Book Review: Wendy and the Lost Boys by Judy Salamon

Title: Wendy and the Lost Boys: The Uncommon Life of Wendy Wasserstein
Author: Judy Salamon
Publisher: Penguin Press HC
Publication Date: August 18, 2011
Hardcover: 480 pages
ISBN: 978-1594202988
Genre: Biography

A snippet from the Publisher’s book description:

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.

My Review:

Wendy and the Lost Boys by Julie Salamon is a compelling biography of the great playwright Wendy Wasserstein, chronicling much of this fascinating woman’s life through access to the personal correspondence and notes of the late playwright.  Readers will be exposed to the less public persona of Wasserstein, seeing her amidst the sea of achievements garnered by her brothers and sisters and how she struggled for identity throughout much of her life.  It becomes abundantly clear from the careful research by Salamon and her telling of the story of Wasserstein’s life that this remarkable woman chose theatre as her podium from which to show the world who she was, how she was influenced, and the people who changed her in profound ways.  Readers will relish the successes in Wasserstein’s career, including The Heidi Chronicles and Uncommon Women and Others, beam with her in the love she shared with others, and cry with her through her darkest moments.  Salamon has captured the essence of Wendy Wasserstein and brings the playwright’s life to center stage in Wendy and the Lost Boys, a story only previously revealed through her dramatic tales played out by others and now told through a gifted author whose meticulous research has made the story possible.  I recommend this biography, Wendy and the Lost Boys, to all readers.

About the Author:

Julie Salamon is the author of Hospital, about Maimonides Hospital, as well as the New York Times bestselling The Christmas Tree; the true-crime book Facing the Wind; the novel White Lies; the film classic The Devil’s Candy; a family memoir The Net of Dreams; and Rambam’s Ladder. Previously a reporter and culture writer for the New York Times and The Wall Street Journal, she has also written for Vanity Fair, Vogue, and The New Republic. She lives in New York City.

To learn more about Judy Salamon and her books, please visit her website: juliesalamon.com.

For more reviews of the book, please follow the TLC Book Tour.

I received a copy of Wendy and the Lost Boys by Judy Salamon from TLC Book Tours to be a part of this tour and offer my honest review of the book. Receiving a complimentary copy in no way reflected my review of aforementioned book.

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