The 40th anniversary of The Brady Bunch turned back the clock to my own childhood when I watched the Friday night sitcom lineup beginning with The Brady Bunch, and caused me to decide to read up on how the Brady kids fared as adults. My first stop was to read Barry Williams' (Greg) "Growing Up Brady." Immediately afterwards, I picked up Maureen's bio and was surprised that she repeated everything in her book that Barry had already stated in his about their Brady years. It was as if she went paragraph by paragraph, subject by subject and just put each into her own words. Nothing new, except that she added Eve (Jan) would run around in the girls dressing room stark naked and farting. (I don't know, but maybe that's why Eve won't speak to Maureen these days.) Don't pick up this book because you want to read new revelations about The Brady years. After five years on the set, one would think that she would have some recollections of her own to talk about.

The book gets better when she talks about her years afterwards and how she became almost instantaneously addicted to cocaine. And, it gets best when she talks about the years after she became clean and what she went through with her family. This is where I could sympathize with her having gone through the ill health and death of my own mother. I put myself in her place, because I'd been there.

Although the book ends with Maureen stating that she finally loves herself and thus life would be better from this point on, I can't help but feel that this is really where her story starts. The issue with her paranoid brother Kevin influencing her elderly father, and her sweet intellectually challenged brother, Denny have not been concluded. I tried to look up her family issues, which she made very public in 2007 on the Dr. Phil show, but there is no new information on the outcome of events.

If you like bios as much as I do, because I find people in general fascinating, you will like Maureen's. Not because she was a Brady, but because she is a fallible human being who managed to go through her own personal hell and come out the other side.

This book was a complete waste of time! With the writing abilities of a 16-year old school newspaper reporter, it is evident that Maureen would have benefited from more time in the classroom. Many times she sounded just like she had been transported back to the 70's with her frequent use of the words "cool, neat, and turned on". Surely a 50+ year old grown woman has a more mature vocabulary than that! She flits from story to story, never developing or allowing us to get to know anyone and it made my head spin. I resent the time I spent reading this tripe and wish I could get those hours back. Avoid!

I am a long time fan of the Brady Bunch and was excited to hear that Maureen McCormick, like her co-star Barry Williams, had written a memoir of sorts. I had read a few reviews of her book which suggested that it was a bit on the immature side and not very well written but I said, "Hey, I loved the show, whatever, this should be great!" and went ahead and bought it. I was fairly disappointed. The first portion of the book is somewhat exciting and takes you through a few behind the scenes moments on the Brady Bunch which is very fun. However, by chapter four or so, the book takes a turn. Maureen's life is one of many difficult times and while I praise her for having the guts to display it for the public, I don't really want to read about it. Due to the not so great writing, the meat of the book reads like a giant shopping list of all the marital, drug, family, and spirituality struggles she encounters. The awful circumstances and choices she finds herself in can't be fleshed out due to the limits of her writing ability so it reads immature and shallow - which I'm sure Mrs. McCormick isn't at all. Also, the book borders on redundant as her same problems keep resurfacing, again with no writing ability to flesh out anything deeper then things like, (paraphrasing)"Then I was dpressed again. Then things were better for a month or two. Then I was depressed again". I realize this is a true story but how depressing and uninteresting to read. The last chapter I could barely make it through I was so down by that point! Why not write a book focusing on your new life? Not the past problems you're trying to forget. The book is downright depressing. I always feel like cathartic writings like this book are never interesting for the outsider reader. In that case, why not write this book and then keep it for herself? Or burn the transcript it as a ceremony? Seriously - like leaving her old life behind. Call me shallow, but I needed some uplifting Brady Bunch memories not discussions about STDS and a more than very whacked family life. Again, I respect her for coming out with personal issues, that takes a lot of guts, but who wants to read it? Not me. Give me Barry William's "Growing up Brady" ANY DAY! I own it and have read it more than 5 times. It's wonderful!

Before I read this book, I thought it would be just a bunch of gossip about the fellow cast members on the Brady Bunch. . . far from it. Maureen opens up about her personal struggles with her own family, her years of drug abuse and her fight to find herself. She is open, honest and doesn't hold back. I have a new admiration for her and feel that she partially wrote this book to help release the inner demons she fought for years. As a recovering addict and alcoholic, I applaude her for her honesty.

In the 70s, I thought Marcia Brady was the perfect girl-next-door; Maureen McCormick played her so naturally I assumed she was, too. This autobiography is quite an eye-opener, detailing not only her show business career but also her descent into drug use and countless affairs. She talks a lot about her troubled family and her debilitating, lifelong fears and secrets.

Although she describes shocking and frightening events, she writes with a detached, almost unemotional tone and I think the book would have benefited with the help of a professional writer. Still, it's quite interesting, especially for fans of The Brady Bunch. With many personal photos.