Believe me when I say that I have delved into a vast number of books on Marilyn Monroe.

With this extensive knowledge, I can assert that if one is inclined to read a book about MM, this particular one adheres closely to documented facts. It includes interviews with her closest friends and co-workers, as well as receipts and recorded dates.

It does not rely on wild conspiracy theories. However, these are given a mention, but only in the Afterword. This is done so that the reader can understand how these conspiracy theories emerged.

Overall, it is a great book. The facts presented are excellent, and it makes for a great read. It provides a comprehensive and accurate portrayal of Marilyn Monroe, based on reliable sources and without the distractions of unfounded speculation.

Whether you are a die-hard Marilyn Monroe fan or simply interested in learning more about this iconic figure, this book is definitely worth checking out.

Supposed to be one of the best researched and most accurate biographies, this work truly presents itself in that light. It dismisses many of the more sensational rumours that have circulated about Marilyn Monroe and builds up to Spoto's theory on her mysterious death. He even goes so far as to identify discrepancies and unreliable resources in other biographies, adding an extra layer of credibility to his own work.

In addition, this is by far the best biography that I've read to date in terms of getting the real background and history on the people who were influential in her life. It delves deeply into her early years prior to beginning to model, providing a comprehensive and detailed account of her upbringing and the events that led to her rise to stardom.

Overall, I highly recommend this biography for any Marilyn Monroe fan. It offers a fresh perspective on her life and career, and is sure to be a valuable addition to any collection of Monroe-related literature.

Donald Spoto has masterfully recounted the unforgettable tales of Marilyn Monroe.

This novel delves into her adventures, her childhood, and provides a detailed account of her rise to fame. Marilyn Monroe was a Hollywood legend, and Donald Spoto was able to bring her story to life using primary sources such as her diaries, letters, and other personal writings.

From this novel, we learn that Monroe had a tumultuous start. She was shuffled between foster homes, where she was nearly smothered to death at age two and almost raped at age six. Later, at sixteen, she married her foster father, who then went off to the military while she began to break into the modeling business. Due to their new and busy occupations, the two divorced in 1946.

After several years of listening and learning new music, Marilyn was launched as a new singing star. She later married and divorced Joe DiMaggio. Sadly, Marilyn fell prey to alcohol, drugs, and experienced a miscarriage and surgery.

Donald Spoto was able to provide a very detailed and informative timeline of Monroe's disturbing childhood and her ascent to fame. He also revealed secrets, such as her repeated marriages to powerful people in search of more fame.

This novel has proven to be a nonfiction work, as the author uses primary sources to tell Marilyn's story. Spoto only presents the real information about her life to write this well-informed biography.

The most fascinating part of this novel is about her childhood. Spoto uncovers the details of Marilyn's troubled past and how she overcame the fears and hatred it left behind. Her harmful and damaging childhood was unknown to many.

This novel can be described as helpful, interesting, revealing, and life-changing. It inspires readers by showing the story of an important Hollywood icon. The author's true intention in writing this novel was to change Marilyn's image.

Marilyn Monroe is often associated with a somewhat unclean or disturbing image, but Spoto, knowing more than others, aims to help the world see her as he does. He presents arguments and shows proof.

Overall, this biography is an extremely interesting and life-changing novel. It has achieved indescribable success and is highly recommended for anyone who wants to learn more about the mysterious and captivating icon. It is especially recommended for girls aged 14 and above who are interested in Marilyn Monroe or in need of an inspirational story.

This piece of work is indeed very well researched. It manages to debunk a significant number of myths, which is quite an accomplishment. However, it also seems to create some new ones in the process.

The photos presented within it are rather unusual. They don't seem to fully capture the essence or support the points being made as effectively as they could. I believe the author had the opportunity to make better choices when it came to selecting the photos.

Perhaps with more careful consideration and a wider selection pool, the author could have found images that would enhance the overall impact and understanding of the content. This would have made the article even more engaging and convincing for the readers.

Overall, while the research is solid, the choice of photos leaves something to be desired and could potentially be improved upon in future revisions.

Author Donald Spoto delved deep into the life and mysterious death of the female icon Marilyn Monroe in the biography, "Marilyn Monroe: The Biography". The book is quite extensive, yet a cursory glance reveals the pages filled with photographs and text detailing Marilyn's early life and career. Most online reviews by those who have read the entire book concur that Spoto effectively supports his conclusions about Marilyn's death with evidence and reasoning. In an online review, a user comments that there was a great deal of detail about people other than Marilyn, but nonetheless, "Spoto makes his position on the Kennedy and mob rumors very clear, and presents the evidence to support it" (Good Reads). On the contrary, I came across many reviews that favored Spoto's detail on Marilyn's family and personality but questioned his theories. An Amazon user named L. Lukaszewicz writes that he enjoyed the intricate details Spoto provided but disliked "the conclusions he draws regarding the controversial circumstances of her death... based on less than concrete evidence and woven to fit unanswered questions" (Amazon). I must dissent from Lukaszewicz as Spoto believes that, if anything, it was her psychiatrist and housekeeper who were more likely to have contributed to Marilyn's death. He also notes regarding the Kennedy conspiracies, "Beginning in 1955, a formidable file on Marilyn Monroe also began to accumulate in Washington – records of which she was never aware. They comprise a ludicrous waste of paper" (Spoto 336). Although I didn't have sufficient time to read every page thoroughly, one can gain a significant amount of information about Marilyn just by skimming through the pictures and text. Donald Spoto successfully portrays Marilyn's life as if he was present in the moments he describes throughout the book, right beside her, which is precisely how a biography should be.

