Maria Augusta Trapp (1905–1987)

I remember Mom reading this book aloud to our family years ago, before I made it into the double digits. It struck me then as a great story, and recently, I was reminded of it again when we watched The Sound of Music together as a family. Then and there, I determined to read this as our next family read-aloud the next chance I got.

We ended up reading this over the course of a couple of months, mostly stretched out that way due to a busy summer. Everyone got into the story, and at one stage, show more when we were having a sausage roast over a campfire, one of my brothers begged me to read the next chapter. We didn’t have the book with us, but I was pleased to find it in an online library, so we got to read after all—that is a fun memory!

Maria’s writing style is both fun and engaging. I love her lighthearted approach to life, even when things are difficult, and in my opinion, this book is far better than the movie. Not only is it more realistic, but the many, many different humorous stories (including some self-deprecating humor!) keep the book moving along quickly. One aspect that surprised me about the book on this re-read was how much the family’s faith made its way into the story—that was refreshing and encouraging, even though I’m not Catholic! Then there’s the family’s perspective on the war, their reluctance to get into singing, and all the normal large-family drama…it came together to be a delightful, inspiring read.

If you enjoy books along the lines of Cheaper by the Dozen, Ten P’s in a Pod, or other similar stories of large families living, loving, and working together, I’d highly recommend you check out this book. It’s a treasure to have on any shelf—especially if you enjoy The Sound of Music! show less

Like almost everybody, I grew up with The Sound of Music. I don't remember when I learned that it was based on a true story, but I have had this book on my book bucket list since I was young.

Maria's voice was refreshing. She's a straight talker, and I felt less like I was reading a memoir and more like I was sharing a cup of tea with her over the kitchen table.

I was completely charmed by the book, and by Maria, and the entire Trapp family.

If anyone here does not know The Sound of Music was based on the adventures of the Austrian Family von Trapp, stop reading now and run along home to grandma to ask her aaalll about it. Trust me, she knows.

Baroness von Trapp, aka the Little Governess Who Could and Did, wrote several books about the family's life, and this is the last of them. Thank goodness. It's a lovely piece of film lore that Christopher What's-it who played Captain von Trapp told an interviewer he felt he was "hit over show more the head with a Valentine" while working with the talented, lovely, wholesome Julie Andrews. Damn good thing grumpy ol' Chris didn't read any of the Baroness's books! He'd've flat died.

I wondered if I mightn't just suffer a diabetic coma myownself. Treacly is a good description of the Baroness's style, as are labored and stiff. The stories themselves, dating from 1949 to 1955, aren't in any way current or relevant to our modern world, but they are fascinating period pieces. Hawaii, still a territory, is just too gorgeous for words (did y'all know that "wiki" is a Hawaiian word for "easy"? You can learn useful things ANYwhere!) and so the Baroness uses very few of them to describe it. She spends a good bit of time being Catholic in this book, and Hawaii's indigenous religious observance of the hula is, let's say, treated condescendingly. The family's meeting with a Hawaiian Royal Princess is used as a chance to be, well, imperialistically kind. The Lady Bountiful, yeah?

How about the family's trip to South America? The Baroness calls it, unblushingly and without irony, the "land of manana"--I thought I would unswallow.

I suppose my horrible psychic abuse at the hands of Catholicism is what puts my back up about the book's slavishly servile extolling of the Catholic orthodoxy oof the day, but really! The breathless excitement of being taken to see the Actual Tomb of St. Peter under the Vatican was a little much (tip: People who aren't real don't have tombs, Baroness dear).

Oh well, it's read and off the shelves now. I do not in any way recommend it to anyone at all for any reason except if you need kindling after Civilization comes to an end on 12/21/12. show less

Maria von Trapp's first book The Story of the Trapp Family Singers became the inspiration for the musical `The Sound Of Music', chronicling a period of roughly 25 years from the time Maria joined the Trapp family in the mid 1920s. As such it is an essential read for fans who wish to explore the real story behind the movie, yet leaves many questions unanswered.

This present book, written a further quarter of a century later (in 1972), attempts to address some of those issues by adding crucial show more detail about her upbringing: the mother she never knew; her estranged father; her godless years as an orphan; her love of the outdoors; and her life at Nonnberg monastery that led to her meeting the von Trapp family.

After glossing over the `middle' years already covered by her earlier book, the remaining two thirds follows her later life as she travels the world, meeting famous names and embarking on new ventures while presiding over the Trapp family as its undisputed matriarch. I found particularly fascinating the chapters dealing with her year traversing the Pacific on a fact finding mission for the church.

Overall, 'Maria' adds a great deal of circumstantial colour to the character of Maria. It is much more a personal history, written in an altogether more open style: revealing in its honesty and often unflattering to the author; with pathos and perhaps bitterness at her sad childhood; and at times painful as she admits to fears, weaknesses and failings in later life.

A word of warning though: her memory may not be infallible! For example, her earlier book claims the baron met her when she first arrived at villa Trapp, and introduced her to the children (corroborated by Agathe von Trapp's account in her own autobiography Memories Before and After The Sound of Music), yet here she claims he wasn't at home at the time.

Nevertheless, 'Maria' is recommended if you want to get under the skin of the `real' Maria, to better understand the motivations and foibles that drove this charismatic and larger than life woman. It is simply presented, but does include a few pages of personal photographs, some of which are in colour. show less