Home Work

 Book 11 of my 2021 Reading Challenge

Home Work: A Memoir of My Hollywood Years

by Julie Andrews

Summary (via Goodreads)

published 2019

In Home, the number one New York Times international bestseller, Julie Andrews recounted her difficult childhood and her emergence as an acclaimed singer and performer on the stage.

With this second memoir, Home Work: A Memoir of My Hollywood Years, Andrews picks up the story with her arrival in Hollywood and her phenomenal rise to fame in her earliest films -- Mary Poppins and The Sound of Music. Andrews describes her years in the film industry -- from the incredible highs to the challenging lows. Not only does she discuss her work in now-classic films and her collaborations with giants of cinema and television, she also unveils her personal story of adjusting to a new and often daunting world, dealing with the demands of unimaginable success, being a new mother, the end of her first marriage, embracing two stepchildren, adopting two more children, and falling in love with the brilliant and mercurial Blake Edwards. The pair worked together in numerous films, including Victor/Victoria, the gender-bending comedy that garnered multiple Oscar nominations.

First Impressions/Judging a Book by Its Cover

I read Home, the memoir of her early years last summer and this book, Home Work, picks up where that one ends (just as she booked Mary Poppins).  I rated Home 3 stars because it was what I expected (a fluffy read with skimming over traumatic events) and I expect this will be along the same lines.  I'm sure it will be interesting to read and I may like this one more since I'm more familiar with the movies than her earlier plays.

As I always note when reading memoirs/biographies, there are pictures included and I like that most if not all are "candids" or behind-the-scenes instead of canned publicity shots.

My Opinion

3 stars

It's funny that I said I was more familiar with her movies than her earlier plays in my 'First Impressions' because as I was reading this book I discovered I really don't know much about her acting.  Prior to this book I saw her in  "Mary Poppins" and "Sound of Music", I knew she was in but didn't watch "Victor/Victoria" and "Princess Diaries" and I knew the "scandal" that she went topless in a film of her husband's (that I haven't seen and wouldn't have been able to name prior to reading).  I think I felt like I knew more about her work because of the number of times I've seen "Mary Poppins" and "Sound of Music" but I really didn't know how active she was on stage, on tv, and in movies before reading this book.  I also had no idea she'd written so many children's books! 

She was constantly working in different countries and the constant travel and shift in locations was part of the reason I didn't enjoy this book as much as I thought I would.  She was living a hectic life but the anxiety of the constant travel, moving, packing, etc. translated into the pages as frantic and I was never really able to settle in before she was on to the next memory.  I'm sure that's how she felt living it but as a memoir, I would've preferred her taking a breath and reflecting, maybe talking about about how she felt about the scheduling as opposed to presenting everything quickly and chronologically.  I had no idea what year it was or how much time had passed between projects.  At times it felt like a combination of her imdb page and real estate transactions...she did this project which required moving to this place which required buying this furniture and these kids moved with her while these kids lived somewhere else, etc.  It was still interesting but similarly to her first book, it also kept things more superficial.

This was a good companion to Home.  She gave a brief recap of her earlier life at the beginning of this book so it's not necessary to read it but I do think they go well together and I'm glad I waited to read Home Work (I received it as a gift but waited to read it until I sought out and read Home first).