Starlet Marilyn Monroe approached documentary photographer Eve Arnold with a proposition, if you photograph me, it will also help your career. Arnold, who worked for Magnum photography, wasn't getting the photojournalistic assignments that she wanted, and she wasn't going to compromise her documentary standards. Reluctantly, she started covering the Marilyn that Norma Jean created as a way of drawing attention to herself and her acting ambitions and it did start paying off for both. There were only a few women photojournalists and Arnold began tasting fame for making Marilyn famous.. On the way to this boost in her career ambitions, she and Norma Jean actually became friends who appreciated and trusted each other.
The story follows both the lives and careers of Marilyn and Eve. They struggle with their marriages and their families, especially since they were both women with challenging professions that didn't lend themselves to domestic bliss. We get an honest view of Marilyn/Norma Jean through the eyes of Eve, as she records her battles in the media to overcome her blonde bimbo image and be taken seriously as an actress, her sicknesses, and her love interests. Marilyn constantly reminds Eve of the photo session that she did of Marlene Dietrich, which she entitled "an appreciation." Will Marilyn finally attain the appreciation that she knows she deserves?
Author Cullen writes an unusual narrative device, mixing first person and second person. Her character Eve is writing the novel's events, and her thoughts about them, to a posthumous Norma Jean, as if in letter form. The reader sometimes forgets that she is doing this until Eve refers to "you" and this reminds them. I think it provides an intimacy and immediacy that most novels lack, and it made me believe that their friendship was real. Cullen based the book on the true events and photos that Eve took of Marilyn, and that makes this historical novel a great starting point to delve into both of their lives. Smile for the camera!
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