THE MARILYN MONROE DIARIES

The premise of THE MARILYN DIARIES by Charles Casillo is that the diary Marilyn Monroe was rumored to have kept in the last years of her life has been discovered after four decades and is being published for the first time — so it's as if you are reading her remarkable life story as told in her own words. This is a fascinating tale of triumph and pain, beauty and tragedy, told against a backdrop of a golden age in Hollywood history. It has a cast of characters that includes John and Jackie Kennedy, Frank Sinatra, Elizabeth Taylor, Peter Lawford, Natalie Wood, Warren Beatty, Robert Kennedy and many others. The difference between The Marilyn Diaries and other recent works of fiction about the blonde goddess is that here Marilyn Monroe comes across as a living, breathing human being, rather than a cardboard caricature based on her film roles.Remove from your mind the breathless, baby doll character Marilyn masterfully created for her movies. Forget about the stuttering, nincompoop—the neurotic victim of men—that legend continues to portray her as. Here we have a serious exploration of the struggles of a clever but complex woman who often feels herself being pulled in opposing directions. Rather than exploit her with gratuitous and sensationalistic degradation, this novel probes the inner workings of a deeply troubled human being who was also one of the most compelling personalities of her time. Used by men, this Marilyn Monroe is also a master user, canny enough to turn the tables and exploit men for her advantage as well. She is shrewd enough to wear the masks that people expect of her in order to get ahead. She is intelligent but sometimes naive — desperately wanting to believe in tenderness. A narcissist without vanity — she obsessively worries about remaining beautiful. She is at times confidant in her powers to attract but also excruciatingly vulnerable in her choice of men. Supremely talented but intensely insecure in her work as an actress.This is, however, a book for adults. It is not a Disney cartoon version of a blonde Snow White with cartoon birds chirping over her head. After all Monroe's life was filled with controversy and, while she had millions of devoted fans, there were also people who despised her and thought she was obscene. But the Marilyn in these pages delights in her beauty. She isn't ashamed of being sexual. She enjoys her sexuality. She strives to be recognized for more — but never regrets her sex symbol statusWithout turning her into a series of labels, Charles Casillo recreates Marilyn Monroe as a brilliant and beguiling human being, while not flinching from her self destructive dark side. His portrait of this misunderstood actress will dispel some of the lingering stereotypes and surely add a new dimension to the Monroe legend.Now available on amazon.com