While this book may sound like a Peter Pan sequel, it is subtitled "The Uncommon Life of Wendy Wasserstein." Wasserstein was a Pulitzer Prize winning playwright (for "The Heidi Chronicles") and the first woman to win a solo Tony Award for a writing the same play. She was also named after Wendy in Peter Pan by her oldest sister. This book chronicles her life from her childhood in Brooklyn through her death of lymphoma at the age of 55. She was an uncommon talent but constantly dealt with the demon of not being "good enough." Her mother, Lola, was an important presence in her life and the main source of Wendy's insecurities. Her siblings were highly successful in their chosen fields, due in part to Lola's prodding. But Wendy was never pretty enough, thin enough, stylish enough, never married a nice lawyer or businessman, and, in spite of her talent and success, didn't meet Lola's expectations and therefore her own. Wendy was also haunted by the fact that she had a brother she didn't know about until adulthood. Her brother Abner (one of the "lost boys" of the title) was institutionalized before she was born and essentially treated as a non-entity by the family. Wasserstein had a string of relationships that never resulted in marriage. Her chosen family were her friends in the theater world but she remained close to her blood family. She gave birth to a daughter, Lucy Jane, at the age of 48 but never revealed the name of the baby's father. Wasserstein's career included writing for the stage, screen, and television (even Sesame Street), as well as novels and books of essays.
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