This aptly titled book contains snapshots of actual handwritten pages from Marilyn Monroe's notebooks as well as typewritten diary entries and letters written between the 1950s to her death. Photographs of Marilyn Monroe either reading or writing bookend each chapter.

Although a book of scribbling from an unknown writer or poet would never be published, Marilyn Monroe's mystique continues to captivate public attention. This volume of thoughts, impressions, images, and feelings is a bit voyeuristic, but it does satisfy the craving to know what exactly went on behind the pretty face.

A recommended read for anyone interested in Marilyn Monroe or the inner thoughts of a creative person. ( )

This was very interesting. Its mostly small journal entries, poems, notes Marilyn wrote to herself along with some letters. Reading this, she was much smarter than people seemed to give her credit for. And clearly lonely and with some self issues (who isn't?). I've always been very interested in Marilyn and for any fan of hers, this is a very cool (quick) read and gives some insight into how she thought. It was also very cool to see her handwriting and such!! ( )

Marilyn Monroe, for all her apparent vapidness, had a sharp and introspective mind. This book holds notes, letters, scraps of poetry and diary entries ranging from a note she wrote at age 17, in which she muses about her failing marriage, to notes written just days before she died in 1962. We are also privy to her favorite photo of herself, as well as photos of her reading some of the books from her impressive library. Plagued by feelings of low self-esteem, Marilyn sought to understand herself, and we follow her through marriages, analysis, and work -- she emerges as a highly sympathetic character, deserving more than the rubber stamp "cultural icon." ( )

From Lee Strasberg's eulogy at Marilyn Monroe's funeral:

Marilyn Monroe was a legend.

In her own lifetime she created a myth of what a poor girl from a deprived background could attain. For the entire world she became a symbol of the eternal feminine.

But I have no words to describe the myth and the legend. I did not know this Marilyn Monroe. We gathered here today, knew only Marilyn - a warm human being, impulsive and shy, sensitive and in fear of rejection, yet ever avid for life and reaching out for fulfillment.

This collection of letters that Marilyn never sent, notes, diary-like entries, thoughts ranging from her first, failed marriage, up to a run-through of answers to interview questions just before her death, is a very intimate collection.

In the notes - mostly written by herself but also through typed transcriptions by her assistant - and the diary-entries, Marilyn goes through an array of emotions regarding a variety of subjects, persons, projects and other matters, ranging from her psychoanalysis, her seemingly constant self-questioning and self-doubt, to happiness, being married, succeeding with her own production company and of course, on reading.

This brings a very different image of the person, rather than the very two-dimensional, simple creature that some seem to prefer her to be.

Her honesty is key here, to me. Her writing reeks of honesty and is very interesting, especially when she writes of her fears, examining her past and considering her future, notably through the founding of her own production company (taking on MGM by doing so), which is professionally no small feat.

She seems to have been very self-critical. She doesn't dump down on anybody else in these notes.

As a poet, she is quite rough; not my cup of tea, and the lyrics don't seem to have been worked over much. Still, these are notes grabbed from a box in a garage. It's not like she attempted to get them published.

All in all, it's an accomplished bunch of pieces from a very talented, intelligent and seemingly pleasant and honest person's life. I wish she'd get more recognition for all of the things for which she's not most famous, but that's show business, I guess. ( )

The new book Fragments: Poems, Intimate Notes, Letters by Marilyn Monroe is pretty heartbreaking at times. It’s clear from the photocopies of her recently unearthed and original handwritten notes (with the typeset versions appearing on the opposite side) that Monroe’s mind was a very crowded place and that she felt and thought about things far more deeply than even a die-hard fan could have imagined.

There’s no way around the fact, though, that a lot of this material would never have been published if not for Monroe’s name. Her poetry borders on juvenile in parts, and nonsensical in others. The intimate notes, however, show a far more revealing and much less shallow side to the bottled blonde. The rare photos included also reveal a ‘hidden’ Marilyn much more human than the trademark the actress became in the decades since her death.

Reading her private thoughts felt invasive…like I should have looked away. And like there’s also this inexplicable wish that someone special and sincere in her life could have been able to truly understand and protect her…see that she wanted to be far more than just a "dumb blonde." (An interviewer supposedly laughed at her when she said she would love to play the part of Grushenka from The Brothers Karamazov.) On the other hand, she’s such a huge part of cinematic history and has always been a bit of an enigma so Fragments help fit some of the missing pieces together of what really made Marilyn tick. ( )