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 enlarge | Author: Julie Andrews
Publisher: Hyperion
Category: Book
List Price: $26.95
Buy Used: $6.00
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Rating:  56 reviews
Sales Rank: 1760
Media: Hardcover
Pages: 352
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.4
Dimensions (in): 9.2 x 6 x 1.3
ISBN: 0786865652
Dewey Decimal Number: 791.4028092
EAN: 9780786865659
ASIN: 0786865652
Publication Date: April 1, 2008
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Showing reviews 6-10 of 56
 Tough Life; Tough Woman August 8, 2008
J. Moran (Illinois, USA)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
This memoir reads as if it were two different books. The part dealing with her early work in British musical theater (after her emergence from the dying music hall tradition) reads mostly, but not entirely, like a stereotypical "show-biz" memoir, full of good friends, great colleagues and generally lovely people. It is saved from utter cliche by two things: First, Andrews clearly portrays the hard, wearing and sometimes humiliating work that goes into performing at the highest levels (particularly while trying to establish one's self). Second, she portrays some of the nastiness that can go on in this world where your status rises and falls with each performance and your ego and self-esteem with it. Fear of failure is powerful and all-pervading.
Andrews provides a number of startling vignettes that are distinctly not of the "beautiful person" school. There is Rex Harrison trying hard to get the very young (around 21) Andrews fired from My Fair Lady during rehersals while she was struggling to find herself in the role. Harrison did not care one whit who (including Andrews) might overhear him or the obscene and abusive language that he used. There is Richard Burton dealing with the pressure of performance in Camelot by the occasional heavy drinking binge and appearing on stage while totally drunk. Burton, a famous and successful womanizer, also tried to seduce the younger Andrews and did not scruple to try to manipulate her into his bed by undermining her sense of security as an actor in working with him. Nasty stuff and there are other such stories involving lesser known people. It is worth noting that Andrews does not mention receiving any help from other cast members while Harrison was busy trying to destroy her. The great director Moss Hart, however, showed enormous faith and patience and worked one-on-one with her to save her confidence, her role and probably her theater career. She says that she loved him for it, and I do not doubt her.
The other book, though, is about her childhood; and the events that it relates are often bleak and occasionally harrowing. Born in 1935, Andrews clearly remembers the bombs falling on London during the Battle of Britain and the Blitz of 1940-41. Her mother was an accomplished pianist and her Dad (as she always calls him) a working man. Her mother was working as a pianist at a resort when she met another man and left the family to live with him and eventually marry him. The two of them formed an act for the British music halls (vaudeville). Her mother insisted that Andrews come to live with her and her new husband and Dad acquiesced. This was a terrible blow to Andrews because Dad was essentially the only source of love in her life that was reliable, responsible and unconditional.
Nonetheless off Andrews went. She neither liked nor trusted her stepfather whom her mother insisted that Andrews call "Pop." Her new parents were busy working on their music hall career and became successful enough to be "second top" performers, especially after they discovered Andrews's amazing voice and other talents. She became part of the act and traveled with them. Success did not last, however, because Pop had ever growing alcohol problems which eventually affected his work and made him unemployable. Money became scarce, and he reacted in a very typical way: he began first to have flaming arguments and then to beat first his wife and eventually their two younger sons. Andrews, in her room, overheard many of these episodes and felt guilt for not somehow intervening. She is certain that her mother, whom she believes was abused in her own childhood, sometimes deliberately goaded Pop until he exploded into violence.
Pop apparently never beat Andrews but did make sexual advances to her at least twice, once when she was about ten and again when she was about 16. Each time she successfully forestalled him; but after the second occasion her mother's sister had a lock installed on Andrews's bedroom door, a necessary precaution as the drunk and befuddled Pop tried the door just after the lock was installed. He never tried again.
Andrews's primary sources of love and comfort during these times were her Dad, her aunt (she of the bedroom lock) and her voice teacher. Only her aunt had some periods when she was around Andrews more or less constantly. Her Dad could not be, but he seems to have simply suffused her with love when he was able to see her.
