This book of three short plays from the 1970s and 1980s is a delightful flashback for me. I will go to my 50th high school class reunion this year. It will be interesting to see how many of us managed to have it all. A random speech from the first play, Uncommon Women and Others: HOLLY: What kind of pleasure? There’s someone on top of you sweating and pushing and you’re lying there pretending this is wonderful. That’s not wonderful. That’s masochistic. Well, this is a feminist play from the 70s!...

The best part of a good collection is watching a writer's voice develop over time. Reading Uncommon Women, I thought, "This is nice, I guess: kind of like a Seinfeld episode: mildly amusing, with very random characters who talk like people really talk, and nothing actually happens." By Isn't It Romantic, I was thinking, "Well, she's good at capturing a particular historical moment and showing how women think and feel, but she's not actually making me feel anything. She's good, but she's no Jane

What an interesting snapshot of a writer's constantly-adapting mind.I struggled mightily with "uncommon women"; I enjoyed "isnt it romantic" a lot, enough to keep reading; and "the Heidi Chronicles" was one of the best, wittiest, smartest plays I've read.W.W. had something to say, an honest to God point of view,and seeing her grapple with and hone that perspective over the course of these 3 plays was as interesting a reading experience as I've had of late...

What an awesome take on the long-view of women's lives!

The first time I read The Heidi Chronicles, I thought it read flat and couldn't see it at all. But it's one of those play where the more you become acquainted with, the more you like it. It feels like a real theatre students play. It is definitely the strongest of the bunch, but I much prefer 'Isn't it Romantic?', because I like the characters more. Heidi is such a tough nut. They all have the same themes running through them, but man, she can write dialogue like a boss. She's a less wordy waspy...

A play I read for my survey of theatre class, The Heidi Chronicles wasn't my favorite. I felt that it lacked any plot or much depth in character development. It tried to tell a moving story of how a woman grows up through the 60s-80s trying to find a voice for herself, but I struggled to connect with the character at all. It jumped around a lot and was pretty confusing. It won a Pulitzer Prize, but I am not sure why. Probably because it explored new issues and was controversial. And the movie is...

"I hope our daughters never feel like us. I hope all our daughters feel so fucking worthwhile" (182)."No more master penises!" (185)."'I'm just not happy. I'm afraid I haven't been happy for some time.' I don't blame the ladies in the locker room for how I feel. I don't blame any of us. We're all concerned, intelligent, good women. It's just that I feel stranded. And I thought the whole point was that we wouldn't feel stranded. I thought the point was that we were all in this together" (232).I r...

I've had these plays on my shelf for a long time now but I never picked them up. I do think that it was for the best, since the place where I am in my life more closely resembles those of the characters in these plays. I do think that how I felt about these plays was strongly influenced by the place I am in my life. Uncommon Women and Others - four stars Isn't It Romantic - five stars The Heidi Chronicles - three stars Overall, I really love Wasserstein's snappy writing style and witty dialogue

These were interesting as snapshots of the 70s and 80s but I did not enjoy the first two (Uncommon Women, Isn't It Romantic) and the third (The Heidi Chronicles) I only somewhat liked. The recent past can seem as alien as centuries ago, which really makes me consider how alien centuries ago really would be if I could only see it clearly.As with all drama, any or all of these might be 100x better seen upon a stage than read in a book, although it is hard to imagine the first two having resonance

This collection of three plays is not only entertaining but beautifully capture a segment of the Baby Boomer population – namely, the idealistic, professional women who embraced feminism and tried to make sense of what having it all means. All three plays are excellent, and I say this as someone who is generally lukewarm about the Baby Boomers and their tendency towards narcissistic naval-gazing. Ms. Wasserstein walks a fine line in exploring the issues that concerned her and her compatriots whi...

Some may find this dated, but I think it hoped up really well. I read The Heidi Chronicles when it was first produced and recently listened to the original cast read it again. It made me get down my copy and read it all over. Makes me yearn to see women equally valued in the world and not forced into predefined roles. Which of course would make it easier for men to be valued for who they are and not the roles they are forced into playing. There is not as much room between Scoop stuck in his succ...

Did a live reading of Uncommon Women and then read through the other two plays on my own. I performed a monologue from The Heidi Chronicles when I was in high school, but for the life of me I cannot recall which it was. In any case, the trio is enjoyable to read through -- with plenty of witty and welcome commentary on women in western society. I do wish I could see these in theatre though, especially Heidi Chronicles since I am curious to know if someone would (and if so how) update the technol...

I felt a lot of the emotions that Heidi did as I was reading this play. But the final image made it worth it.

Moments shared made my heart ache. Beautiful.

While it has been a while since I read this, I remember loving her powerful voice.

Audiobook. An interesting, easy listen from a baby boomer.

Easily my favorite Wasserstein play by a mile. Heidi is a beautifully realized, nuanced character. There are some serious issues with white feminism and a lack of intersectionality that is unfortunately usual of the time (late 80s), and many of the secondary characters are one-dimensional, but the latter is likely intentional (heightens our attachment to and empathy for Heidi), and despite the former, the play nevertheless makes bold claims about female autonomy and the complexity of life-alteri...

