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A review by bookstolivewith
Home Work: A Memoir of My Hollywood Years by Julie Andrews Edwards
4.0
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I am a massive Julie Andrews fan — I basically lived off of Mary Poppins & The Sound of Music as a kid, in addition to the Broadway cast recordings of My Fair Lady and Camelot. So for me, Home Work by Julie Andrews was a thrill to read as it plunges you into the step-by-step of her early Broadway and Hollywood career between the 1960s-1980s (so no stories from The Princess Diaries set, I’m afraid), revealing so many wonderful gems along the way.
It’s not a highly emotional memoir, although there are some emotional moments, but deeply fascinating, exploring Andrews’ insecurities and decision-making process during her Hollywood years, as well as her blooming and multifaceted family (of which I knew little) and how she handled the now much-talked-about topic of being a working mother — all of which I found so interesting, considering how easily her roles come across on screen.
She also is a huge advocate for therapy (which she charmingly refers to as “analysis”) and goes continually throughout her life to discuss her own (somewhat inherited) mental health issues and the pressures of her daily life.
I was also very intrigued by her always brief but continuous discussion of her and her family’s finances — I always assumed she and Blake Edwards was really well off (and they certainly weren’t poor), but this was before people were paid millions for movies, and Andrews’ often had to balance projects she loved (but didn’t do well) with projects that were more profitable, as did her husband.
I also love that she talks about writing her first book, Mandy, which I adored as a kid and I learned a lot about film-making and the film industry, which isn’t a topic I had any particular interest in but Andrews manages to explain it simply and succinctly.
I’d highly recommend this one to those who love Julie Andrews, filmmaking or celebrity/Hollywood memoirs, as there is enough name-dropping to keep you occupied for days.
I am a massive Julie Andrews fan — I basically lived off of Mary Poppins & The Sound of Music as a kid, in addition to the Broadway cast recordings of My Fair Lady and Camelot. So for me, Home Work by Julie Andrews was a thrill to read as it plunges you into the step-by-step of her early Broadway and Hollywood career between the 1960s-1980s (so no stories from The Princess Diaries set, I’m afraid), revealing so many wonderful gems along the way.
It’s not a highly emotional memoir, although there are some emotional moments, but deeply fascinating, exploring Andrews’ insecurities and decision-making process during her Hollywood years, as well as her blooming and multifaceted family (of which I knew little) and how she handled the now much-talked-about topic of being a working mother — all of which I found so interesting, considering how easily her roles come across on screen.
She also is a huge advocate for therapy (which she charmingly refers to as “analysis”) and goes continually throughout her life to discuss her own (somewhat inherited) mental health issues and the pressures of her daily life.
I was also very intrigued by her always brief but continuous discussion of her and her family’s finances — I always assumed she and Blake Edwards was really well off (and they certainly weren’t poor), but this was before people were paid millions for movies, and Andrews’ often had to balance projects she loved (but didn’t do well) with projects that were more profitable, as did her husband.
I also love that she talks about writing her first book, Mandy, which I adored as a kid and I learned a lot about film-making and the film industry, which isn’t a topic I had any particular interest in but Andrews manages to explain it simply and succinctly.
I’d highly recommend this one to those who love Julie Andrews, filmmaking or celebrity/Hollywood memoirs, as there is enough name-dropping to keep you occupied for days.