Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

My mother ran the gift shop at the Trapp Family summer camps in Stowe in the late '40s, and I spent my summers with her when I was three and four, the youngest child there. Agatha, the oldest daughter, appointed herself as my caretaker during those two summers, and I have many clear and wonderful memories of those times - Cor Unum, their home which later became the original Lodge, just completed; singing and dancing all day and evening, indoors and out; hiking Pico Peak singing; the family with their dirndls and braided crowns; and always, the figure of Maria, the Baroness, looming over all, larger than life, laughing and singing and leading the fun. That said, this book was one of my earliest attempts to read a "big people's" book. I loved it - still do! - and the way it captured the characters of the people I knew. But I also recall my mother telling me that while the Baroness was a wonderful raconteur, her book, like all memoirs, was somewhat skewed and biased. She was not the holy innocent who had no idea that the Captain was in love with her and who meekly married him only because it was the will of God. She was an immensely strong-willed woman who knew exactly what was going on and also knew that she was entirely ill-suited to contemplative convent life. Which isn't to say that her account is untrue; light that passes through a prism is still light, although bent, and her account, while similarly bent, is still fundamentally true. There is some truth in all she says, but some of the details have been fluffed up a bit. The family probably wouldn't have survived without her strength, will, and humor, and there is no doubt of her religiousity - she turned to charismatic Catholicism in her later years and was speaking in tongues. As is the case with all strong people, some people, including some in her family, had difficulties with her. And of course, the play and film bear very little resemblance to reality - the very fact that the family names weren't flossy enough for Hollywood tells you that the producers felt a need to tart up the story. But I've always loved this book, and will continue to recommend it - forget the movie!