Elizabeth Winder

I've typically encountered Marilyn Monroe as a tragic figure - an exploited woman, who had three failed marriages, and just wasn't quite bright enough to make a better life for herself. This couldn't be further from the Marilyn in this book, which focused on the iconic actress during the year she spent in New York City in 1955. Breaking free from a contract that trapped her in ditzy, dumb blonde roles, Marilyn spent much of the year studying Method acting and refining her craft. The year had plenty of lows, too, but Marilyn emerged from this time more confident, with a contract that gave her more creative power and one of the highest salaries in the industry. More than anything else I've read about Monroe, this book helps to answer why she became and remains such an iconic figure.… (altro)

Parachute Women, by Elizabeth Winder, is interesting because of its subjects and in spite of the writing. Still worth reading but take a lot of the fluff as "creative" license.

In more competent hands this would have been a phenomenal book. These women deserve far more credit and respect than they have received over the years, though things have been shifting toward a less, though not eliminated, misogynistic environment. Winder seems to still be arguing with the 1960s. Updating those arguments would have made that aspect of the book so much better rather than showing how out of touch she is.

The events and incidents explored are fascinating, even if you have to take a lot of the "detail" with a grain or twenty of salt. Again, this would work better as straight history than faux-creative historical fiction. But we can hope for more competent hands at some point, this is too important a chapter of rock history to leave in amateur hands.

While definitely recommended for Stones fans and those interested in recovering the tremendously roles of women in the genre, just keep in mind there is a lot of fluff and some creative license taken.

Reviewed from a copy made available by the publisher via NetGalley.… (altro)