The hills are alive with the sound of Julie Andrews’ memoir!
Andrews starts with a prologue summarizing her previous memoir, Home, in which she wrote about her early years. Home Work then takes off around the time of Mary Poppins. Soon after, came The Sound of Music. I love learning behind the scenes info, and Andrews paints a detailed picture of her experiences. With this level of detail, I was nervous that once I read through The Sound of Music, I would be bored to tears. While I love Julie Andrews, I am unfamiliar with a great deal of her work. Fortunately, I was pleasantly surprised.
Andrews’ voice reads like a woman from another time, which I suppose she is. I often felt the presence of my grandmother as I flipped through the deckled pages. I even giggled a few times at Andrews’ phrasing and word choice. Most of the time, however, her self-reflection and eloquence amazed me. As she flipped from her current voice to excerpts from her diary, I felt that I was inside her mind – illuminating new spaces in my own and allowing me to understand feelings that I had never been able to convey in words.
While her feelings are relate-able, her experiences are not – Multiple homes in different countries, quick and “easy” adoptions, traveling every other day, adoring fans, etc. There were times in which I felt compelled to roll my eyes, but those moments only served to encourage me to read on. Ultimately, I was hoping to read more about the making of The Sound of Music, but instead, I felt more like I was reading through her family calendar, albeit, a much more interesting calendar than most.