This blonde definitely did not prefer this book.

Let me begin by saying that I am a huge fan of Marilyn Monroe and Gentlemen Prefer Blondes is one of my favourite movies. It is also well known that you should never read a book after seeing the movie. Knowing these facts, it may not surprise you to find out that I did not enjoy this book at all.

It is written as a series of journal entries. (This in itself is amongst my least favourite style of writing). In the book, they have portrayed the main character Lorelei as a self centered, upper class snob, obsessed with money and riches, devoid of any empathy, elitist and on the hunt for the richest husband she can bag. She is also uneducated and very much a ‘dumb blond’. This character manipulates the men around her into buying lavish gifts for her and ‘taking her shopping’. She has no self awareness and believes she is bringing happiness and sunshine to everyone, which I find difficult to believe.

Unfortunately there is no character growth in this story, no moral message and no inspirational ending.  The ‘story’ moves along slowly and ends. Here is where it differs from the movie, as in the movie Lorelei is a likeable character and a plot based around a perceived scandal/theft.

Personally, I found the writing to be extremely irritating and lack of story frustrating. There was some curiosity on my behalf to see if the character grew or to see a lesson being learnt, but alas, it was not to be.  It was also terrible writing to begin around half of the sentences with “So then I…” or “So I..” [I just randomly opened the book, landed on page 131, and every sentence on this page began with “So..” Truly unimaginative and dismal writing. There is plenty of other ways to present an uneducated character.

Very disappointing and a situation where the movie was much better than the book. I give this book 1 star, purely because I did make it to the end of the book.