Fragments: Poems, Intimate Notes, Letters

I have been a huge Marilyn fan for 20 plus years. I never thought there would be anything new about her until I found this book filled with poems, intimate thoughts,and personal letters! I really enjoyed reading it, I also love all the pictures. I agree with one reviewer here, I wonder if Marilyn would approve of her personal thoughts being out in a book for anyone to read. I feel that some things were very personal like her marriage problems and unhappiness with Arthur Miller, her pain over feeling so alone in life."Alone, I am always alone no matter what". Her constant stuggle to improve herself never feeling good enough. The letter about her first husband Jim Doughterty and the "other woman" was especially shocking, as I had never heard of another woman. This may have been some of the reason for their divorce. Marilyn was only 17, and so mature at this time. Longing so much to be loved and belong to something. A constant theme over her entire life. Also there is a sad letter to her Doctor Greenson and one to her acting teacher Lee Strasberg about her treatment in the mental hosptial begging them to help her get out of this place, "I'm in the care of two idot doctors, I'm sure I will end up a nut if I stay in this nightmare, Please help me Lee".. Marilyn writes that she was drugged, abused and gropped on the breast by a psychiatrist and hosptial staff members. Marilyn's then X husband Joe Dimaggio comes to her rescue and demands her release.Joe says "who in the hell else do you have in the world":(. She mentions "Joe bringing her flowers at this time and asking her out". It is shocking and very sad to read the things she went through, my heart goes out to her , I find myself wishing I could have been her friend. ((Tears are falling.)) Marilyn seems to often times rise above the painful events in her life with humor and stength like a poem she wrote about being a "cobweb in the wind". The book also leaves questions about her death, in one jottled letter she mentions being "afraid Peter Lawford will try to poison me" another time she talks about looking forword to the future shortly before her death. The book is over all bits and pieces of her thoughts at different times in her life. It is not a complete story and sometimes just small thoughts, acting exercises, and her very organzined kitchen list. They show that Marilyn was very human and sometimes very vunerable, unsure of herself,sometimes lacking confidence, but filled with hope and passion for life. Marilyn writes " Maybe I'll make mistakes, people will laugh or think I'm no good or laugh or belittle me or think I can't act. trying to build myself up with the fact that I have done things right that were even good and have moments that were excellent but the bad is heavier to carry around and feel have no confidence depressed mad" also she writes, "For Life, It is rather a determination not to be overwhelmed." So many things about her touches my heart. Marilyn was such a deep and sensitive soul. I think this is why the entire world fell in love with her. I recommend this to anyone who loves Marilyn or anyone who thought Marilyn was just a pretty Blonde. I love this book!!

"Fragments" is an excellenat book for those of you who think Marilyn Monroe was born beautiful and lovely! There is so much more to Monroe than her physical attributes! Her quest for intelligence, and her love of refinement shine through in this volume. One watches her growth from a person who could hardly write, but who knew well what she wanted to become! One sees copies of her handwriting, where she constantly corrected herself, by crossing thru words and phrases and creating or adding another, better phrase. Graphoanalysis will enjoy viewing her handwriting, as it changed throughout the years, as she changed! She wrote poems when she was young. She was on a continual journey to enlighten herself, by taking college classes at night, to expand herself in wisdom and knowledge. One will be surprised because this is not the picture we are usually given of M.M. We usually see the sexy image, but "Fragments" reveals the child striving to develop into a worthy woman, with value and substance! It gives us a wonderful insight into the soul of Monroe! We see the differnt pieces of Norma Jeane Mortenson as she strives to make a whole picture for herself, of her own being! What an intimate insight into her character!

I had heard that Marilyn Monroe was a poet, that she wrote poetry and was serious about it, so I welcomed this opportunity to actually experience her poetry. It was pretty much what I had expected, most was her attempt to understand herself. Since her mother had had mental troubles, and had spent some time in mental hospitals, it was a good bet that Marilyn would inherit some of this fragility of realism, some doubt as to whether she also had some of these same problems, would exist in Marilyn"s mind. Marilyn the Actress was a construct of marilyn's mind, and she could slip out of the Marilyn Monroe persona at will. When she was out of that persona, most people would not recognize her. Actually, I thought that Marilyn's poetry was quite good. I enjoyed reading the poetry when she was not writing about herself. She had a lot of introspective poetry, which we would expect, but she wrote about places and people she liked, also. On the whole, I enjoyed the book, for what it shows of Marilyn, and her love of others' poetry. A worth while poetry book, worth the look of her work as a poet, and the thoughts of a beautiful woman.

