Bachelor Girls

by Wendy Wasserstein

In plays such as Isn't It Romantic , Uncommon Women and Others , and the Pulitzer Prize-winning The Heidi Chronicles , Wendy Wasserstein put her finger on the pulse of her past-modern, post-feminist sisters and delivered her diagnosis with shrewd good humor and an unerring sense of the absurd. That same engaging sensibility bubbles through the twenty-nine essays in Bachelor Girls , in which Wasserstein presents her observations

—  "The worse the boyfriend, the more stunning your American Express bill."

—Role   "In the forties emulating an ideal woman meant bobbing your hair like Betty Grable's. In the eighties, because of Jessica Lange, women have to get a Pulitzer Prize-winning actor-playwright to fall in love with them, have a child by one of the world's great dancers, be nominated for two Academy Awards, and enjoy doing the laundry alone on a farm."

— "I knew my friend Patti was a big-time Hollywood agent the first time I saw her dial a telephone with a pencil."

Ranging from the dietary secrets of lemon mousse to the politics of the second marriage, with stopovers at a bar mitzvah in Westchester, a chess tournament in Rumania, and a Tokyo production of Isn't It Romantic , Bachelor Girls is pure Wasserstein, which is to say, pure joy.

Genres: Essays, Nonfiction, Memoir, Humor, Plays

224 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1990

About the author

Wendy Wasserstein was an award-winning American playwright and an Andrew Dickson White Professor-at-Large at Cornell University. She was the recipient of the Tony Award for Best Play and the Pulitzer Prize for Drama.

Reviews

[Kristen Northrup · Rating 3 out of 5]

Inspired to get this by finally watching The Heidi Chronicles.

This is a collection of personal essays, mostly personal anecdotes, similar to Nora Ephron's 'I Feel Bad About My Neck.' Written mostly for a NYC women's magazine, they're even shorter than Ephron's, and very late 80s. Lots of single-woman life. Some feminism. Some making-it-as-a-writer. She had horrible luck with men, although I already knew that. Maintained a good attitude, at least.

It was a fun, breezy read and -- two weeks later -- I've forgotten almost everything.

[Simon · Rating 2 out of 5]

I want to start this review with two disclosures: I recently concluded a fifty year career as a theatre director, and I like almost everything that Wasserstein wrote, although she could be uneven in some of the plays. To my sorrow, I've never had a chance to direct her work. And after rereading Isn't It Romantic there is a chance that this gifted writer will be relegated to the back of the production bus as the years pass for the same reason Bachelor Girls doesn't really work anymore. It is very dated, as in the only way I can imagine several of the essays being understood is if the reader lived through the 1980s. This collection dates between 1984 and 1990, but you could have guessed the decade easily from her topics or actual subjects.

The most obvious contemporary for Wasserstein(who died young) is Fran Lebowitz. There are others who were older, such as Jean Kerr and Nora Ephron. Each of these writers have/had distinctive styles, senses of humor and blazing intelligence. Wasserstein has all three as a playwright (cf. The Heidi Chronicles, Uncommon Women and Others, The Sisters Rosenzweig) but they are only dimly on display in this essay collection. Perhaps she is better filtered through the actor's instrument. The essays are a little dull, not a word I usually associate with Wendy Wasserstein.

[Sherry · Rating 3 out of 5]

A collection of short essays/journals/pieces/insights by the author. I really enjoy her wit, humor, and charm; her personality can be felt throughout the whole book. She really can think (which I feel as if many authors fail to do) and she really can write. Overall, the book is a fun company.

[Jack Saideman · Rating 4 out of 5]

discovered in the second hand stalls outside the strand bookstore near union square.

adore.

[Alison · Rating 1 out of 5]

I was at the beach and desperate for a book and settled on this one because it seemed like a safe bet. But it seemed really dated and I didn't enjoy her musings at all. I don't know her plays, either, although I think I thought I did. I feel terrible because she was such a brave person and a pioneer and the way she died was so tragic. But I was expecting a Carrie Fisher of the theater and she was something else entirely--something to which I could not relate.

[Faye · Rating 1 out of 5]

this is one book i couldn't relate no matter how hard i try.i guess because its kinda boring for me.

[Jane · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed it, but not nearly as much as I enjoyed Shiksa Goddess. The playlet at the end was the most entertaining. Not a keeper. It went right onto Paperback Swap.

[Sonya · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very cheeky and funny. Just the type of book to cheer up a girl who is a S.S.S.D.B.G

[Jennifer · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is rather dated now, but still enjoyable. Shorts.

[Sandi Sonnenfeld · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a compilation of essays that Wasserstein wrote for New York magazine. Funny, irreverant and heart felt.

[Eliza Thorpe · Rating 3 out of 5]

funny stuff