It’s an incredibly interesting and aesthetically appealing book that offers a profound and in-depth look into the life of the iconic actress.

It doesn't merely spotlight her remarkable career and meteoric rise to fame but also uncovers her more vulnerable and private aspects.

The detailed and vivid portrayal of her era and her significant influence on pop culture is truly outstanding and well-executed.

The writing style is simplistic and easy to read, allowing the readers to engage with the content effortlessly.

Moreover, the book manages to make Marilyn Monroe seem both like a larger-than-life myth and a real, tangible person, blurring the lines between the two and creating a captivating and multi-faceted image of the star.

Overall, it's a must-read for anyone interested in Marilyn Monroe or the history of Hollywood and pop culture.

If you are a Marilyn Monroe fan - it's your book.

You will read about a beautiful, nice and sad person, almost like a saint, if you like.

If you are not a fan, well, you may not enjoy this book as much.

It's not a bad book, though. It is easy to read and kind of interesting.

However, I think the author is lacking a critical view.

It's more like a Marilyn Monroe biography written by a fan for other fans.

Perhaps the author was too enamored with Monroe to provide a more objective analysis.

Nevertheless, for those who are passionate about Marilyn Monroe, this book can offer some insights into her life and personality.

It may not be a comprehensive or deeply critical work, but it can still be an enjoyable read for fans.

Overall, it has its merits and drawbacks, like many other books about famous celebrities.

Norma Jean Baker's grandparents marked the beginning of a family line filled with failed marriages and child abandonment. Spoto's biography delves into this ongoing story, not only chronicling Marilyn Monroe's life but also that of those around her. It includes relatives, close friends, all three of her husbands, and the neglectful doctors whose bad advice contributed to her later health issues and perhaps even her death. The book utilizes historical data, interviews with those who knew Marilyn during her lifetime, letters from the star herself, and even snippets of her poetry to tell the sometimes glamorous and often tragic tale of her life.

I've always admired a biographer who can look beyond their own impressions of a subject to tell the complete story of another person's life. I believe Spoto did an outstanding job in his biography of Marilyn Monroe. Starting from her early life, which was mostly spent in foster homes and an orphanage, Spoto portrays the image of a deeply insecure and often naive woman. However, she was also charitable, a kind friend, and someone who never gave up striving to improve her craft.

I appreciated that there was little speculation about Marilyn's death, which is often the case with the mysterious deaths of celebrities. Instead, Spoto used an accumulation of facts and interviews from various sources to piece together what is known for sure about her death and what is myth. In fact, I thoroughly enjoyed the end section of the book, where Spoto included stories from several different memoirs, movies, and accounts surrounding Marilyn Monroe's death and debunked the myths, separating them from what can be considered truth.

To be honest, I found myself only able to make it halfway through this work and had to come to a halt.

This wasn't due to any fault of the book itself. In fact, it was quite the opposite. It was just that I needed to take a break, and then suddenly, my list of other things to read seemed to grow exponentially long.

This biography is truly a well-written and thoroughly researched piece. I highly recommend it to anyone interested in learning about Marilyn Monroe. However, it is also incredibly depressing.

The reason for this is quite simple: Marilyn's life was filled with so much sadness and hardship.

But if you are in search of a great Marilyn biography, this one is undoubtedly it! Perhaps one day, I will find the time and motivation to finish the second half.

However, since it has been such a long time, I simply want to remove it from my "currently reading" list for now.

(And I'm considering it as "read" since I managed to get through 50% of it, which was almost 400 pages. That, in itself, is quite an accomplishment!)

It took me an incredibly long while to get through this book, and there are very good reasons for that.

This book chronicles a woman's entire life! However, at times, it was a little challenging to read about some of the things Marilyn went through.

Her life wasn't truly depressing, but being aware of the outcome of her life, especially when reading about the last few years, it could be quite saddening at times.

I already knew a great deal about Marilyn, but I learned so much more by reading this book. You get to know Marilyn on an intimate level, see how she was treated, and witness her unwavering optimism regarding the future of her life and career. And then, to ultimately see it all snatched away from her, and to understand how and why, it really hurt.

Spoto clearly did his research, and it most definitely shows. If someone were to ever read just one book about Marilyn's life, let it be this one!

Extremely well-researched!

I am truly delighted that the author dedicated the time to ensure all the details regarding Marilyn Monroe were accurate and to clear up the absurd rumors that surrounded her name.

She was, without a doubt, a great star and a terrific actress. Her talent shone through in every role she played, captivating audiences around the world.

But she was even more than that. She was a symbol of beauty, grace, and vulnerability. Her presence on the screen had an undeniable charm that made her an icon.

Rest in peace, the lovely Marilyn Monroe. Your legacy will continue to inspire generations to come.

I'm being extremely generous by awarding this book a full star!!

Generally speaking, I don't have the habit of abandoning a book halfway through. However, this particular book was astonishingly dry and dull.

It lacked any sort of excitement or engaging elements that could have kept my interest piqued.

The writing style was monotonous, and the story failed to grip me from the very beginning.

As a result, I simply couldn't bring myself to finish it.

It's truly a disappointment, considering the potential that this book might have had.

I hope that future works by the same author will be more captivating and able to hold the reader's attention until the very end.