Unbearable Lightness

While women who are coming to terms with being lesbian or having eating issues will connect in a special way with this memoir, de Rossi's account of her journey from self-loathing to self-acceptance will resonate with many more listeners. Her well-written story takes listeners from her Australian childhood to her attempts at heterosexual marriage and her struggles with her acting career. Graphic accounts of her intimate relationships, eating disorder, and struggles in Hollywood are more touching than brutal. Supportive people and a good marriage with Ellen DeGeneres gradually enable her to understand the emotional basis of her symptoms. Besides the inspiration of the author's emergence from self-destruction, what lingers at the story's end is the authentic sound of her beautiful speaking voice. T.W. (c) AudioFile 2011, Portland, Maine