Review: Little girl lost ... and a doctor grieving
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 07 25, 2011
I can think of no other person who was so able to stir simulataneous feelings of lust and nurturing as Marilyn Monroe. Part innocent little girl and part lavicious seductress, Marilyn was a legend.So, too, were her battles with mental illness which were played out against the harsh lights of Hollywood. By the time Marilyn died of a drug overdose in August 1962, she had been in and out of psychoanalysis a number of times. This Kindle Single focuses on her last therapeutic relationship with Ralph Greenson.Greenson's idea of therapy for Marilyn involved bringing her into his home. Literally. The idea behind the unusual therapy was to provide her with stability that had been denied her as a child. Eventually the movie star began to take over more aspects of Greenson's life, moving from three to five to seven sessions a week (some plasting as long as five hours). Greenson even returned early from a European vacation with his family during Monroe's legendary problems on the set of Something's Got the Give, not long before her death.For those who have followed Monroe's life, there is not much in the way of new information offered here. The heart of the story is her last psychotherapist's attempts to reach the girls inside the woman who described herself as a "waif" and a "lost child." Ultimately that attempt failed. Not only was Marilyn lost, but Greenson was himself devastated by her death. Though he never spoke publically about Monroe's death, his letters to friends and colleagues hint at the depth of his despair.While The Misfit makes for an interesting story, causual readers may be put off by the abundance of psychoanalyitcal parlance. If you're not familiar with words like "transference" or "borderline personality," then you will probably struggle through this relatively brief Kindle Single. There's a fascinating story here and it peeks out from behind the medical and academic terms from time to time ... just not enough times to truly recommend this work for the average reader.