On Marilyn Monroe: An Opinionated Guide

According to Barrios (West Side Story: The Jets, the Sharks, and the Making of a Classic), most biographies on Marilyn Monroe focus too much on her marriages, beauty, and sexuality and not enough on her acting talent. In this book, he provides an inside look into how Monroe grew as an actress and created her public persona. Eye-opening and always engaging, this opinionated guide begins with a brief exposé of Monroe’s life before modeling and films. From there, Barrios examines her drive to improve herself as an artist. For example, she took diction and acting lessons, had plastic surgery, dyed her hair blond, and made connections with important figures in the film industry. Though the author makes it clear at the beginning of the book that he is a fan of Monroe, Barrios’s analysis is fair and balanced. He is not above criticizing Monroe performances he deems “uneven”—her performance in 1952’s Don’t Bother To Knock, for example—or taking note of her line readings which, he argues, were more appropriate for her comedies than dramas.