PENTIMENTO A Book of Portraits

This unique collection of vignettes, from which the movie JULIA, starring Jane Fonda and Vanessa Redgrave was adapted, begins, appropriately, with a definition of the title itself: "Pentimento" is the word for the ghosts of earlier paintings that lie beneath existing pieces of art. As paintings age, these images sometimes show through. With that concept ringing in one’s ears, these snapshots of Hellman’s life are even clearer and more purposeful. Kate Reading’s is, as always, a wonderfully sophisticated voice, and a perfect one to enliven this collection. Her rich performance is filled with inflection and paced in a way that reflects the vivacious storyteller Hellman herself. Wryly humorous and fascinatingly detailed, this audio performance is a study of memory itself and offers insight into what types of events “and how we choose to remember them” make us who we really are. L.B.F. © AudioFile 2004, Portland, Maine [Published: FEB/ MAR 04]