Great

Anything Marilyn is captivating! But to see it in her own writing is a totally different experience! From page one till the end is a heartfelt, personal read!

Marilyn Monroe was apparently a very lonely person in a sea of endless admirers. She once wrote: "Alone!!!!! I am alone - I am always alone no matter what" From this book we also learn that Marilyn Monroe was a tortured soul who was also disorderly and who wrote down thoughts in a very chaotic way. If you want to try to read her notes written in notebooks and on envelopes or torn-out pages, I'd suggest you get the actual book. While it is possible (with great difficulty) to read some of the typed letters it is nearly impossible to read the handwritten notes. Marilyn's handwriting is nearly illegible. What is surprising is how confident Marilyn Monroe appears in her movies and how insecure she felt in real life. Even more shocking is that such a beautiful soul was depressed and wished she was dead! Some of her poems indicate this. Also, from such a sexy person you would expect a much larger amount of sensual writing. There is one note about not wearing a bra and this made her feel sensual. But other than this one note and a poem about one of her husbands, she seems silent on this subject. Instead what she says about her marriage is this: "I think to love bravely is the best and accept-as much as one can bear." What I loved most about this book is the great quantity of black-and-white photographs throughout, especially any picture where Marilyn is reading. It was also surprising to read that she owned a library of 400 books! While many of the poems in this book are revealing, the lines I love best reveal a profound beauty of soul: "but strong as a cobweb in the wind - I exist more with the cold glistening frost." If she had not died at such a young age, I imagine she would have written many more beautiful poems. Last but not least this book includes a beautiful eulogy and a short biography. I'd like to see the publisher lower the price to $9.99 on the Kindle version since most of the letters and notes are not easy to read (although many are typed out - yet sometimes in so small a type...it is difficult to read). You will get more of your money's worth buying a regular book although instant gratification is a wonderful thing. ~The Rebecca Review

If you were ever fascinated by the most beautiful woman to grace the earth, be prepared to be blown away by her mind now, too. In this book, we are told Marilyn Monroe had the talent to be a poet, but not the discipline. I could not agree more. Take a few of her poems, edit them, and they sound like out of a classic. Keep in mind Monroe had little schooling and with limited resources and emotional troubles, she relied solely on her looks to get started--and keep going--but her "dumb blond" act was simply that--unlike other actress, Monroe went through great lengths to photographed with a book. She kept all the classics (we get a rare glimpse into some of the books in her library), but perhaps more than anything we get a rare glimpse into an unique and twisted brilliant but troubled mind. Some of Monroe's accounts with leave you laughing, some scratching your head, and others just might produce tears. As time goes on, I hope we see Marilyn for the true person she was. Clean and good edit throughout.

I was never a fan. I haven't seen her movies or read anything else about her. I just knew she was always a very famous person in history. So while ago I watched a documentary on TV about her while flipping channels, and it really perked my interest. So I found that this book was made and it had her personal writings. Not just another autobiography, but stuff from her own hand, which I really liked. So I ordered it on Kindle and read the whole thing in no time at all. It has the pictures of her notes, and in a lot of them they also write what it most likely says (it's hard to read her handwriting a lot of times) Also gives little information about who certain people were or most likely were. What the year was etc. But honestly I loved reading this book. It's great to know she wasn't some dumb blonde like history has painted her out to be. I'd definitely recommend this book to anyone. Even if, like me, you are not or have never been a Marilyn fan. Just a curious person.

❤️❤️❤️

An absolute MUST for any fan, even those who (like myself) thought they knew all there was to know! This is such a great book and gives real insight into the REAL person she was. It is just sad that so few people know just how intelligent she was and how very talented at art and poetry. This is a woman who had little education and some of her writing is stunning. Highly recommend this! Great Christmas pressie for any Marilyn fan!

Livro maravilhoso

It is a most fabulous book and printing quality is very superb ..I got 650/- rs only when it was best offered by amazon.

Je précise que j'ai commandé la version anglaise. C'était pour offrir, ça a parfaitement plu. Le livre est en lui-même très beau. Chaque double-page contient une photo d'un manuscrit de l'actrice suivi de la même chose sur la page de droite mais retapé à la machine pour en faciliter la compréhension. Le cadeau parfait pour les fans ou les curieux de MM. Je recommande très fortement. Emballage/Délais respéctés.