Home: Julie Andrews (Two books that share the same title #2)

I'm trying to appreciate memoirs more, and books like this one really help that. I think Julie Andrews is a phenomenal actress and singer, and I absolutely love The Sound of Music, so when I saw this book for $.99 at Goodwill, I decided to try it, and I'm very glad I did! 

Julie Andrews had a very interesting upbringing, and she writes about it so nonchalantly that one would think the book would be boring, but it wasn't. There were so many moments in the book when I thought, "Seriously? That poor girl. This is so horrible," but for Julie, it was just her life. What I appreciated about this book was that it was never a sob story. It was never a pity party. She never wrote to make us feel bad for her. She just wrote to tell her story. Even in the moments when you're afraid of what her step-father is going to do to her, she just writes, almost as if she's shrugging it off, but knowing her as you do when you finish the book assures you that she isn't shrugging it off. I think this is her way of acknowledging that all she experienced during her childhood led her to be the woman she is at the end of the novel, and that women is an incredible, talented, successful, joyful woman. Without her past, she wouldn't be where she was at the end. She wouldn't be flying to Disney to film Mary Poppins. She wouldn't be married with a beautiful baby girl. All the book made her who she was, and that's why she never tries to make her readers pity her or feel bad for her. In my small history with memoirs, most authors want sympathy. They want readers to feel bad that the author had to experience what they did. Julie was not that way, and that was great.

The book is well-written and well-paced. She doesn't linger too long in one period of life, but gives the main points and moves on, providing unique experiences for each stage of her early years. It was easy to read, easy to get caught up in, and yet easy to put down and pick back up, which made it easier for me to finish. 

My only disappointment was that this ended before she got to The Sound of Music, and I would have liked to hear what it was like to film that because I love it so much.