The hills are alive! And in some ways the movie is better...boy, I never thought I'd say that!

Trapp, Maria Augusta. The Story of the Trapp Family Singers. New York: Perennial, 2002.

This read was inspired by an article that I read in the newspaper about the next generation of Von Trapp family singers. It turns out that the grandchildren of the Captain are making a living by being the Sound of Music 2.0 and why wouldn't they? I mean, if my name was Von Trapp and I liked music, whether I was related or not I would totally milk it. In fact, I would even consider changing my name if I really felt music performance was my calling. Anyway...The article said that they sing the songs from the movie and quoted a Von Trapp as saying that people (specifically those in Asia) would sing a long it was just so magical. (I didn't make this up; they really did say the whole continent loved them and would sing along.) So, I became interested (which is the nice way of saying obsessed) with the Von Trapps. There are several other books written by Maria about the family. But my obsession did not lead me to read all of them just the story of the family.

First, Maria is hilarious! Seriously. My favorite part is when the Captain (who was also a Baron) asks her to marry him and she goes back to the Covenant to ask for advice. When she returns to the Captain, he's waiting for her and she starts crying because they said she should marry him. So funny! Actually, their whole courting was awesome! Way better than the movie. As was the wedding and the escape to America and her giving birth--yep they had more children bring the total to 10! (Honestly, I skimmed the book after this. It got a little blah once they got to America. I can see why they just climbed some mountains and stopped the movie.)

Things that were seriously better in the movie: The Captain is a creeper! He was 25 when Maria was born. BORN! not when they got married. not when they met. when she was born. I don't know about everyone else, but that creeps me out a little bit a lot. I mean it. She was 22 when they got married perfectly respectable age to get married. He was 47! gross. and ick. and wrong. His oldest child was only six years younger than she was. And since it was a boy (sorry to burst that bubble Lisel didn't exists more to come on that subject later) Maria would have been better off with him. Plus, he was a doctor. (That being said, I found his devotion kinda hot! I can see why she went with father-husband.)

2nd the children's names. It was like the Captain didn't love his children: Rupert, Werner, Johanna, Agathe, Maria, Martina and Hedwig (in less there was some inter-species breeding the this daughter is a snowy owl, not ok humans should not be name Hedwig). Ok, so some of them aren't too bad...and then there's Hedwig. I cry for the poor girl.

Things that I had to remind myself: she was going to be a nun. When she waxes poetically about the importance of Catholicism it's because she was willing to devote her whole life to it. I kind of felt like she was beating me with Catholic dogma and had to remind myself of her devotion. 2nd when she is praising the Captain's bravery during the first world war (no comment about her age at this time), he was fighting against the UK, France...eventually, the US. So when she's like and he took down a whole armada all by himself killing thousands. He's fighting a losing battle. He lost. 



PS He really did use a whistle to call his children. Awesome? You decided. But he did have sound reasoning...the house was so big it was easier to whistle. And I'll let you know right now that I am willing to take on for the team. Give me a big house and I'll decided if it is easier to whistle or call people.