Uncommon Women & Others - 2 stars - may have been great with the original cast that included Swoosie Kurtz, Glenn Close.Isn't It Romantic - 3 - The Heidi Chronicles - 3.5 stars - had some funny moments

[Disclosure: My positive reviews of these plays is helped by the fact that I found a SIGNED copy of this book at the library book sale for fifty cents. 𝕊𝕔𝕠𝕣𝕖!]One of the things I like about these plays is that they are firmly realistic. They deal with real issues and choices of women from a particular moment in history. Wasserstein’s ear for dialogue is outstanding, even when slang changes with the times. Uncommon Women gets brownie points from me because I attended the eventually coeducated col...

When I requested this from the library I thought I was getting the play “The Heidi Chronicles” and I was, but I was also getting “Uncommon Women and Others” and “Isn’t It Romantic.” What a delightful combination! The first is a play from 1977 that I knew well then; I did Holly’s monologue in college. “Isn’t It Romantic” I knew only from Wasserstein’s biography. “The Heidi Chronicles” I’d heard of – I don’t quite live under a rock— it won the Pulitzer Prize and Tony, but I haven’t seen a producti...

Uncommon Women and Others was really good. It was refreshing to read a play with female characters written by a woman. That's the reason the monologues from this play are used so much in auditions. What's also really cool is the familiar names in the original cast. Picturing Glenn Close or Meryl Streep saying the lines makes the reading more vivid.Isn't It Romantic didn't sit as well with me, but that was probably more my fault because I read the play in pieces over the course of a week. The con...

I had only been exposed to one of Wasserstein's plays, when I played the role of douche bag Paul Stuart in 'Isn't It Romantic' while still in high school. The subject matter was over our heads then and the play- even with having two very strong female leads- wasn't what it could have been. Still, it provided for an introduction to her work. Now, approaching 30, I picked up her plays, which include the aforementioned, and I most definitely understand the themes and complex, nuance struggles of th...

I knew these plays would orient around feminism and the sort, but I didn't think they would be so exhaustive. All three plays shared the same theme and characterizations of people, i.e. of women -- beautiful, intellectual, independent, yet confused. The only play I somewhat enjoyed was Isn't it Romantic because the characters and dialogue were believable and the idea of compromise was relatable to a certain extent.Harriet [daughter]: Well, I've made up my mind. I'm going to try to do it: have it...

I love these three plays. I wrote on the Heidi Chronicles in my Masters thesis. The topic of "wanting it all", career, kids and a society approved relationship is elaborated in a very refreshing way. At the same time it made me think of how the play still strikes today's Zeitgeist, given all the TV-shows and shiny magazines that want to tell us how to design our life styles: get pretty for work in the morning, while preparing a healthy lunch in a chic lunch tote, gym after work if not having a d...

I didn't have great expectations for this collection of plays. I've always thought Wendy Wasserstein was overrated and I've really disliked some of her other works (I hated "The Sisters Rosensweig...") What a pleasant surprise. I thought all three of these plays were beautifully constructed and interesting. Some cliches here and there and wow, these pieces are so so dated. But I think that that becomes almost charming, a la Thornton Wilder or William Inge. They are time capsules of a completely

All I have to say, is that I really want to direct this play...THE HEIDI CHRONICLES, and that's saying a lot because I shy away from realism like the plague, but...I love this play. I love it on so many levels. I love the characters...the men, the women...I love the structure...I love its epic scope...and I love Wendy Wasserstein for writing this.5/7/19I re-read this play with my students at SUNY Sullivan, as a part of our annual reading series to decide the next school year season. Our theme is...

These plays are all about a subject dear to my heart: women struggling to figure out what they want and how to 'have it all'. The dialogue reminds me of how much has changed (one WASP character wouldn't hypothetically marry a Jewish character because 'there would be problems at the club') and how much is still the same (tea at women's colleges, limiting and contradictory expectations placed on women, etc). The plays must have seemed provocative and controversial at the time but now they are a bi...

I picked this up for my Modern Drama class in college. I had to choose a playwright we were not studying in class to read and write a paper about. My dad suggested Wendy Wasserstein for he thought she was up my alley. Oh, how I loved this play. I read all of her plays in print for my assignment, but the Heidi Chronicles is so true, so heartbreaking, and touched me in a way few authors are able. It stands the test of time and does not date itself. I have given this to many friends during some tou...

Definitely one from the ever growing canon of white, educated urban women examining their lives and making some vanguard choices. It's from 1988 but could have been written last week. I'm actually comforted by the fact that a life like Heidi's--educated, accomplished and independent, yet still ambivalent and longing-- is so cliche to me by now, the stuff of long-running television series and best-selling books. And though it's tempting to dismiss cliches, I need to remember these were not the po...

I was introduced to the oeuvre of Ms. Wasserstein through the PBS broadcast (in 1979?) of Uncommon Women and Others. I was later in an acting class where texts from The Heidi Chronicles and Isn't It Romantic were used for showcases. And then i dated a woman for whom the themes of WW's work resonated most strongly. She was the female voice of my generation; the only other woman who came close is Tina Howe. Highly recommended.