Lady Blue Eyes

Barbara Blakely Marx Sinatra, a divorced single mother, became Frank Sinatra's final and most enduring marriage partner. Her memoir is a loving, intimate appreciation of their multifaceted life together. Narrator Lorna Raver inhabits this "woman of a certain age" and is aptly cast with her capable, if somewhat nasal, performance. Raver's straightforward narration allows opinions and reactions to be strictly those of the listener. The content is largely a coquettish and spoiled account of a life of great privilege. The incessant name-dropping, sometimes listing dozens of celebrated people attending a single event, is tiresome. But the author deals candidly with her destitute early life and marriages ending in divorce. Sinatra fans will enjoy the behind-the-scenes glimpses. W.A.G. (c) AudioFile 2011, Portland, Maine