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A review by jeremychiasson
Home Work: A Memoir of My Hollywood Years by Julie Andrews Edwards
2.0
Maybe I was in the wrong mood, but this was a bit of a letdown for me, considering how much I WANTED to enjoy it. I enjoyed reading the first instalment of her memoirs (Home) back in 2020, which focused on her childhood and early career, so I figured "Home Work" (which focuses on her Hollywood years and her most iconic film roles) would be even better! Unfortunately it was somehow slightly worse.
I do think that perhaps "Home Work" would be a bit more interesting to older people, who have lived through the 60's and 70's and can recall forgotten (but in their day significant) films like "The Americanization of Emily" and "Ten". She spends a good deal of time describing her experiences on these films, and I do enjoy that the usually prim and proper Andrews often goes out of her way to mention how hunky she found some of the men she starred opposite of (she certainly never writes about her husbands Tony and Blake the way she writes about Robert Goulet, Christopher Plummer, and James Garner haha).
Her man crushes notwithstanding, I have noticed that Julie tends to write about her life in a perfunctory, detached manner, which doesn't work well in a confessional format for me. One that gets the sense that she is trying to be very polite and not offend anyone and that she really doesn't want to talk a lot about her feelings:
"Oh I suppose I was sad about the state of my marriage, because I cried for a week straight to a psychoanalyst, but wouldn't you rather hear me rattle off a list of obscure people who were very nice to work with?"
She does have a right to her privacy, of course--but it doesn't make for a particularly compelling book. It breaks my heart to review this ALMOST negatively, because I love Julie Andrews--I wanted to BE Julie Andrews in high school--but I would NOT recommend this to anyone who isn't already a big Julie Andrews fan. If you do read it, I would strongly encourage you to opt for the audiobook, since the legend herself narrates.
I do think that perhaps "Home Work" would be a bit more interesting to older people, who have lived through the 60's and 70's and can recall forgotten (but in their day significant) films like "The Americanization of Emily" and "Ten". She spends a good deal of time describing her experiences on these films, and I do enjoy that the usually prim and proper Andrews often goes out of her way to mention how hunky she found some of the men she starred opposite of (she certainly never writes about her husbands Tony and Blake the way she writes about Robert Goulet, Christopher Plummer, and James Garner haha).
Her man crushes notwithstanding, I have noticed that Julie tends to write about her life in a perfunctory, detached manner, which doesn't work well in a confessional format for me. One that gets the sense that she is trying to be very polite and not offend anyone and that she really doesn't want to talk a lot about her feelings:
"Oh I suppose I was sad about the state of my marriage, because I cried for a week straight to a psychoanalyst, but wouldn't you rather hear me rattle off a list of obscure people who were very nice to work with?"
She does have a right to her privacy, of course--but it doesn't make for a particularly compelling book. It breaks my heart to review this ALMOST negatively, because I love Julie Andrews--I wanted to BE Julie Andrews in high school--but I would NOT recommend this to anyone who isn't already a big Julie Andrews fan. If you do read it, I would strongly encourage you to opt for the audiobook, since the legend herself narrates.