Wendy and the Lost Boys: The Uncommon Life of Wendy Wasserstein

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Wendy and the Lost Boys: The Uncommon Life of Wendy Wasserstein

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The authorized biography of Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Wendy Wasserstein.

In Wendy and the Lost Boys bestselling author Julie Salamon explores the life of playwright Wendy Wasserstein's most expertly crafted character: herself. The first woman playwright to win a Tony Award, Wendy Wasserstein was a Broadway titan. But with her high- pitched giggle and unkempt curls...more The authorized biography of Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Wendy Wasserstein.

In Wendy and the Lost Boys bestselling author Julie Salamon explores the life of playwright Wendy Wasserstein's most expertly crafted character: herself. The first woman playwright to win a Tony Award, Wendy Wasserstein was a Broadway titan. But with her high- pitched giggle and unkempt curls, she projected an image of warmth and familiarity. Everyone knew Wendy Wasserstein. Or thought they did.

Born on October 18, 1950, in Brooklyn, New York, to Polish Jewish immigrant parents, Wendy was the youngest of Lola and Morris Wasserstein's five children. Lola had big dreams for her children. They didn't disappoint: Sandra, Wendy's glamorous sister, became a high- ranking corporate executive at a time when Fortune 500 companies were an impenetrable boys club. Their brother Bruce became a billionaire superstar of the investment banking world. Yet behind the family's remarkable success was a fiercely guarded world of private tragedies.

Wendy perfected the family art of secrecy while cultivating a densely populated inner circle. Her friends included theater elite such as playwright Christopher Durang, Lincoln Center Artistic Director André Bishop, former New York Times theater critic Frank Rich, and countless others.

And still almost no one knew that Wendy was pregnant when, at age forty-eight, she was rushed to Mount Sinai Hospital to deliver Lucy Jane three months premature. The paternity of her daughter remains a mystery. At the time of Wendy's tragically early death less than six years later, very few were aware that she was gravely ill. The cherished confidante to so many, Wendy privately endured her greatest heartbreaks alone.

In Wendy and the Lost Boys, Salamon assembles the fractured pieces, revealing Wendy in full. Though she lived an uncommon life, she spoke to a generation of women during an era of vast change. Revisiting Wendy's works-The Heidi Chronicles and others-we see Wendy in the free space of the theater, where her many selves all found voice. Here Wendy spoke in the most intimate of terms about everything that matters most: family and love, dreams and devastation. And that is the Wendy of Neverland, the Wendy who will never grow old.

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Hardcover, 461 pages

Published August 18th 2011 by Penguin Press HC, The

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Jan 14, 2012 Mandy rated it 4 of 5 stars

An incredibly fun read not only about Wendy Wasserstein but her generation of playwrights. It reads more like an extensive magazine profile than a traditional biography, punctuated with incisive quotations and observations from her family and friends not only about Wendy and her work. While largely reflecting upon the '60s and the '80s, her potent themes examining "uncommon women" (familiarly set in the context of the seven sisters colleges), family, and aging still feel incredibly fresh and con...more

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Jan 12, 2012 False Millennium rated it 4 of 5 stars

I started by skimming this book, and then I half decided I wouldn't bother reading the whole thing. Then I started it this morning and couldn't put it down. How lucky for Miss Wendy to grow up in the lap of privilege which sure doesn't hurt when you want to pursue a career in the arts. That and having a brother who is rich as Croesus. The children were sickly, for the most part: an elder sister died of brain cancer, an even older brother had been spirited off as a child with alleged retardation....more I started by skimming this book, and then I half decided I wouldn't bother reading the whole thing. Then I started it this morning and couldn't put it down. How lucky for Miss Wendy to grow up in the lap of privilege which sure doesn't hurt when you want to pursue a career in the arts. That and having a brother who is rich as Croesus. The children were sickly, for the most part: an elder sister died of brain cancer, an even older brother had been spirited off as a child with alleged retardation. Wendy died of varied forms of leukemia, and her brother died of a heart attack. To my knowledge that leaves one sister left.

I identified so much with the decades of growing and development. The confused role for women in college in the sixties. I watched an interview on You Tube with one of her Mount Holyoke classmates, and she was recalling (and this is so true,) of how hard it was to graduate then with all of the upheaval on campus and in life. She didn't spell it out, but she didn't have to--for me. Riots, constant cultural change, having to evacuate classrooms due to bomb scares (that happened more than you would believe.) Then you were dumped into that world and to do what?

