea air. She never saw the fortunes made in her name or the bartering of her few personal possessions for millions of dollars.
Gilmore's writing is superb, confidentially toned. He has provided for me a pipeline to deeper emotions. The work is anti-exploitive, a memoir following little or no formula, and thus reminding me of the line "genius is never loyal to patterns." It is possible that this author's work (I have read several of John Gilmore's books), conflicts with the commercially programmed approaches which by their nature cloud issues but at the same time to assure high returns. Another well-understood line is that truth often proves a bitter pill to swallow. Perhaps a day will come when we might "turn that dial" to a channel that gives us an unvarnished truth. Gilmore's memoir on Marilyn Monroe appears to do just that. He is certainly on the right path. Until such a time as we may "switch" to a more meaningful media avenue, it is the varnish that will be marketed, not the truth that lies beneath. In reading this memoir, I feel I am confronting an out-of-the-way view on this enormously popular subject. Marilyn, a refreshing yet a bitter pill Gilmore gives us. There is little "glam" writing here, and an absence of judgment, The reader may find beauty and happiness in life and rejoice in witnessing the loveliness that life offers. This is what real literature is all about, always tragic by nature. It is in this niche that author Gilmore seems committed, regardless of the toes he steps upon. INSIDE MARILYN MONROE is a literary achievement in a day of crass exploitation, and though it might prove that bitter pill for some, the rewards of being able to get this close to Marilyn, to who she was and what drove her, tortured her, far outweighs the harshness Gilmore reveals about us now, the frail, faulted, silly humans scrambling for the Almighty Dollar. A work well done, standing almost as a hallmark in a media awash with insincerity. This book, a treasure trove for Marilyn fans, should be required reading in every class on Popular Culture.
Summary of Inside Marilyn Monroe
Inside Marilyn Monroe is an intense, personal memoir spanning more than a decade (1952-1962) by the then-actor John Gilmore, detailing his acquaintanceship with the most important movie star in the world, Marilyn Monroe. From Hollywood to New York, from New York back to Hollywood, the casual hello-goodbye friendship building to a point where Monroe and Gilmore were about to make a picture together but tragedy struck in Marilyn's life. Gilmore turned from acting to devote himself to writing and his memoir gathers Marilyn's personal life through many asscoaites and stars known to Marilyn and Gilmore. Revealed is a treasure-trove of facets of Marilyn's life previously unknown. Gilmore's memoir shuns the conspiracy theories as he instead focuses on Marilyn as she really was, not as the media-created, cardboard sexpot, but the living and breathing "wonder" that she was. IThis haunting, highly personal memoir contains many photographs never before published and are made public for the first time.Entertainers Books
Book Subjects
- Arts & Photography
- Biographies & Memoirs
- Business & Investing
- Children's Books
- Comics & Graphic Novels
- Computers & Internet
- Cooking, Food & Wine
- Entertainment
- Gay & Lesbian
- Health, Mind & Body
- History
- Home & Garden
- Horror
- Law
- Literature & Fiction
- Mystery & Thrillers
- Nonfiction
- Outdoors & Nature
- Parenting & Families
- Professional & Technical
- Reference
- Religion & Spirituality
- Romance
- Science
- Science Fiction & Fantasy
- Sports
- Teens
- Travel
Most talked about in Entertainers Books
El Sid: Saint Viciousby David Dalton
Griffin; Published: 1998-07; Paperback; Book
Best price: $2.79
Price in other shops:
Moonwalkby Michael Jackson
Crown Archetype; Published: 2009-10-13; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $12.44
Price in other shops:
High Society: The Life of Grace Kellyby Donald Spoto
Three Rivers Press; Published: 2010-10-05; Paperback; Book
Best price: $7.87
Price in other shops:
Stand & Deliver: The Autobiographyby Adam Ant
Pan Macmillan; Published: 2007-04-30; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $105.86
San Antonio Rose: THE LIFE AND MUSIC OF BOB WILLS (Music in American Life)by Charles Townsend
University of Illinois Press; Published: 1986-10-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $33.50
Price in other shops:
Orson Welles: Volume 1: The Road to Xanaduby Simon Callow
Penguin (Non-Classics); Published: 1997-02-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $10.22
Price in other shops:
The Basketball Diariesby Jim Carroll
Penguin (Non-Classics); Published: 1987-07-07; Paperback; Book
Best price: $8.52
Price in other shops:
Hollywood Animalby Joe Eszterhas
Hutchinson; Published: 2004; Paperback; Book
Love, Janisby Laura Joplin
It Books; Published: 2005-08-16; Paperback; Book
Best price: $8.50
Price in other shops:
A Paper Life CDby Tatum O'Neal
HarperAudio; Published: 2004-10-12; Audio CD; Book
Best price: $17.77
Price in other shops:
Similar Books and other products
Marilyn, August 1953: The Lost LOOK Photos (Calla Editions)by Brian Wallis Chief Curator
Calla Editions; Published: 2010-10-01; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $15.00
Price in other shops:
L.A. Despair: A Landscape of Crimes & Bad Timesby John Gilmore
Amok Books; Published: 2005-08; Paperback; Book
Best price: $13.36
Price in other shops:
To Norma Jeane with Love, Jimmieby Jim Dougherty
BeachHouse Books; Published: 2001-01-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $14.31
Price in other shops:
Marilyn: Her Life in Her Own Wby George Barris
Citadel; Published: 2008-06-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $12.13
Price in other shops:
Fragments: Poems, Intimate Notes, Lettersby Marilyn Monroe
Farrar, Straus and Giroux; Published: 2010-10-12; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $9.99
Price in other shops:
My Storyby Marilyn Monroe
Taylor Trade Publishing; Published: 2006-09-29; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $15.32
Price in other shops:
MM-Personal: From the Private Archive of Marilyn Monroeby Lois Banner
Abrams; Published: 2011-03-01; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $16.50
Price in other shops:
Marilyn Monroe: Private and Undisclosedby Michelle Morgan
Da Capo Press; Carroll & Graf; Published: 2007-08-24; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $18.73
Price in other shops:
Laid Bare: A Memoir of Wrecked Lives and the Hollywood Death Tripby John Gilmore, Jeff Lyons
Amok Books; Published: 1997-08-28; Paperback; Book
Best price: $9.00
Price in other shops:
Marilyn Monroe: Metamorphosisby David Wills
It Books; Published: 2011-11-08; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $14.65
Price in other shops: