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Little Brady Lost

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Maureen McCoermick may be in our hearts and TVLAND screens as Maria Brady forever. However after the hype and glitz of the Brady Bunch is gone, beneath the surface is a scared little actress who took up drugs in the 1980's and was lost.

In this abridged audio production, The actress tries to explain her family problems, her addictions to drugs and her dislike like for Marcia Brady. She like many were stereotyped in the box, because of her most well known role. You can hear the grief and fears she has on the audio.

Ms McCormick is the only who caould have read his biography to audio. In the hands of another, those feels she felt would be glossed over in straight narration. She knows the shding over her own life.

Now to cases, her vocal talent is limited. She does not bore, but she tends to drone on when she does long passages. the abridger if this text makes her too much MARCIA BRADY for my tastes

The story has limited reveals on how she handled being Marcia Marcia Marcia. The focus in the audio is her Bunch years, her romances (including her husband), Her addiction to cocaine and her family problems. These are told is heartaching details

In audio productions, you need to keep it simple and direct. This is a fact that this follows. However, when we have to showcase a TVLAND legend, she seems more of a downer to the happiness of the series she was one.I only wish Barry Williams's Growing Up Brady: I Was a Teenage Greg, Special Collector's Editionwas on CD, to show case how Brady Memories should be told

Bennet Pomerantz AUDIOWORLD

Here's the Story: Surviving Marcia Brady and Finding My True Voice

Customer Rating:
Worth while reading. It's nice to know that pretty girls deal with issues too.

Entertaining, but Lacking Showbiz Depth (3.5 Stars)

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If you're like me, you'll be reading this book because you were a fan of The Brady Bunch. If you're like me, you also read Barry Williams' book, "Growing Up Brady." If you're like me, you'll be disappointed in Maureen McCormick's book because she doesn't go into depth about ANYTHING show business related. She skims the surface about her days as a Brady, but does go into depth about her tough family situations, drug usage, and personal life. Ms. McCormick is extrememly forthcoming about her cocaine habit, and the trouble her addictions led her to get into.

I read this in a day, but was left wanting more. I felt unsatisfied even though I enjoyed the book.

And that's the way she became part of the Brady Bunch...

Customer Rating:
An interesting read that any fan of the Brady Bunch should most certainly check out. I got this book because I too, like so many others became a fan of this show due to all the repeats shown on cable networks throughout the years as well as local syndication. I don't know what it is about this silly show from the 70's but the characters and even the actors portraying them have always been of interest to me.

So of course when I found out that our very own Maureen "Marcia, Marcia, Marcia!" McCormick was going to do an autobiography and give the scoop on what went on behind the scenes and in her life I had to check it out.

For the most part it was a fun read. Surprisingly, its not just a book about what happened on the set of the Brady Bunch or the usual stories we all know to death by now of how much Robert Reed hated to be on the show and how he was in the closet the whole time, (but there is a lot of that too truth be told) its more of a story of , well a story of Maureen the person. Not just her portraying Marcia, but how she is and always has been a real person behind the character.

Its very revealing. You almost feel like Maureen is letting out everything she has been holding in for some 50 years, freely and openly. Just putting it out there in chronological order of her life. And some of it is interesting actually but a lot of it is typical of a lot of child star actors who are big on the show they were on but never quite make it out of the shadow of said show.

She battles drugs, relationship problems, family problems, trying to build a career in Marcia's shadow and her trying to find herself again after all seems lost. Its interesting to learn about the actress who played one of the most well known TV teenage girls of all time. And see that yes, she is very human and not at all what we would expect Marcia if she were real to be like.

The real drawbacks with this book are that:
Firstly its way too short. 50 years of your life is a long time, especially when you are on a hit show and all that followed after. The book is only 274 pages and is a quick read. I really was hoping for more as there is so much to know and find out about that you know could have been in there.

Secondly not enough on her Brady Bunch experiences are mentioned. I really did enjoy learning of her life and her trials and tribulations and even some of the more shocking aspects of things going on in her family, but at the same time she is known as being Marcia on the Brady Bunch. What was her favorite episode? What did she think of every co actor she worked with? What did she think of the Brady Bunch Movie? What about the actress who played her in the Brady's? She skips over her experience on Brady Brides due to personal problems she was having. But honestly I would have loved to hear what it was like being in her state while doing the episodes of Brady Brides. The focus just became more of her co Star trying to save her which is nice and all but not what I personally was interested in as much. She could have even talked of what her relationship with Eve Plumb and the other actors on the spin off show were like. Again we are reading the book to find out more of her Brady Bunch connections and it just seemed quickly skimmed over. Even the Brady Christmas gets just a quick mention before its back to more about unrelated situations. This book could have been double the size easily if she just devoted more to her experience with the show as well as what we have now. It would have been a really great read then.

Lastly the complaint I have is that Maureen cries, a lot. And I feel her pain but its something you should be ready for if reading this book. A lot of emotional stress and some may feel for her or others may not. But I became not too surprised after awhile when every chapter had a crying moment that she had suddenly.

The book is still very good. I can't say its better than other Brady related books, as they told the fun things I wanted to know about. Learning about the actor is good, but lets face it, you wouldn't have a book at all if it weren't for the show you are trying to escape from. Lets hear more about the stuff going on the TV set and fights and fun moments and more about spin off series you did. It is a very fine little book but you almost wish she spent just another few months getting more details into it and devoting more to the behind the scenes aspects.

Finding religion, love and getting rid of a drug habit are nice reads and honestly not too shocking given that a lot of actors go through the same situations but if you are going to do a book like this make sure a lot more of it is devoted to the show experiences itself as I really felt it lacked in that department.

Its a good start and I'm sure it was really a weight off of Mrs. McCormick's shoulders to tell all, but a lot of fans of the show who were looking for more may be a little bit disappointed.

. . . . It's an Era's Story

Customer Rating:
As many have mentioned, "Here's the Story" is a very enjoyable book--I read it in a day. The book is intriguing, honest, and it carries the reader through that "growing up" world of the 1960s and 70s. Even though Maureen was a celebrity and the story reflects that overwhelming apsect of her life and the shadow it palls, it also reflects the era's highs of freedom/self-exploration and the lows of drug experimentation/abuse. Many of our generational travelers journeyed down these roads, and Maureen shows that she is one of the surviviors.

"Here's the Story" is the kind of book you won't want to put down. McCormick is honest and frank, and as others have mentioned, she tells of her childhood but doesn't linger there. She moves us through the ups and downs in her life, with the larger focus in her "after-Brady" years. It is the nature of autobiography to reflect one person's realm of experience, and so the book focuses more in certain places than the reader may wish it to and not enough in others. But it offers a lot more, too. It also takes the reader into places one does not expect to travel, such as the mother-daughter dynamic and in even a larger sense, the family dynamics after a death in the family upends a precarious balance (that was probably always there) and the abuse that families may occasion there (I feel for the author in her travails with her father/brother problem).

I applaud McCormick's candor and know one thing for certain: she is certainly one smart lady. "Here's the Story" is well-written and a pleasure to read.