The author, Julie Salamon, wrote some beautifully constructed sentences that could have been out of Edith Wharton's New York. Describing a summer weekend on Nantucket with (the Washington Post) Graham's, and the snafus over dinner plans, Salamon writes, "She kept changing the date for her Nantucket visit. This was of consequence in a milieu where social arrangements were handled with the kind of nervous attention usually reserved for matters involving delicate international diplomacy. Chance was not a welcome guest at the table." You could have ripped that passage out of "The Age of Innocence."

...and her final words on Wendy's life and legacy, "Until the end, Wendy Wasserstein took comfort in being part of a larger entity, the self-defined generation that had created a unified consciousness from a mass-marketed set of cultural references. Among Wendy's last works was an essay called "Baby Boomers," published in "The World Almanac and Book of Facts 2004," in which she addressed the hubris of the Peter Pan generation.

"The thing about being a baby boomer is, somewhere we still believe that no one is going to do it better than we did," she wrote. "No one will be better than the Beatles, no one will be more glamorous than Jack Kennedy, no time will be as turbulent as the late '60's, no parents will be a s difficult as ours were, and no psyches will be as interesting as ours."

She continued to aim for immortality, even as she mocked her own desire. "Because boomers came of age in a world fascinated by them, and partially created for them, we are often not the most cooperative when it comes to aging," she wrote. "We are, in fact, at the forefront of not just aging gracefully at all. Against all odds, we will hold back the hands of time."

As Wendy wrote those words, she must have sensed that the clock was ticking, she was already desperately ill. She never grew old, but she lived long enough to watch her generation begin to fossilize, guarding it's accumulated memories and possessions, asserting it historical preeminence as fiercely as every generation that had come before. Even as a child, it seems, she had understood that all relationships, ambitions, politics, hopes, worries, pains, ruminations, and dramatizations could command passionate attention one day and then vanish the next. Every bright, shining beacon would be extinguished and replaced, the same as tyrants and fools. But she was a gentle social critic, clarifying the pretensions of her peers and expressing frustration at their hypocrisies and self-deceptions while showing tender appreciation for their frailities and conveying genuine empathy for the desire and uncertainty that made them human. That was her gift to the world she tried to make her own."(less)

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Dec 31, 2011 Karen Bergreen rated it 5 of 5 stars

I was a huge fan of Wendy Wasserstein. I saw the Heidi Chronicles on Broadway with my four best high school chums shortly after we graduated from college. I also saw the Sisters Rosenzweig some time later. I studied her plays for acting class. I met her briefly a couple of times, and yes, she did look homeless. I also had the occasion to meet Bruce several times. And boy, was Salomon's take on him pitch perfect.

I say all of this as a sort of disclaimer (and I am a huge name dropper!!) because I...more

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Nov 30, 2011 Sue Seligman rated it 3 of 5 stars Recommends it for: fans of the theatre

I got this biography at the library because I had always heard bits and pieces about the life of this extraordinary playwright and I knew she died at a relatively young age, after having a baby "late" in life, at age 48. My first exposure to her plays was seeing a production of "Uncommon Women and Others" on PBS during the 1970s. This play depicted the struggles of several female graduates from an all women's school during the tumultous period of women's rights and the weakening gender stereotyp...more

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Nov 04, 2011 Nicole rated it 5 of 5 stars

I am madly in love with Wendy Wasserstein in that oh-em-gee-your-plays-rock-my-world kind of way, so reading Wendy and the Lost Boys by Julie Salamon was a no-brainer. I should give you a bit of background first...

About six months ago I realized that I was seeing a lot of shows but not reading many plays, so I took it upon myself to start reading one play a week to pick up on a large chunk of work that I was unfamiliar with. To simplify my process, I choose one playwright at a time and read thei...more I am madly in love with Wendy Wasserstein in that oh-em-gee-your-plays-rock-my-world kind of way, so reading Wendy and the Lost Boys by Julie Salamon was a no-brainer. I should give you a bit of background first...

About six months ago I realized that I was seeing a lot of shows but not reading many plays, so I took it upon myself to start reading one play a week to pick up on a large chunk of work that I was unfamiliar with. To simplify my process, I choose one playwright at a time and read their whole cannon before proceeding, and I am working on alternating males and females while mixing up race as well. I started with August Wilson's Century Cycle, then moved on to Wendy Wasserstein since the theatre I work for had a long-standing relationship with her, and my boss knew her well. I thought it was appropriate. (I know you don't care, but I am on Harold Pinter right now. What this means is, you would have an additional book review each week if I were reviewing the plays--but I digress.)

