Customer Reviews

Julie Andrews

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I wanted to know more about Julie Andrews. I adored her as Mary Poppins, loved her in The Sound of Music & was delighted by her comic performance in Thoroughly Modern Millie. I somewhat remember her "falling from grace" so to speak, making some unmemorable films, dissappearing...then suddenly it seems, she's back writing children's books & making successful movies again!

So I really wanted an overview of her entire life and that is why I chose this book by Richard Stirling over HOME which ends about the time that Julie's fame begins.

The book is an engaging, easy read that has generally fulfilled my expectations. It covers Julie's meteoric rise to the heights of fame and the painfully slow slide into a lingering sort of limbo that allowed her to triumphantly hold her head up occassionally but never again made full use of her sunny personality & gorgeous voice.

This book gave me the distinct impression that instead of being "ahead of her time" that unfortunately Julie Andrews showed up perhaps 20 years too late to be fully utilized in the field of musical/comedy films. (...and it teases us with the vehicles proposed for her but never made...) However, it also points to the fact that Julie is full of tenacity & perseverance. Of course, she is still around and that's a good thing.

I ordered this book because since the 1960's I've adored Julie Andrews. I found here everything I wanted to know about her. But this book is not very "readable".

Mr Stirling often leads the reader down dead end paths - leaves them wondering "Where am I now?" and is often not fun to read. I enjoy a book that flows. This one jerks along like an old truck with a couple of flat tires on a bumpy forest road. Occasionally there's a well written story, but for the most part it's hard to follow and the stories he tells are truncated and with unrelated elements. It's like being in a forest and wondering where the path is. I'd rather have gotten (and will get) my information from other sources.

For all Julie Andrews' fans, this book will provide you the basis for what you want to know about her life, before and after her rise to stardom. The necessary information is presented to the reader, however the author's style of writing did not flow easily for me nor did it hold my attention. It took me almost two months to finish reading this book; my diligence in doing so owed only to my devotion and interest in the subject matter. It was only after I was more than three quarters through the book that I found out Julie Andrews has written her own story. I am going to read her autobiography as I feel it will be a much smoother and more enjoyable experience. My advice to those who have not yet read this book but are interested in Julie Andrews' life would be to start with her story written in her own words.

Of course Julie Andrews has always been my idol. Growing up watching "Mary Poppins, The Sound of Music", "Thoroughly Modern Millie", made me want to be just like her. Beautiful, sweet, and with the vocal ability of an angel! Well, I am none of those things. I have such vivid memories of her singing. I used to sit under a table all day and listen to the record of "The Sound of Music" for hours on end.
I have grown up thinking, Julie Andrews was a Queen among women.
This book made me see inside the "Queen". Whoa! I found out things about her I really didn't want to know. Ah! She is a mere mortal after all. Bummer! I did enjoy this book. Learning her background made me appreciate her even more. Long live the "Queen".

While I sort of agree with the reviewer who compared this book to an 8th grade book report, I enjoyed it nevertheless. A few observations:

1. The book borders on the hagiographic, which explains why Ms. Andrews comes across as a throughly decent woman, with no major faults to speak of, at least according to Mr. Stirling.

2. In the lives of most famous entertainers, there is a kind of "magic period", during with they are at the peak of their fame and doing whatever it is that makes them famous in the first place. Sooner or later that magic period disappears, and while they remain famous of course, the narrative of their lives becomes far less interesting. So it is with Ms. Andrews. Her magic period was from 1956 (when she began her role as Eliza Dolittle on Broadway) through 1965 (when The Sound of Music came out), with Camelot and Mary Poppins sandwiched in between. Once that was finished however, there simply isn't much left that is so fascinating afterwards. Obviously, her performing career was far from over at age 30, and Stirling dutifully records her career after this point. But, aside from a few brief highlights (Thoroughly Modern Millie and Victor/Victoria), there really isn't much left to speak of. To put it another way, if the biography of her life ended in 1965, one would be describing about 90%-95% of the portion of her life that makes her worthy of a biography in the first place. If it started in 1966, even though she was only 30 at the time, there would be very little else to say that is biography-worthy. It is interesting that Ms. Andrews' own autobiography almost DID end at this point (1964). However, if one were to write a biography of her life starting at age 30, no one would buy it. That not her fault of course, but it does present a problem for her biographers.

An insightful biography -- uh, no. It's really more like a junior high book report, with any sources and semi-relevations culled from other sources than the author's own work. And I can't recall a straightforward biography where its author interjects himself into the process (e.g., "I" got to meet with Dame Julie here or there [usually with a cattle call of reporters, it seems]). The 80s, 90s, and new millennium years of Andrews get short work here, especially, most likely because there weren't other sources for the author to use. Stirling writes things like "'[fill in quote]' Julie snapped" to attempt to add some drama, but how does he know that Julie, indeed, snapped at someone?

It's a tv entertainment show rehash of Andrews' life, so at least for big fans, it offers some mild enjoyment. Let's hope that Julie herself covers these later years as a sequel to her "HOME" autobiography, as she's a real writer.

I bought this book because I thought it would carry on from the autobiography by Julie Andrews. Fact is he took much of his information directly from her book plus he rambles from one thing to another. I, too regret buying the book. I have her book, and that is sufficient. In my opinion, he is a poor author.

Learning about Julie Andrews' life was the purpose in buying this informative book. I was also comparing information I gleened from her autobiography. I always wondered why she and Carol Burnette were such good fast friends. Now, I know and have even more respect and love for Julie's work in theater, music, and writing.

She is one talented person with a voice from heaven as a young person. She truly made the right decisions for her career, in spite of her parents and their influences. There is much to learn about acting, singing, and dancing for a young person persuing that career, or an "oldie" like me who admired her as a young adult. Fortunately (or unfortunately) it has caused me to buy many of her movies and more CDs. Enjoy!

Julie Andrews is one of my heroes. I wanted to read a biography rather than her recently published autobiography (which I have not read so cannot make a fair comparison) because other researchers tend to include things the subject might delete when writing about his/her own life. This record of her life seems very complete, maybe too much so at times, which is why I gave it only four stars.

One of the great tragedies of modern times was the botched surgery that took her singing voice. This situation is dealt with in the opening paragraphs of the book, stating that she had sued the surgeons and hospital and got a settlement.

Her meteoric rise to fame is outlined as is her coming to terms with her "wholesome" image. I must admit bias, but it is good to read about the public and private life such a great star.

Good, straightforward biography. Made Ms. Andrews seem down to earth and pictured her as a hardworking and very loving wife and mother. I enjoyed seeing what was behind her dazzling talent.