Day 2, and Fragments Review

As part of the Dollar Bin 30 Day Challenge here is my Day 2 answer:


Day 02 - The horror film that you relate most to:

Hmm, this one's hard.  Probably Lost Boys.  I love that movie so much, and I've watched it countless times.  As much as I love vampires, especially literary vampires like Eric Northman and Edward Cullen, the vampires in Lost Boys feel more realistic.  That vampires, if they truly existed, would be all evil giggles, and ugly, scary vampire faces when they turned.  I loved the romance between Star and Michael, and I like how even though she's a little scared and passive during most of the movie, Star eventually starts standing up for herself.  But in all honesty, I relate best to the nerdiness of the Frog Brothers.  When I was a kid I was always convincing myself that I was a lost pet detective, or ghost hunter, or the fifth Bangle.  I could have wholly accepted the idea of the undead walking around Fairfax, Virginia.  Sadly, I wasn't allowed to watch Lost Boys until I was a teen, but I probably would have imagined myself as the Frog sister.

Star, played by Jami Gertz.  I still want her cool gypsy skirts from the movie!

Now let me do a quick book review, since this is meant to be a book blog...

Fragments: Poems, Intimate Notes, Letters by Marilyn Monroe.

From Goodreads:

Marilyn Monroe’s image is so universal that we can’t help but believe that we know all there is to know of her. Every word and gesture made headlines and garnered controversy. Her serious gifts as an actor were sometimes eclipsed by her notoriety and the way the camera fell helplessly in love with her.
But what of the other Marilyn? Beyond the headlines and the too-familiar stories of heartbreak and desolation was a woman far more curious, searching, and hopeful than the one the world got to know. Even as Hollywood studios tried to mold and suppress her, Marilyn never lost her insight, her passion, and her humor. To confront the mounting difficulties of her life, she wrote.
Now, for the first time, we can meet this private Marilyn and get to know her in a way we never have before. Fragments is an unprecedented collection of written artifacts, notes to herself, letters, even poems in Marilyn’s own handwriting, never before published, along with rarely seen intimate photos.
These bits of text jotted in notebooks, typed on paper, or written on hotel letterhead reveal a woman who loved deeply and strove to perfect her craft. They show a Marilyn Monroe unsparing in her analysis of her own life, but also playful, funny, and impossibly charming. The easy grace and deceptive lightness that made her performances so memorable emerge on the page, as does the simmering tragedy that made her last appearances so heartbreaking.
Fragments is an event, an unforgettable book that will redefine one of the greatest stars of the twentieth century and which, nearly fifty years after her death, will definitively reveal Marilyn Monroe’s humanity

My Thoughts:  I really didn't know much about Marilyn Monroe before reading this book, beyond her marriages.  I found myself going to the internet to look things up.  This book does not give a whole lot of biographical detail about her if you're unfamiliar with her life.  It's amazing  that someone can be so different from their public image, but Monroe definitely was.  She was always struggling to be better, to be more worthy, but ultimately her depression and insecurities would take over. I did feel like I was reading someone's diary, it felt a bit voyeuristic. 

Fragments gets a Midnight Book Rating of 10pm.  Whether you're a fan of Marilyn Monroe's or not, I think it's an interesting look into a private life we don't usually get a chance to see- can you imagine someone looking through your book of thoughts, or scribbles on random pages? I'd probably suggest reading a biography on her first if you don't know much about her.  That would make Fragments a better Midnight read.