I fell in love with Wendy and her characters. I relate to her work and I am moved by seeing her in all of her characters--the search for oneself and the longing for the unattainably perfect life we were told we could have, or, even worse, the life our parents want us to have without regard for what we want. Wendy and I might be separated by a few decades in age, but I relate to her work so deeply. Reading Wendy and the Lost Boys was an incredibly enjoyable experience.

On top of getting down and dirty with Wendy's family (what a clan!), this book also added another chapter to the "History of Off-Broadway" cannon. You can't have a history of Off-Broadway without a history of it's people, and this book is no exception. It joins Free For All: Joe Papp, The Public, and The Greatest Theater Story Ever Told by Kenneth Turan and Joseph Papp as one of my favorite theatre history books.

I have no doubt that there are some inaccuracies as people claim--Wendy passed away over 5 years ago and was an incredibly private person anyhow when alive--but I appreciate the story as a whole and love the tribute that this book is to her and to her work, the work that I admire so deeply.

http://sassypeachreads.blogspot.com (less)

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Sep 08, 2012 Eve rated it 3 of 5 stars

So many echoes of my own life growing up in NYC, although I'm 10 years younger than Wasserstein. She attended the Ethical Culture School in Brooklyn (Who knew there was one in Brooklyn?)and I went to the one in Manhattan. She mentions an early Al Pacino role (The Indian Wants the Bronx) that my mother always raved about and another role (the Basic Training of Pavlo Hummel) that I remember seeing him in. She encounters and gets to know many of the people who shaped the cultural world of NYC that...more

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Jul 18, 2012 Eileen rated it 5 of 5 stars

I thought this was an excellent biography. Julie Salamon depicts Wendy Wasserstein, Wendy's family, her life experiences, the times in which she lived, and her family's intense, fascinating background in careful, thoughtful and intricate detail. Salamon is especially good at showing how, in her opinion, Wendy's relationships with her family, the family's history, and Wendy's upbringing helped to form part of who Wendy was and the decisions she made.

I have seen Uncommon Women and Others, but hav...more

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Apr 01, 2013 Lisa Schmeiser rated it 4 of 5 stars

Bearing in mind that I am no theatre person ...

... I loved this book. It's a breezy, evocative biography of native New Yorker/playwright Wendy Wasserstein (NYC in the 1990s is drawn in vivid, accurate detail), someone who was a big deal and, sadly, is not around to continue to be a big deal in the American theater.

After reading the biography, I went back and read some of her writing for the New Yorker. What was striking to me was how ordinary it seems now; the same commentary she has on the indi...more

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Sep 13, 2011 Susan rated it 3 of 5 stars Recommends it for: theatre people

Shelves: theatre, memoir-biography-autobiography

This book was given me by a friend, who called it "a page-turner." The friend and I both worked on the Playwrights Horizons production of "Isn't It Romantic," and also with many of the theatre people who populate the book, so for us, it definitely was. Contrasting the private Wasserstein with the public Wasserstein, the book reveals an ambitious, talented, driven, social woman who defied uppercrust conventions in her appearance, but was buffeted about privately by traditional societal expectatio...more

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Oct 03, 2011 Robin rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2011-list, non-fiction

One of the bad things about being a librarian is that I read reviews about so many potentially interesting books to read and then put them on hold so the bad part is when they all come in at the same time which is what happened to me recently. I got this one as well as the Roger Ebert memoir and Jane Lynch's book. So I read Jane's first and loved it then moved onto this one and didn't put it down until I finished reading it (not only because it is fascinating but because I knew there would be no...more

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Oct 17, 2011 Beth rated it 3 of 5 stars

I never got to any of her plays, and hadn't really been aware of this complex playwright. My husband of course who participates in a play reading group at the Stratford Librarty knew about her. The book does a great job of unfolding the story of this woman who was insecure and private and a personality that broke ground in the areas where women had not been encouraged to do so. It is easy if one is chubby like her to understand the feelings of never being part of the "top crowd", and always need...more

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Apr 13, 2012 Patrice rated it 4 of 5 stars

This is a really interesting bio of Wasserstein. I related a lot as we were born at the same time and in the same place (Brooklyn). She went to hebrew school where my husband and I were married.
As she lived in the same time and place as I did it brought back so many memories. But then we went in very different directions.

