Forever Liesl: A Memoir of The Sound of Music
by Charmian Carr, Jean A. S. Strauss
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Book Summary Information
Author: Charmian Carr, Jean A. S. StraussEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2001-04-01
ISBN: 0140298401
Number of pages: 245
Publisher: Penguin (Non-Classics)
Book Reviews of Forever Liesl: A Memoir of The Sound of Music
Book Review: Captivating Reminiscence - Personal and Professional
Summary: 5 Stars
A personal book like this really depends on the appeal of the author herself - and here one hits the jackpot. Charmian Carr is so charming, sensitive, and modest that you can't help loving her through the book.
I had no idea the book would be this enjoyable.
This is a wonderful tale with five interwoven threads:
i) what it was like for a 21 year old working for a doctor in the San Fernando Valley - and who'd never done any professional acting, dancing or singing - to work on a movie that would gain the highest box office of all time and become a phenomenon around the world - wonderful details and anecdotes of the making of the movie, the comparison of the story with the history,
ii) the experiences of others working on the movie, as Ms. Carr truly put a lot of work into this book, reaching out to everyone to ask about their experiences, their anecdotes;
iii) AMAZING stories told by people around the world who've been affected by the movie over the years;
iv) the experiences of the cast since the making of the movie - those playing the von Trapp children stayed very much in each other's lives over the years; and
what I found most affecting:
v) the highly dramatic and in many ways quite tragic story of Charmian Carr's own growing up - particularly the story of her show business mother and father, as well as that of her sisters (you probably know beautiful younger sister Darleen from so many television series and mini-series) and their children.
What a great book - it's impossible to put down - and so acutely sensitive, so warm, so candid, so funny.
Summary of Forever Liesl: A Memoir of The Sound of Music
The magic of The Sound of Music lives on in the minds and hearts of everyone it has touched. Now, Charmian Carr, who in 1965 captivated moviegoers as Liesl "Sixteen Going on Seventeen" von Trapp, tells what it was like to be a part of the film that has become a cultural phenomenon. It's all here: from how she got the role (and why she almost didn't) to romances on the set and wild nights in Salzburg; from the near-disaster during the gazebo dance to her relationships--then and now--with her six celluloid siblings. Charmian offers stories from fans and friends and a treasury of photographs. And she reveals why she left acting, what she learned when she met the real von Trapp children; and how The Sound of Music has helped her get through stormy times in her own life.
Forever Liesl celebrates the spirit of the movie and what it stands for: family love, romance, inspiration, nostalgia, and the joy and power of music.
Charmian Carr played eldest von Trapp daughter Liesl in the mega-successful film version of The Sound of Music, and judging from her earnest memoir, the story's sentimental wholesomeness rubbed off on her permanently. It's a "great movie," she avers, acknowledging that the critics thought otherwise; she was "honored" to be part of it, and her onscreen siblings became her lifelong friends. Carr's reasonably interesting chronicle of shooting the film is interspersed with personal narratives by people who love it: a nine-year-old boy who found comforting parallels between the distant but ultimately loving Captain von Trapp and his own recently deceased father; a girl who got the video for Christmas just after her brother had surgery; and so on. The author tempers all that sweetness and light with frank accounts of her parents' divorce, her mother's alcoholism, and later conflicts with the studio over financial remuneration for promoting the movie. Adult costars Christopher Plummer and Julie Andrews come across as consummate professionals less enthralled by the experience than their youthful supporting cast. But in general the book is determinedly upbeat and definitely not for the cynical. Those who share Carr's rapturous regard for The Sound of Music and even those who don't but are willing to be touched by sincere emotion will enjoy her stroll down memory lane. --Wendy Smith
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