Author: Colin Clark
Have you ever wondered what it would have been like to spend a week with Marilyn Monroe? In 1956, Oxford graduate Colin Clark found out. Clark worked as a gofer on the set of ‘The Prince and the Showgirl’, the film which united Britain’s leading actor with Hollywood’s most glamorous star. My Week With Marilyn tells the story of how Clark came to share not only her confidences, but her bed too…
The whole of England was watching when the stunning Marilyn Monroe began shooting ‘The Prince and the Showgirl’. Monroe hoped that working with the legendary Laurence Olivier would give her credibility, but feeling abandoned by then-husband Arthur Miller when went to Paris, she became increasingly difficult on set. Feeling insecure, she was often late, and heavily medicated. With no one else to turn to, Monroe turned her attention to Clark. Soon enough, they escaped the set and spent a week together in the English countryside. According to his diaries, Clark quickly became Olivier’s only hope of getting the film finished, and he began to find himself in danger of falling in love.
My Week With Marilyn was an unusual book for me to read. It’s definitely not one that I would have gone out of my way to find, but after seeing all the previews for the film of the same name, I was very excited when this book turned up on my doorstep! After all, who isn’t interested in knowing what Marilyn Monroe was really like? This novel answers that and more, although the entire time I was reading it, I did wonder how much of it really happened and how much was exaggerated, to say the least.
The novel is as elegant as Monroe herself; with its black and white cover and photographs of Marilyn, her co-stars, and stills from the new film based on the book, it doubles as a chic coffee table book. It’s an extremely interesting read. Though quite hard to get into at first, once you’re through the somewhat boring beginning you’ll fly through the rest of the novel! Moving, humorous and informative, My Week With Marilyn is a quick read, and an entertaining one at that. It’s also actually two novels (The Prince, The Showgirl and Me, and My Week With Marilyn) in one, so if you’re eager to get straight to the ‘dirt’ then I suggest skipping to the second half and reading My Week With Marilyn first.
Overall, I really enjoyed reading My Week With Marilyn. It was fun to read all of Clark’s diary entries; Clark was a passionate and amusing writer, and his love of Monroe and of the business he came to work in really shone through. Reading this book feels like you’re gossiping with a friend and I liked that. If you’re looking for an absorbing and engaging read over the summer, or you’re a lover of all things Marilyn, then this book is for you!