She had a difficult life, it seems, and it ended much too soon. She lived a life of self-interest.
I'm not saying she was a "bad" person, but I think she was an unhappy person. S...more

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May 04, 2012 Julia rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: biography, non-fiction, best-book-i-read-in-2012

I’m reading and rereading a lot of Wendy Wasserstein’s plays lately. I loved "Uncommon Women," when I saw it in the late 70's. I really enjoyed this biography of her so much that I stayed up until 4:45 reading it. A biography of a playwright and it’s unputdownable, that’s just weird. And pretty wonderful. According to Salamon, “Uncommon Women” was actual conversations she had with her classmates at Mount Holyoke. “The Sisters Rosensweig” was about her and her sisters. Her family and friends were...more

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Nov 04, 2011 Paula rated it 4 of 5 stars

I thoroughly enjoyed reading about the life of playwright Wendy Wasserstein who died in 2006 at the age of 55. I knew Wasserstein through her plays -- which were all about personal identity and relationships, and so well reflected the Boomer generation -- and her New Yorker articles. This narrative chronicles her life -- from her childhood in a family of Jewish immigrant parents to her undergraduate years at Mt. Holyoke and her graduate studies at Yale Drama School, through struggles and success...more

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Oct 22, 2011 Lisa Vegan rated it 4 of 5 stars Recommends it for: anyone who’s interested in the woman or her work; those who enjoy well written biographies

Shelves: biography, non-fiction, reviewed, cancer

4 ½ stars, ½ star off because of the lack of humor within these pages

I’m completely wrung out after reading this book, and felt that way during my entire reading of it. More on that later.

But first: This is an excellent book. It’s well written and fascinating. It is exactly what a biography should be. It looks as though it would have been great fun to research and write, as the author interviewed so many family members, friends, acquaintances of her subject, as well as made use of written record...more 4 ½ stars, ½ star off because of the lack of humor within these pages

I’m completely wrung out after reading this book, and felt that way during my entire reading of it. More on that later.

But first: This is an excellent book. It’s well written and fascinating. It is exactly what a biography should be. It looks as though it would have been great fun to research and write, as the author interviewed so many family members, friends, acquaintances of her subject, as well as made use of written records, to get as full a picture as possible of the woman. Brilliant and tragic and captivating.

The only negative of the book (from an objective view; there were plenty for me subjectively) is that given how funny Wasserstein was, and that’s commented on a lot in these pages, this book isn’t funny, at least not to me. It didn’t make me laugh or smile in amusement. I would have liked some humor in the telling. For a book about a woman with a fabulous sense of humor, the lack of humor in the book was striking.

For me, I felt depressed and infuriated as I read and as I think about Wasserstein’s life. It wrung me out and was a emotionally difficult read for me.

Wasserstein was three years older than I, and I recognized the era, and I was familiar with some of Wasserstein’s work. This (wonderful) birthday gift book brought back many of my memories from over the years (it was hard for me not to think of exactly what I was doing and feeling as each time period was discussed.)

I actually took a short break from reading this book to read a children’s novel about the Holocaust to cheer me up; that’s how depressing this book felt for me.

Because of all the people Wasserstein knew, the whole book could seem like one long name dropping document, but this was her life and it’s a valid account of her life.

Upsetting to read about (for me) were these people who were ultra wealthy, family members who were close knit but in a dysfunctional way, successful and famous and spoiled and selfish people, yet somehow many times very endearing, but the most infuriating and sad aspect for me was what I consider to be the psychopathic secrecy and denial that Wendy grew up with and mightily perpetuated, and I was especially outraged for Lucy Jane. (I’m “allergic” to such lies given my own background, and it was unpleasant for me to read how the Wasserstein family and Wendy functioned.)

I’ve had this author’s book Hospital: Man Woman Birth Death Infinity, Plus Red Tape, Bad Behavior, Money, God, and Diversity on Steroids on my to-read list forever; I really want to get to it; she’s a fabulous writer and non-fiction storyteller.(less)

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Feb 22, 2012 Elisabeth Crisp rated it 4 of 5 stars

I liked this book because I'm a huge fan of Wendy Wasserstein. I remember where I was when I saw Heidi Chronicles. I was touched by the essays in Bachelor Girls--especially the pages about losing a friend to AIDS. Julie Salamon included letters and interviews from all the prominent writers and directors in her world. Understanding the collaboration and friendships she had with Christopher Durang, Terrance McNally, and others gave me a real sense of creative hearts of the time.

