Seems like a pretty honest telling of her life and self. ( )

The life story of Maria Von Trapp, which later inspired the musical "The Sound of Music."

Entertaining memoir from Maria von Trapp. The story begins with her unhappy childhood in Austria right up through her marriage to Baron Georg von Trapp. The book skips the parts that are mentioned in her previous book. Maria goes into detail about her singing, her missionary work, and her lodge. It's a joyful read, which will be of interest to anyone who has heard of this remarkable woman. ( )

An honest examination of her own life. ( )

This is the autobiography of Maria von Trapp whose name was made famous by the movie 'Sound of Music.' But this was written years later and is not the book that became the inspiration for the movie. That book is her first book titled 'The story of the Trapp Family Singers.'

In this book we the author shares her life and thoughts from childhood up to the time of the writing of the book. The exception is that she does not retell the part of her life from her first book so together they could be considered account of her life to that date. An account one must read to have insight into who she was. Though there are a couple of discrepancy between her two books I would attribute them too time; or perhaps trying to separate the fiction of movie from life. This is hard too determine.

We read of her childhood which adds details as too why she formed the personality she did. Left too be raised by relatives she never knew her mother and very rarely saw her father that she considered herself an orphan. How her love of the Church diminished in this atmosphere as her love of the outdoors grew. We see how close she crossed the line toward what we would call a juvenile delinquent. And then her re-awakening that drove her too impetuously run too a life of piety at the Nonnberg monastery, a cloistered monastery.

It was from this monastery that the Mother Superior sent her to be a tutor for the von Trapp family. She writes that she fell in love with the children so accepted the proposal of the Baron too become his wife and the mother of his children. She briefly touches her life during this period that is covered in her first book and we take up with her later in life. Her life as a world touring speaker and the families very interesting section on where she was sent to the Pacific to see and show that lay missionaries could be of great benefit and where some of her children were missionaries.

The book concludes with her growing old and her stubborn too not let go of control of guiding the family. Her recognized weakness over her life and her regrets. The writing appears too be very open and personal with all that she shares. ( )