HOLLYWOOD'S EVE

Narrator Jayme Matler's husky timbre and broad tonality are a good match for this biography, a highly personal appreciation of Eve Babitz, goddaughter of composer Igor Stravinsky. But Babitz's experiences as a beautiful, bisexual young woman in 1960s and '70s Hollywood are confusing at best. Her story is set deeply within the movie, music, and drug scenes of that time. She is portrayed as a groupie and hanger-on until, after a tragic freak accident with fire, author Joan Didion discovered her as a writer. Ultimately, Babitz wrote several novels and short stories, all more or less autobiographical. Major time leaps in this work baffle the listener. As narrator, Mattler stays on course, but even her best efforts cannot rescue a convoluted story of a highly confused individual. W.A.G. © AudioFile 2019, Portland, Maine [Published: FEBRUARY 2019]