That said, I think...more

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Mar 23, 2013 Sarah rated it 2 of 5 stars

I'll start by saying that I have very little knowledge of popular theater and knew next to nothing about Wasserstein before starting this book. But I am interested in any writer's creative process and especially the collaborative effort of theater. This book is about the life of a busy, smart Jewish woman in Manhattan with a broad and complicated social life. This book is not about artistic effort, creative collaboration and exploration, surprisingly not about the impact of the AIDS epidemic to...more

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Nov 03, 2011 Kathy rated it 4 of 5 stars

This is a well-written biography of Wendy Wassterstein. I have been a fan of Wendy, the playwright, since I first saw "Uncommon Women and Others" on PBS years ago.

The author recognizes that Wendy was able to capture the thoughts and experiences, hopes and concerns of many college-educated women of her generation. The enormous response when friends and fans learned of her untimely death at the age of 55 was a demonstration of her importance to so many.

This book is truthful about the ups and downs...more

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Sep 30, 2011 David Colton added it

Engrossing read and encouraged me to read Wasserstein's plays and essays. My interest in theatre and actors and playwrites gave me somewhat of an insider's view on the decades of Wasserstein's life. She was my age so I felt a communal sense of shared life with her in spite of all of the obvious differences. Being gay, single, devoted father, teacher, counselor and former actor, dancer and theatre geek put the pages of this book in my emotional backyard and I was happily sometimes sadly nostalgic...more

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Aug 06, 2012 Ann rated it 4 of 5 stars

What an amazing play this would make, full of tragicomedy. Oh wait, it's been done, countless times by the playwright (why is playwright spelled this way?) herself. The author did a phenomenal job of chronicling Wendy's life, and if I had such a hard time keeping all the friends and 'husbands 's straight, it wasn't the author's fault. The fault lies with Wendy for creating so many different circles. Can only imagine that her Facebook friends would number in the tens of thousands and I would hope...more

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Sep 17, 2011 Nette rated it 3 of 5 stars

I'm not sure why I read this, since I've never seen a single one of her plays, but sometimes it's fun to read a biography out of the blue. It was well written and interesting -- Wasserstein's life was short but eventful -- but it seems a little creepy and wrong to be reading private details about someone who was so incredibly private that she didn't tell anyone she was pregnant or, later, dying. It's labelled "an authorized biography" but "authorized by the family of the deceased" doesn't carry...more

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Nov 13, 2011 Amelia rated it 4 of 5 stars

This is an incredibly well researched and nuanced view of Wasserstein's life. The only drawback is that Wasserstein's later years are still fairly private (which is probably as it should be since her daughter is only 13) and seem barely touched upon when compared with the first 3/4 of the book. Nonetheless, I'd recommend this highly to any Wasserstein fan or even someone like me who has a passing interest in her work. The content of the interviews alone would warrant three stars for this book, b...more

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Sep 28, 2011 Wendy rated it 3 of 5 stars

A biography of Wendy Wasserstein and her comedic, tragic life. It was interesting to follow Wasserstein's life through her semi-autobiographical plays and books when she was alive, so I enjoyed learning even more about the story of her life now that she is gone. From the first page, it is obvious that the writer had the cooperation of the family and access to Wasserstein's papers as she weaves together what made the woman so special. There are points in the book where I found myself fascinated a...more

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Sep 25, 2011 Al rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2011-books

For me this book was a total page turner. I couldn't get enough of her childhood, college years and life as a playwright. Having been a big theatergoer in NYC during her prime, I was interested in all of it. I am not sure that a non-new york theater person would be as into it. Salamon's writing style is very readable. I remember liking The Devil's Candy: The Anatomy of a Hollywood Fiasco years ago when I read that.

