Marilyn Monroe: On the Couch: Inside the Mind and Life of Marilyn Monroe

MWSA Review

Alma H. Bond the author of Marilyn Monroe On The Couch is a psychoanalyst who wrote the fascinating book about the life and times of Marilyn Monroe. In this detailed book about the life of Marilyn Monroe we see that the author has done her due diligence in that this fictional account mirrors the historical accuracies of Marilyn’s life.

Much research is done by the author as she weaves her sessions with Marilyn in 1959 in New York City and latter Marilyn’s thoughts and actions are continued long distance via letters from California to her shrink in NYC. The fictional part of the books is the social interaction of Marilyn with her psychoanalyst Dr. Darcey Dale.It is based on Marilyn completely trusting Dr. Dale throughout their sessions in New York and onto the letter based communications until the end of Marilyn’s life.

The author not only gives us historical accuracy in what Ms. Monroe did; she tries to go inside the mind and the pains confronting this tormented woman.I must confess as a reviewer I had limited knowledge of the life of Marilyn Monroe. I found out upon further research that the author had to do a great deal of detailed research to do this book.

What made this book so good is that the author used her strengths of being a psychoanalyst to weave in very accurate detail a fascinating and completely believable book of a misunderstood woman.

Reviewed by: Dick Geschke (2014)

Author's Summary

Marilyn Monroe: On the Couch is the story of Marilyn Monroe’s the fictionalized psychoanalysis with Dr. Darcy Dale, famous New York psychoanalyst. In the book, Marilyn reveals her life story to the doctor, who provides insight as to how the facts of Marilyn’s early life contributed to her emotional illness. The book also illuminates the gradually deepening relationship between doctor and patient, and how it led to Marilyn’s growth as a woman and great actress. Her three marriages are discussed in detail, and make clear why none of them were successful. The book is humorous, touching, and insightful, and provides a picture of Marilyn Monroe no author has understood before. The book also makes clear why no other ending to her life was possible. No one who has not read Marilyn Monroe: On the Couch will ever know the true story of Marilyn Monroe, which could only have been written by Alma Bond, experienced psychoanalyst.

Perhaps the most unusual fact about Marilyn Monroe is that she was luminous. She was enveloped by a glow, like a firefly in the dark. Even Laurence Olivier, who disliked her intensely, admitted that every time she appeared in The Prince and the Showgirl, she lit up the scene. But exquisite as it is, luminosity can be a camouflage for what an individual desires to keep hidden. To our knowledge no one before Dr. Bond has asked what Marilyn was lighting up or revealing in the atmosphere that surrounded her. Monroe’s beauty was stunning, dazzling, blinding. What did it allow us to see and not see? Marilyn, brilliant as she was, understood the difference between looking and seeing. "Men do not see me," she said, "They just lay their eyes on me." Dr. Alma Bond sees Marilyn Monroe, inside and out. Read Marilyn Monroe: On the Couch to understand what lay beneath Marilyn’s radiance.