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Julie Andrews (Author, Reader)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Starred Review. In recounting her early musical and theatrical training, Andrews discusses the importance that she placed on the care and maintenance of her vocal chords. Listeners of this delightful audio will feel extremely grateful that the show business legend demonstrated such remarkable foresight all those decades ago. Her performance represents a shining achievement in vocal quality. The enhanced first CD includes photos from Andrews's personal collection. Sprinkled through Andrews's narration are a few prized archival snippets of her most memorable early Broadway tunes, and Ian Fraser's gentle piano interludes befit the poignancy of the material. Yet the focal point remains firmly planted on the power of the storytelling itself. Andrews projects the tone of a motherly figure confiding with her dearest friends over a cup of tea, and the 13-hour length truly flies by as if they were mere minutes.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From AudioFile

Would you believe there once was a time when Julie Andrews didn't enjoy singing lessons? The musical star recalls her turbulent childhood and the start of her career in an autobiography that takes her from her youthful experiences as one of Britain's last music hall stars to her rough transition to the legitimate stage. Andrews's voice still has the lilting, reassuring tones of Mary Poppins, even if her reminiscences aren't so saccharine. She comes across as a trouper, her love of theater and singing coming through in her language and the joy with which she reads it. Andrews gives listeners a fascinating look at the waning years of British vaudeville. J.A.S. © AudioFile 2008, Portland, Maine-- Copyright © AudioFile, Portland, Maine

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 18 and up
  
• Audio CD: 320 pages
• Publisher: Hyperion; Unabridged edition (April 1, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1401388949
• ISBN-13: 978-1401388942
• Product Dimensions: 5.9 x 5.4 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (21 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #163,692 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #97 in Books > Books on CD > Biographies & Memoirs

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

29 of 29 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Julie, in her own words, April 3, 2008

By 

DVD buff (Austin, TX USA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: HOME (Audio CD)

Coming some 60 years after her first professional recording, this audiobook is sort of the pinnacle of Ms. Andrews' recording career. The life of Julie Andrews, as written by Julie Andrews, and read to you, as if she were personally telling you the story of her life, by Julie Andrews.

Ms. Andrews' life and career have both been well-documented by biographers, but everything takes on new meaning and becomes personal when told by Ms. Andrews herself. And, of course, there are anecdotes and details that only Ms. Andrews herself can share with her audience, so there is much for even the most devoted fan to learn from this book. Here, she tells the story of her life from her earliest childhood to her career as a child star, from her journey to Broadway and television through to being cast by Walt Disney in MARY POPPINS.

The audiobook on CD is 13 hours long, spread over 11 CDs. Each disc contains seven to ten tracks; some chapters are one track long, and others are two to three tracks long. The production is straightforward and what you would expect of an audiobook -- read clearly, recorded well. Of course, I'd be happy hearing Ms. Andrews read the dictionary to me, but there is something magical and mesmerizing about her voice here, describing her own life.

At the end of the audiobook, Ms. Andrews says, "Thank you for listening." This is the only detail she has wrong -- we, the audience, should be saying to her, "Thank you for telling." I only hope we don't have to wait too long for the next part of the Julie Andrews story...

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars JULIE ANDREWS: HER OWN WORDS, HER OWN VOICE, April 20, 2008

By 

DEWEY M. "MOVIE & MUSICAL THEATRE MAN" (ELLENSBURG, WA,) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: HOME (Audio CD)

I purchased this audiobook CD set simultaneously with the hardcover edition of the book "Home: A Memoir Of My Early Years" by Julie Andrews. I urge all true fans of the actress/author to do the very same. I read the hardcover book first, and have been enjoying listening to Julie Andrews "tell" me the story of her incredible life from 1935-1962 again on the 11-CD set; which is unabridged.
For my thoughts on the autobiography and Miss Andrews herself, please read my review of the book. I don't want to repeat what I've stated in the "book" review. But it is a real gift for her many fans, and much more so for her own family, to have her incredible life told in her own words and in her own voice on CD recordings. "Home" ranks with Patty Duke's "Call Me Anna," Carol Burnett's "One More Time" and Mary Tyler Moore's "After All" as one of the most honest, candid, and courageous celebrity autobiographies I have ever read. Carol Burnett and Mary Tyler Moore, incidentally, are also friends/colleagues of Julie Andrews.
In an age when most celebrity autobiographies/biographies are filled with monumental amounts of conjecture, speculation, self-pity, and self-absorbtion, "Home" stands out as a breath of fresh air. Julie Andrews writes and tells her story with wit, warmth, generousity, perception, and pathos. To reiterate my closing statement from my earlier "book" review: Julie Andrews proves that she is, without a doubt, one of the last, true "class acts" left in show business.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Home Is Where Julie's Heart Is, July 5, 2008

By 

Donald Mitchell "Jesus Loves You!" (Thanks for Providing My Reviews over 109,000 Helpful Votes Globally) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 100 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: HOME (Audio CD)

At 25, Julie Andrews had it all: She was a Broadway star about to take on her first starring role in a film, Mary Poppins, she was happily married, and she had just become the mother of Emma. Her smile and lovely voice were known to tens of millions around the world.

But the path from her origins to those heights was not the expected one. In this candid memoir, Ms. Andrews takes us for an eye-opening ride through her family's genealogy, her career as a youthful vaudeville star, her experiences in becoming her family's sole support at a young age, and the many amazing things that happen in performing companies. It's a wild trip!

Before the book ends, she gives us behind-the-scenes looks at many of the giants of 20th century entertainment including Moss Hart, Alan Jay Lerner, Fritz Lowe, T.H. White, Walt Disney, Rex Harrison, Richard Burton, and Carol Burnett.

She is a lady in all that she has to say, but she does have opinions. The finely nuanced reading captures her true feelings in subtle ways that the book cannot hope to do. I could have listened to this recording all night, every night. It was marvelous!