Reading about her experiences making Mary Poppins and The Sound of Music was as delightful as I had hoped it would be (The Sound of Music being a particular favorite of mine), though her memories of Christopher Plummer are tinged with sadness for me since his recent passing. What I was most struck by was the sense of struggle: to develop as an actor, singer, and author; to make her various relationships work; even to pay her bills! You would think, once you got to that level of fame, that money would never be a concern for you again.
She attributes some of that last effort to the spending habits of her late second husband, director Blake Edwards, whom she speaks of with both great affection and immense frustration, in about equal measure; it was hard to tell at points whether she even liked him. This is particularly interesting as they were married for 40 years, and Edwards passed away in 2010. This book came out in 2019; after nearly a decade, you would think whatever resentment still lingered would have been processed by then.
That remarkable candor is present in all of her stories, particularly about her family; faults, frailties and failings are laid out with no sense of apology or attempt to sugar-coat. Yet somehow, even when expressing annoyance or irritation, she is extraordinarily kind; some good quality, some humorous incident, some act of generosity is found in every person she names. It's as though she sees them for exactly who they are and makes a conscience effort to love their virtues more. And while I have always admired her (on my "Famous People I'd Love to Meet" list, only she is higher than Hugh Jackman) that trait is one I would truly wish to emulate.
Authors: Julie Andrews and Emma Walton Hamilton
Potentially objectionable content: language and thematic elements again
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