Andrews now became the main breadwinner for the family as her mother also slipped into alcoholism. Her mother informed her that if she failed they would lose their house, so there was plenty of pressure on a very young child. Her mother also one day took her to a house party and had her sing for the guests there. The party's host then questioned her closely. On the way home her mother informed Andrews that this man was Andrews's actual biological father. Her Dad, who loved Andrews's mother, had married her while she was pregnant and raised Andrews as his own child. This must have been shocking to Andrews but she does not make much of her reaction, and it certainly did not affect her relationship with her Dad.
We now know how deeply unsettling, indeed devastating, this sort of family background can be to the emotional life of a child and the adult that they grow to be. Some people can be emotionally stunted in various ways for life. Andrews herself is unlikely to be unscathed. The prose style that she employs in discussing these events is telling in this regard. She writes frankly and clearly about them, but she is guarded. Her tone is matter of fact, much as if she were describing what had happened to someone else. It is a tribute to her that she was able apparently to be not merely functional but greatly successful as an actor, a mother and a wife.
 Loved it! August 6, 2008
WBK
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
Even though I was born 6 years after the release of Mary Poppins and this book is about Julie Andrew's life up to being hired for Mary Poppins, I enjoyed every single page! I have always been a huge Julie Andrew's fan; however, I had no idea about her life prior to her films. Her grace and humor shines throughout the book. It is also evident how much work went into it as the memories are described so wonderfully. I really hope she will follow up with another book to bring us to date to where she is today!
 Boring August 3, 2008
Jan in NC
0 out of 3 found this review helpful
I adore Julie Andrews so this book was a huge disappointment. I was so looking forward to getting lost in her words. By page 5, I was beginning to skimread over her tedious and depressing genealogy. Only halfway through the book does she begin describing her acting career. The book ends as she signs up for Mary Poppins. Where was an editor to suggest that anyone other than a devoted fan would find the minutiae of her family troubles a dull read?
I'm glad this book covers the early years in such evocative detail... July 29, 2008
Gregory Ehrbar (Orlando, FL)
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
Julie Andrews' new autobiography, "Home," is a must-read for anyone who loves Disney, entertainment, England and great family stories. She is a consummate writer -- yes, she is one of the celebrities who writes her own books -- and evokes the mood, settings, and even the smells of her early life, from a dysfunctional but loving family and the last days of British Vaudeville to Broadway stardom and getting the role of Mary Poppins.
I was not aware that two Disney legends crossed paths twice in their careers. Julie Andrews performed in her first big stage variety show with none other than Disneyland Golden Horseshoe fixture Wally Boag. Boag also figures prominently in Steve Martin's autobiography, in which he fondly recalls Disneyland as his haven from an unhappy home life.
Julie's childhood had tough times, but she remained very close to her family over the years despite the bumps in the road. I'm glad she chose to focus in so much detail on her early career in this book, since many of us know little about the theatrical world she came from. Mary Poppins makes an appropriate stopping point since she suggests that her early experience led to her being uniquely qualified to play the part, which had a lot of music hall-style set pieces. The life she led after the movie made her an international star is really another story for another book.
I listened to the book on CD. Hearing Julie Andrews herself spin her tale in a warm, friendly way is a remarkable experience. Some of my friends chose to read the book first. I also bought the book to share with family and friends, and to have on hand for quick reference.
Where Was Her Editor? July 11, 2008
Eileen Pollock (New York, NY)
3 out of 7 found this review helpful
Julie Andrews, a heroine of my early life, has disappointed me in this poorly written, garrulous memoir. She has all the material for a fabulously written life - but on the page, her writing falls flat. Long chapters on family matters are depressing. Gratuitous incidents involving various English relatives could have been cut. I felt I was listening to a too-loquacious older family member, who remembered everything, but did not remember her listener, or think in terms of what her listener would want to hear. I wanted to read about Julie Andrews' career on Broadway, about the great actors she starred opposite - Rex Harrison and Richard Burton - about working with Lerner & Loewe. And while she did recount theater memories, she did so in such a turgid manner, without the charm that she surely still possesses. I felt I did not know who Harrison and Burton were as people, and I certainly did not gain insight into Lerner or Loewe. Although apparently she has written or co-written many children's books, Julie Andrews is not a skilled, professional writer. She lacks personal insight, for one thing. I know this book will make her many fans happy, but to me, it seems an exercise in dogged grit rather than the natural expression of an inborn talent.
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