The Heidi Chronicles: Uncommon Women and Others & Isn't It Romantic [Paperback]

Wendy Wasserstein (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 2, 1991

The graduating seniors of a Seven Sisters college, trying to decide whether to pattern themselves after Katharine Hepburn or Emily Dickinson. Two young women besieged by the demands of mothers, lovers, and careers—not to mention a highly persistent telephone answering machine—as they struggle to have it all. A brilliant feminist art historian trying to keep her bearings and her sense of humor on the elevator ride from the radical sixties to the heartless eighties.

Wendy Wasserstein's characters are so funny, so many-sided, and so real that we seem to know them from their Scene One entrances, though the places they go are invariably surprising. And these three plays—Uncommon Women and Others, Isn't It Romantic, and the Pulitzer Prize-winning The Heidi Chronicles—manage to engage us heart, mind, and soul on such a deep and lasting level that they are already recognized as classics of the modern theater.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Wasserstein has made the cultural territory of the American experience since the 1960s her own. She is its most articulate theatrical chronicler. This collection of her recent work, Uncommon Women and Others, Isn't It Romantic, and the Pulitzer Prize-winning The Heidi Chronicles, traces that experience through three decades of changing styles, mores, life objectives, and intellectual challenges. She examines her characters and their times with great good humor, complexity, depth of feeling, and a firm refusal to accept trite and easy images. She writes the truth about people and their lives without blinking. She teaches us all what it was like to live through a period of great turmoil and confusion. Recommended.
- Thomas E. Luddy, Salem State Coll., Mass.
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Review

"The Heidi Chronicles is a play of our time, for our time, and one that, in many ways, defines it."
—United Press International

"Mirthful and touching." —The New York Times

"Wonderful and important...gloriously well-written." —Newsday

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 272 pages
• Publisher: Vintage (July 2, 1991)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0679734996
• ISBN-13: 978-0679734994
• Product Dimensions: 5.1 x 0.6 x 8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #320,327 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

28 of 29 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Stories we all know, told by a master, February 14, 2005

By 

Sarah E. Zucker "thesarahshow" (Evanston, IL) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Heidi Chronicles: Uncommon Women and Others & Isn't It Romantic (Paperback)

Wendy Wasserstein is truly a master of contemporary theater. This collection, anchored of course by "The Heidi Chronicles," attests to this fact. Although I agree with the other reviewers that plays are meant to be seen, Wasserstein is literary enough to be enjoyed just if you sit down and read it. She is brilliant without being verbose, intellectual without being cumbersome, and witty while retaining a level of respectability. Truly a treasure of American culture.

I will most address "The Heidi Chronicles." Hands down, it is my favorite play ever. Of course, you don't know me from Adam, so I will extrapolate. The character of Heidi Holland is so likable, and so compelling simply because she is so unremarkable. She is an Everywoman, which seems unappealing unless you understand how rare it is for playwrights to create an Everywoman. Playwrights typically write for men, women are usually afterthoughts in plays. I know this from experience as an actress (kindly don't hold my profession against me, we can't help our attention whoring and really we are quite intelligent as a group). In Heidi Holland, we all can find a personal truth, something that has not existed in female characters in theater. Up until very recently, they have been complete charicatures or waifish ingenues. Wendy Wasserstein revolutionized the theater, and her Pulitzer is well deserved.

Of course, one can go on and on about signifigance, but that does not necessarily make the play enjoyable. I assure you, this one most definitely is. Wasserstein has a sharp wit a la Oscar Wilde, only more natural and less affected. The characters in this play are people that I promise you, you know. Another brilliant thing which is really lost in reading it but you can pick up on if you read the stage directions is the multiple casting. It's this beautiful idea where the extraneous characters are played by the same two actresses, giving this sense that throughout your entire life, you keep seeing the same people. So very very true.

I recommend this play to theater lovers, book lovers, women, men, people, animals, anyone with the ability to understand language. You will enjoy it. Another author who you might enjoy is Binnie Kirshenbaum. She is a novelist, not a playwright, but her work seems somewhat similar to Wasserstein's. Her latest novel "An Almost Pefect Moment" is absolutely fantastic, totally compelling. Both authors deserve your time and attention. Trust me, you won't be disappointed.

9 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Plays are for performance, December 21, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: The Heidi Chronicles: Uncommon Women and Others & Isn't It Romantic (Paperback)

The Heidi Chronicles is a fabulous play that so many "open the door for yourself" women can relate to. However, this as well as all of Wasserstein's plays miss the point if they are only read. The true nuances in the text lend themsleves to being performed. Without seeing the play performed, you still do not have a true grasp of the story.

9 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Exceptional Growth Process of the Author, October 8, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: The Heidi Chronicles: Uncommon Women and Others & Isn't It Romantic (Paperback)

Having read this book, I can certainly understand why Wendy Wasserstein has made an established name for herself. The three plays are a testament to Ms Wasserstein's talent, with each play exhibiting more insight and depth. Would love to see these plays performed.