Marilyn and Me is a piece of historical fiction in translation which explores the themes of love, betrayal, war and identity. It is something I wouldn’t usually read but I received it in a random set of 4 books that I ordered online. It is set in 1954 in the aftermath of the Korean War and focuses on Alice (previously Kim Ae-sun), a scarred young woman who is trying to forget her past by working as a typist for the US military, who were stationed there at the time. Marilyn Monroe arranges to visit Korea to sing to the soldiers there and Alice is assigned as her translator. However Alice soon becomes involved in the entrapment of a North Korean spy and she is forced to return to the past she has been trying to escape from.
A key theme in the novel is love. This is mainly explored through a love triangle between Alice and two handsome men. The confusion and difficulty that this arrangement causes the participants, especially Alice, is beautifully described, for example, ‘In our triangle, each of us separately felt love and despair and lonliness.’ The oxymoronic nature of this statement- how you can be with people and still feel lonely- powerfully demonstrates the internal struggles of Alice and how her past experiences with love have affected her.
did people who love humanity go north and people who love art stay in the South?
Another crucial theme is identity and coming to terms with yourself. This is explored through Alice’s refusal to accept what she has been through and her belief that she can just change her name and get a new job and her problems will be resolved. The author Ji-min Lee demonstrates that this is not the case, and that at some point, the nature of life will mean you have to return to your past and confront what you have been through. Lee presents this idea through Alice, ‘He wasn’t aware that I was secretly filled with strong artistic opinions and positions.’ Here, it could be argued that Alice is not only hiding the person she really is from people close to her but also from herself- a possible contributing factor to the anxiety and depression faced by Alice throughout the novel.
When he was away, I discovered in myself someone freer. That made me scared and anxious. While I missed him desperately, a part of me realised life without him was possible.
The book is set in post-war Korea, and the aftershocks of the war are still felt by the characters in the novel, especially Alice, and through this a relationship between a country in ruins and a person in ruins is set up by Lee. This explores how the devastation that has been brought upon Korea by the war has simultaneously damaged the physical features of the country such as buildings, homes and businesses, as well as the souls and personalities of the soldiers and citizens involved. Alice is a prime example of this as she has been scarred by her various experiences in wartime and this has significant impacts upon her character in the novel.
I was precocious but I didn’t understand the awe-inspiring forces of love.
Additionally, the development of the friendship between Marilyn and Alice is amazing to witness- both women are from hugely different backgrounds and lead very different lives but they can still relate to each other’s problems. This shows humanity at its very best, especially after the horrors of international conflict seen just months before.
Seoul rose up quickly because it didn’t expect much from humans. It always regains its pride on its own.
Overall, I reallly enjoyed Marilyn and Me. I thought the elegant style of writing combined with the fascinating character of Alice and the poignant themes of the novel made it a thoroughly satisfying read. The only downside I see to it is the storylines and characters have too much unexplored depth for the length of the novel (around 160 pages) and I feel that Lee tries to cram too much into a short space. However, I would still recommend it and I also recommend getting a mystery box of books. Without this, I would never have read Marilyn and Me and the excitement of getting a new book that you don’t know is unparalleled. 5*
What an unexpected book for you to have come across, and perhaps, equally surprising that you enjoyed it so much. It is certainly difficult to think that the author somehow crammed in so much in just 160 pages That is about where I am with Adam Bede and I am only about a fifth of the way through. It must have been a help in bringing you to understand better how it feels to have been living through a war. I had just been listening to a Radio interview with a young man coping with the life in Afghanistan, and the prospect of the U.S. and other troops leaving. It clearly confronts the issue of being who you really are- which seems to keep on coming up, linked with awareness, mindfulness and living in the present moment.