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Jan 18, 2013 Michael rated it 4 of 5 stars

This is a great read about a truly remarkable life. If I could, however, I would have given it only 3 1/2 stars. It tells its story well, did a great job of gathering information together into a coherent yarn, but it's simply not profound. In the end, even if you don't understand Ms. Wasserstein profoundly, you admire her and agree that she had an uncommon life. I've never seen a Wasserstein play. I read her essay about giving birth to her daughter that was published in The New Yorker -- and now...more

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Aug 12, 2012 Joanne rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: biography

A good biography of Wendy Wasserstein, although I'm not sure that anyone really knew Wendy Wasserstein all that well, I still enjoyed learning more about her. It was clear from many of her plays that Wendy, even though smart, funny, and very witty, suffered from inferiority complexes about her looks and her achievements, especially when measured against those of her siblings and the high expectations of her mother. This book delves into those issues as well as her early difficulties in deciding...more

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Mar 12, 2012 Roberta rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: memoir

This book probably deserves a 3.5, if there was such a thing, but isn't quite a 4 for me. It's a very interesting account of the life of Wendy Wasserstein, the playwright who created the Heidi Chronicles. Wendy Wasserstein was not only a fascinating character in her own right, her family story and her life in New York are also compelling. I was jealous of the schools she went to, both as a child and as a young woman. I enjoyed reading about New York during the 60's on and all the people she enco...more

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Oct 27, 2012 Rachelle Urist rated it 5 of 5 stars

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. Note: after the first 3 paragraphs below (written immediately upon completing the book), find the review I wrote for the Washtenaw Jewish News.

I loved this book. I never much liked Wasserstein's plays, but I thought that she herself was an intriguing personality. Julie Salamon, whose writing I've long admired, is a consummate journalist and biographer: thorough, thoughtful, and sensitive and lyrical. Like Wendy Wasserstein, Salamon is Jewish, and her Jewishness subtly informs this biography. Wh...more

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Pearl Sorry for the delay on commenting on your review. I have also loved Wasserstein's plays and read this book when it first came out. I saw her first pla...more
Dec 21, 2011 06:29am

Rachelle Urist I appreciate your comments, as always. Thank you.

You write: "I have ALSO loved Wassertein's plays..." But I never liked Wasserstein's plays. It's Sala...more
Dec 21, 2011 09:29am

Jul 16, 2012 Carrie Sue rated it 3 of 5 stars

This was a compelling story, but the author's style was not as clear and clean as I'd have liked. Her editor should have pared the language down and perhaps done some reorganizing of the chapters. Nonetheless, it drew me in and more than anything conveyed these two messages: the ongoing and sometimes excruciating tension many women feel between vocation and childbearing/lasting romantic relationships. Although luck and chance plays a great deal in one's vocation, it is also true that one is much...more

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Dec 23, 2011 Meghan rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: biography, theater

Three and a half. Went back and forth on this. The first three quarters are very strong, likely due to the willingness of interviewees to reminisce in great detail about the early years. As the book progresses and things get thornier, details get foggier. The last few chapters in particular were a disappointment; not that I needed razor-sharp ghoulish detail but it did seem as though suddenly Salamon's sources were close-lipped about the way things were sorted after Wendy's death.

Also I was nev...more Three and a half. Went back and forth on this. The first three quarters are very strong, likely due to the willingness of interviewees to reminisce in great detail about the early years. As the book progresses and things get thornier, details get foggier. The last few chapters in particular were a disappointment; not that I needed razor-sharp ghoulish detail but it did seem as though suddenly Salamon's sources were close-lipped about the way things were sorted after Wendy's death.

Also I was never entirely satisfied with the way Salamon dealt with the gaps between real life and the way Wendy wrote about her life in her many, many personal essays. Sometimes Salamon would quote from them or borrow details from them, taking them as fact; sometimes she'd call out specific details as false. Although this book wasn't a critical assessment of Wendy's work, I do feel as though not having a way to talk about this gap created a soft spot in the narrative. Same goes for the way Salamon treated the correlations between Wendy's plays and her real life. She'd refer to "the Wendy character" without even a blink, or a justification. While I do think it'd be hard to argue that Wendy's plays heavily borrow from her life, it's a mistake to discuss them as though they're just embellished diary entries. Again, a more thorough discussion of how and why Wendy used her life like this would have been interesting. Salamon floats a theory here and there, but I guess I feel as though in order to discuss this and discuss it well, we need a codex, a standard.

But! I did mostly enjoy it. I liked reading excerpts from letters she wrote, those were very good. I was particularly excited to read about New York theater in the 1980s, a decade of theater history that I'm fairly soft on. And it was good to get some outside perspective on her. Reading her books and plays, you think you know! But of course you can't. And you don't.

Also once I finished I went right out and bought a bunch of plays to read. (less)

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