The Immortals [Paperback]

Michael Korda (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 1993

The handsome young leader of the mightiest nation on earth becomes involved with the stunning film star who is every man's fantasy. By the author of Queenie. Reprint.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Once again Korda ( Queenie ; The Fortune ) glibly but engagingly dramatizes historical events: this time, the love affairs between Marilyn Monroe and Jack and Bobby Kennedy. (Anxious to establish his assiduous research, he expresses his indebtedness to 17 books about the Kennedys, Monroe, J. Edgar Hoover, Jimmy Hoffa and others.) A fictional public relations expert, David Lehman, narrates much of the tale. Fast-moving, with lively if superficial and overly familiar characters, the plot portentously rehashes Monroe's various marriages and innumerable affairs, career swings and problems with drugs and alcohol. Korda also chronicles the Kennedy brothers' rise to power, their father's heavy hand in shaping their careers and their friendship with Frank Sinatra, meanwhile suggesting the machinations of the FBI, the mob and the Teamsters. (Jackie Kennedy is absent for the most part.) Except for the dialogue, which generally rings true, and the invented sex scenes, Korda adds nothing new or surprising; the book will further relegate Marilyn and Jack to pop-culture history. Though it's good commercial "faction," however, even hardy readers will find the novel about 100 pages too long. 150,000 first printing; $150,000 ad/promo; first serial rights to Cosmopolitan; movie rights to Dino De Laurentiis; ok Literary Guild main selection.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Kirkus Reviews

Sweeping love story of Marilyn Monroe's long-standing affairs with Senator, then President, Kennedy and brother Bobby. That Marilyn and JFK might someday be worthy of the high treatment given by Wild Bill Shakespeare to Antony and Cleopatra remains a teaser for playwrights and novelists. But in his latest (already slated for filming as well as heavy marketing), Korda- -Queenie, Curtain, etc.--sets his sights much lower than great tragedy and gives us a work of strong intelligence and ravishing vulgarity. Almost no event in it is unfamiliar, though its great garden of sex-play springs largely from imagination. Many readers will be dismayed by Korda's pillow talk among the gods, sex chat given a saltiness that may fit the actual MM & JFK but that looks cheap on paper. The story: MM, married to DiMaggio, meets Senator Kennedy at a Beverly Hills party; he gives her his card; they rendezvous. Marilyn is bored by her husbands and treats adultery like a midnight plum duff. She loves Jack, Jack loves MM. He has an arrangement with Jackie that his satyriasis need not be contained but must remain discreet; MM's being the most famous woman in the world, however, crimps JFK's ties with jealous Jackie, who finds out about the ongoing affair. Meanwhile, RFK attacks the Teamsters hierarchy, Dave Beck and Jimmy Hoffa, and Jimmy in turn bugs Peter Lawford's love-tryst bungalow, various hotel rooms, and MM's phone and bedroom, all of which are already bugged by J.Edgar Hoover's FBI team. Once JFK is president, he withdraws from MM. RFK becomes her lover, gets her with child. MM's meds take their toll, she becomes ever more erratic, puts unbearable strain on the Brothers K when she announces a tell-all press conference.... About midway, when the freshness of the lovers wanes and a certain sourness overtakes them, the story darkens and the mechanics of the many- leveled plot deflates the reader's gusto, though not Korda's. Many brilliant scenes, but not as artful or haunting as Sam Toperoff's 1991 MM novel, Queen of Desire. (Literary Guild Dual Selection for November) -- Copyright ©1992, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 566 pages
• Publisher: Avon Books (Mm) (November 1993)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 038072099X
• ISBN-13: 978-0380720996
• Product Dimensions: 6.8 x 3.9 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,226,507 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Michael Korda is the New York Times bestselling author of Horse People,
Country Matters, Ulysses S. Grant, Cat People, Journey to a Revolution, and Ike.
He lives with his wife, Margaret, in Dutchess County, New York.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The best book i have ever read, January 15, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: The Immortals (Paperback)

Korda did extensive research on the three historical characters, Monroe & the two Kennedy brothers. Throughout this book of "fiction" history is intertwined so well that it is hard to determine where it overlaps. This work will alter your present perception of Kennedy and Monroe and will inspire you to seek out for yourself the historical facts behind the fictional work.

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Take this book with you on the beach!, October 23, 1996

By A Customer

This review is from: The Immortals (Paperback)

I very much enjoy that book or, may I say, that fiction.
In a way that it's hard to know, "Immortels" trace the
"imagine story" involving Marilyn Monroe, John F. Kennedy
and Robert F. Kennedy.
It was pleasant to read this! Refreshing in a way, happy,
funny story! Just try it and you won't put it down until
the very last page;" taking a look at thoses lips now
cold and blue...Marilyn was rest in the autopsy room just
like any human in this world; with a number identification".
But maybe this fiction-story was in fact to recreate the
life of those people we don't want to forget...