A Family on Wheels: Further Adventures of the Trapp Family

by Maria Augusta von Trapp, Ruth T. Murdoch

Vintage paperback

Genres: Biography, Nonfiction, Music, Memoir, History, Autobiography

200 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1959

About the author

Baroness Maria Augusta von Trapp was the stepmother and matriarch of the Trapp Family Singers. Her story served as the inspiration for a 1956 German film that in turn inspired the Broadway musical The Sound of Music.—Source

Reviews

[Richard Derus · Rating 1 out of 5]

Rating: 1/2* of five

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 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.

[Michelle · Rating 5 out of 5]

Duh. Like I'm not going to like a book about the Trapp Family. This one was a lot of fun--fun stories of their travels while touring and giving concerts.

[Amy · Rating 3 out of 5]

From their escape out of Austria in 1939 until the late 1950s, the Trapp family (I thought they were the *von* Trapp's, but apparently that's only for the Sound of Music), was on the road for a considerable part of every year, earning their daily bread - across the United States, Canada, South America, the Caribbean, Europe, New Zealand & Australia. They had a priest with them - Fr. Wasner, who directed their singing, and celebrated Mass for them. They did crafts-homemade Christmas gifts were the norm, school (the Calvert program), and celebrated the liturgical year where ever they were whether at home in Vermont, in their touring bus, or traveling in some other land.

Spoiler alert: In 1949 the father,Georg von Trapp died...but the family soldiered on with their tours and summer camps. In 1951 daughter Martina died in childbirth after only two years or less of marriage...but the family soldiered on with their tours and summer camps.

Why, then is it, that even after all this togetherness, living the faith (and mini-pilgrimages were part-and-parcel of every tour they went on) none of the Trapp children stayed Catholic? I find that so surprising - and disheartening. Their lives certainly *sounded* very rich. Exhausting, but rich - in the sense of being full of faith.

[J · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read in 2 days.

Originally published in 1959. This novel brought joy to my life! It was light and pleasing, family appropriate and effectively touching.

The story picks up after 'The Trapp Family Singers' book ends and allows Maria to reminisce on their family travels. The family tours North America, South America, Europe (including a return to Salzburg), Hawaii and finally New Zealand & Australia. It felt a bit like a travel guide! By the end of the book, many Trapp children are married with kids of their own.

There is not a dull or repetitive page in this book. Maria seems grounded, not zany, in this book and remains a great storyteller! She kept my interest for the entire book. In all her travels and trials, she is a beautiful example of 'acceptance with joy'. This book inspired me and helped me view my own family life in a more positive light.

An uplifting, pleasant and fun book.

[G-phy · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is my kind of book, a giant family traveling around the world with all the craziness that follows. It's mostly anecdotal, but it does get quite religious at some points, the family visiting the lepers in Hawaii melted even my stone atheist heart. The Von Trapp family were very nice people, especially Maria. But we all knew that from the movie!

[Su · Rating 3 out of 5]

I don't love it as much as I loved the first book from which the musical is made. But. When the family returns to Salzburg and sees the portrait of the Captain in the place where it always had been, and Maria had to go collect herself for a while, I did, too. The visit to Austria is definitely my favourite part of this book.

[Tricia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not as fun as the first, reads more like a travel diary, but still a nice revisit to the Trapp family. Enjoyed their jaunt to Hawaii as I was in Hawaii at the time and also reading Isabella Bird’s Six Months in the Sandwich Islands so I had 3 perspectives with about 80 year gaps (1873, 1952, and present).

[Maureen E]

Maria Von Trapp’s second family memoir. It lacks the emotional punch of the first book, but it’s nice to hear a bit more about the life of the family. [May 2011]

[Shannon · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ah the sweet Trapp family. I love reading Maria's perspective on travels through the Americas. A little condscending in some parts like when she discusses "the natives" but also reverent at other times.

[Marti]

Favorite movie.

[Cindy Moyer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting stories of their travels, and trials.

[Barbara Arneson · Rating 5 out of 5]

A positive, uplifting read! Lots of insight on how America and other countries were then. Sadly, they've gone downhill, since that time.

[Anna · Rating 5 out of 5]

If only more books today were this wholesome. Love this radically Catholic family!

[Sue · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a sequel to the biographical 'Trapp family singers' book (of which the first half is a loose inspiration for the film 'The Sound of Music').

In 'The Trapp family on wheels', Maria von Trapp recalls details and anecdotes from the years between 1949 and 1955 when she and her large family toured the US and then other parts of the world, giving probably thousands of concerts that mostly delighted their audiences.

There's more detail than I was interested in, and although Maria obviously knew all her family very well, they don't come across as distinct or particularly interesting as individuals, other than her youngest, Johann, who is about ten at the start of the book. Anecdotes are included somewhat at random, and rather baldly told, so they didn't raise a smile.

Still, it was interesting to read once. I'm pretty sure I never read this before.

Longer review: https://suesbookreviews.blogspot.com/...

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fascinating to read the further adventures of the Trapp family after having read her first book many years ago.

[Chaitra Nair · Rating 4 out of 5]

We can never rate a person's journey.... But yeah here my rating is on the basis of how well I could connect to the book.. I am not a person of non fiction... I really can't tolerate non fiction books.... But this one... Was a very new pleasant experience for me... Like in books of fiction we have this scope of imagination and we create most of the stuff... But here these are real people... In the beginning I really found it very difficult to connect because of all the names... And this happened coz I understood later that this book had a first part... Where the family is introduced in a much better manner.. So I looked up at their history in google everything about their family... Ohhh Lord i just love them a lot... Then the entire read was sooo fun... It's like they were here with me telling me about their journey.. still at times their were terms I couldn't understand.. But still I loved this.. I won't say this book made me wanna read another non fiction... Nah I still can't read non fiction... I m a fiction person... But yeah this book made me feel soo good... 🥺❤ I'll remember the Trapp family forever.. 💖

[Helen · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is good but not quite as engaging as Maria von Trapps first book. This is a very short and sweet sequel just recounting their life on the road going to all their shows and concerts and travelling across the globe. There isn’t as much connection to the family in this one which is disappointing but still a nice little book.