Julie Salamon undertakes a daunting task: writing a biography on Wendy Wasserstein, Pulitzer-Prize and Tony-award winning playwright. In fact, Wasserstein was the first woman to receive a Tony award, making her somewhat of a standard in theater studies. Through her plays, Wasserstein reflected the issues of the Baby Boomer woman: career, birth control, love, marriage, and children and the ambition and self-doubt enveloping those issues. She portrayed women in a way that had never been portrayed before. This made some uncomfortable, but it gave others freedom. In her life, she created a network of playwrights, producers, directors, actors, and critics. Everyone knew Wendy. She defined Off Broadway of the 80s and influenced Broadway.
Though she created a sense of familiarity and even intimacy with this group of theaterites, she also carried on a family tradition of secrecy. Her giggly nature hid a sensitive heart and a private life. But as vulnerable or private as Wendy may have been, she revealed her insecurities (as well as the insecurities of her friends and family, often to their chagrin) in her work. As a writer, this resonated with me. Wendy’s sister, Georgette, said after seeing one of Wendy’s early plays, “She revealed so much of herself, she went so deep, that I felt uncomfortable.”
Wasserstein stored up conversations from childhood, college, family life, social life, tweaked them, and shaped them into her plays. (This was not so different from how she talked about her memories, or how her mother spoke of her history. A family trait, it seems.) Sometimes this caused temporary rifts with friends who were shocked to hear their words on stage, but no one stayed mad at Wendy for long. This treasury–her memory–provided theater that echoed with others, especially women, and helped a generation work through life. Contemporaries spoke of her plays as being overwhelming, invoking of strong emotion. Critic Frank Rich wrote in a personal letter to Wendy, “You’ve hit on something fundamental about the choices we all make.”
The author, Salamon, gives Wasserstein epic treatment, divulging not only Wendy’s history, but the history of the family and friends who surrounded her. The book emerged from a collection of hundreds of reviews and is chocked full of facts, yet it reads like a novel, not just of Wasserstein but of theater as a whole. After all, in many ways, Wasserstein was theater for 30 years. These family and friends and theater in general influenced Wendy and was influenced by her. Perhaps as a writer, perhaps as a lover of theater, perhaps as a woman trying to understand how to be a mother and a writer, I found this book–this life of Wendy Wasserstein–intriguing. I ate up descriptions of how she wrote, of how she collaborated with directors, producers, and fellow writers to refine her plays, of how she dealt with rejection and critical reception, of how she dealt with success.
This book inspired me, as Wasserstein inspired many: what we write matters. It can articulate what many can’t express. It offers salve to the hurting and discomfort to the complacent.
Fine print: I received this book from Julie Salamon via TLC Book Tours. This in no way obligates me to write well of the book, and I received no payment for this review. Now, you writers and theater-goers, go read this book.
Review–The Gospel of Matthew: God With Us by Matt Woodley
IVP has a new commentary series, Resonate Series, edited by Paul Metzger, a theologian for whom I have much respect. The series seeks to bridge the ancient teachings of the Bible with today’s culture. In this book on Matthew, author Matt Woodley picks up the theme of God with us to challenge us to the adventure to which Jesus calls us, one that asks for wholehearted commitment but is “especially designed for all the ‘little faiths’ who never have to walk alone” (pp. 21-22). Woodley presents the challenge and encouragement found in Matthew.
I’m honored to be part of a blog review on this book and have been asked to take a particular look at Woodley’s essays on Matthew 18. (You can find out more about the book on its Facebook page, as well as links to reviews on other chapters.)
Matthew 18 is a difficult chapter–both to understand (with sections about binding and releasing on earth and heaven) and to follow (ach! that darned command to forgive and forgive and forgive!).
This commentary simplifies the passage so that as Christians, we can understand how Jesus wants us to follow him. Matt Woodley presents a more lay-level commentary. He doesn’t concern himself with verse-by-verse interpretation but with viewing larger passages in a culturally sensitive light–sensitive to the culture in which it was written and the culture in which we must now live it out. To facilitate this, the author writes in essays about sections of Matthew, including his interpretation, large-scale ideas for applications, and illustrations from his own life.
Or, to put it another way, this commentary reads less like a traditional commentary and more like collected preachings–or blog posts–on the book of Matthew. Those looking for a more in-depth commentary that surveys and works through the different theologies of difficult passages (such as that binding and releasing passage in 18:18-20) may be disappointed, but those looking for an aide to understand how to practically take these teachings of Jesus and apply it in our interactions with others will find a good resource in The Gospel of Matthew: God With Us.
The essays for chapter 18, “A Person’s a Person, No Matter How Small” (17:24-18:20) and “The Unnatural Act of Forgiveness” (18:21-35), both point out Jesus’s concern with how we treat others according to God’s compassion: the socially forgotten or outcast and those who have hurt us. In both cases, Woodley shows us how dealing with people God’s way differs from dealing with people according to the world’s way. I would have liked to have seen more connection and crossover between the teaching on confronting sin and on forgiveness (perhaps breaking the essays in 17:24-18:14 and 18:15-35), which gives balance for these two hard truths and more context for the passage on binding and loosing (which Woodley doesn’t deal with at all), but I also appreciate how Woodley connected them, using the value of respecting others and understanding that we’re all little people in God’s sight to bring together how we approach others. Of course, each teaching in this chapter flows into the next–chasing the lost sheep, restoring a lost brother through confronting his sin, forgiving a brother–that any type of break is difficult to do (and yet needed for practicality’s sake).
In the first essay, Woodley makes a comment about the childlike attitude Jesus calls us to have: “We enter through that door by receiving Christ, but we must reenter the same door every day for the rest of our life.” In context, I believe the author doesn’t mean that we must be re-saved every day but that we must persevere with a humble, childlike attitude so that we respond properly to God and to others around us. That being said, I would have liked to have seen him more careful with his wording to prevent misunderstandings. (I remember as a child feeling like I had to be saved again every day after that day’s disobedience until my dad explained to me Christ’s faithfulness and the assurance I had, so I’m sensitive to this issue.)
In the second essay, I came across a favorite line: “Jesus didn’t ignore ordinary human feelings; this Gospel begins and ends with a God who enters our godforsaken places.” Reminders like these make this a readable, challenging commentary that gets us on our feet for God’s kingdom.
I highly recommend this commentary for personal study, to use as a small group book study, or as a resource for lay-level teachers. The Gospel of Matthew gets to the heart of Jesus’ teachings and makes them hard to ignore.
I received a free copy of the book from IVP with the agreement that I’d review it on my blog. This in no way committed me to a positive review.