cover image Some of Me

Some of Me

Isabella Rossellini. Random House (NY), $29.95 (179pp) ISBN 978-0-679-45252-2

Awkwardness is this memoir's greatest flaw; but it is also its greatest virtue, as actress and model Rossellini rambles charmingly about her life, loves and career, evidently without the aid of a ghostwriter. Anyone looking for literary polish or even a narrative is likely to be disappointed, but those who enjoy something that reads like the after-dinner talk of a beautiful and worldly celebrity will find much that is entertaining. There are detailed instructions on dishwashing from Rossellini's mother, Ingrid Bergman, pronouncements on art and politics from her father, the Italian filmmaker Roberto Rossellini, and a memory of young Isabella and her siblings (including her twin sister, Ingrid) flinging rocks at paparazzi. Rossellini speaks with affection but not much detail about her relationships with filmmakers Martin Scorsese and David Lynch, and provides what even she calls ""boring"" detail about her long association with Lancombe cosmetics and its unpleasant ending. Along the way are goofy digressions about ants and aphids, a few forgivable displays of celebrity petulance (four pages on how she hates being told she looks like her mother) and, throughout, imaginary dialogues, including several fictional conversations between her father and Scorsese. Here and there Rossellini's table talk takes on weight, as when she discusses her childhood battle with scoliosis, but readers are most likely to come away from this pleasant, ephemeral volume with a vivid memory of Rossellini's voice and striking face (the book is liberally illustrated), but without quite remembering what she said. Author tour. (June)