Book Review: "The Story of the Trapp Family Singers" by Maria von Trapp

The Story of the Trapp Family Singers by Maria von Trapp
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Amazon Book Description 

"With nearly 1,500 Broadway performances, six Tony Awards, more than three million albums sold, and five Academy Awards, The Sound of Music, based on the lives of Maria, the baron, and their singing children, is as familiar to most of us as our own family history. But much about the real-life woman and her family was left untold."

"Here, Baroness Maria Augusta Trapp tells in her own beautiful, simple words the extraordinary story of her romance with the baron, their escape from Nazi-occupied Austria, and their life in America."
For someone who grew up seeing "The Sound of Music" in the theater and every time it was shown on network TV, it was going to be tough for the comparatively short story of The Trapp Family to live up to an Academy Award-winning, classic and treasured theatrical release. I was surprised to learn of the departure of the screenplay from the real story so I was already expecting more from the book than it was going to be able to offer me. The story of Maria and her life at the convent and then as a governess and later mother and wife is covered during the first half of the book, all the way up until the family flees Austria from under Nazi occupation. The second half of the book abruptly picks up with the family already in the United States and the remainder of the story revolves around their acclimation to a new country and new way of life. Maria Augusta Trapp is an excellent storyteller and she eloquently reveals the memories of her journey in life from a devoted nun to a devoted wife and mother. I just found myself really wanting to learn more about the actual events about their life in Austria under the Nazis and their harrowing escape through Switzerland and eventually to the United States. For those who are interested in learning about the family's life in Vermont and how they built a life in a new country and started a successful family business that still remains a must-see for tourists from around the world, this book will not disappoint.