Happy Birthday, Wanda June: A Play

by Kurt Vonnegut Jr.

Book Overview

"Richly and often pertinently funny with] a sure instinct for the carefully considered irrelevance . . . a great deal of incidental hilarity and] inspired idiocy."--The New York Times

Happy Birthday Wanda June was Kurt Vonnegut's first play, which premiered in New York in 1970 and was then adapted into a film in 1971. It is a darkly humorous and searing examination of the excesses of capitalism, patriotism, toxic...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0385283865
• ISBN13: 9780385283861
• Release Date: May 2020
• Publisher: Dial Press
• Length: 208 Pages
• Weight: 0.95 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 5.2" x 7.9"

Customer Reviews

Wanda June

I read Vonnegut's first play "Happy Birthday, Wanda June," and thought it was really good. The basic plot of the book is a man who used to be considered a hero, but after an eight year absence from society, comes back and sees that he is no longer seen as he used to be. In this play Vonnegut expresses his protest of the Vietnam War. Vonnegut does this with the character of Harold Ryan and his family. Harold Ryan symbolizes a Vietnam veteran who comes back to the States after fighting. Just like the Vietnam veterans, Harold is seen as a warmongering brute by his wife. She now is interested in a man who doesn't believe in violence and is an intellectual. Vonnegut uses this to represent the protests of the war and the honor draft dodgers received by some Americans. The symbolism of the protagonist reveals Vonnegut's theme of the play: Times changes along with political viewpoints of society and the portrayals of heroes. Vonnegut is able to strengthen the theme by structuring the play in a linear fashion like a timeline. This is a great play that withstands time and can be seen now with the war in Iraq. I recommend this book to anyone who enjoys Vonnegut's style of writing and viewpoints.

Classic Vonnegut

Vonnegut is typically bizarre. It's his style. In the books of his I've read I notice a lot of fiddle-diddling around until the last 30 pages of the book. Happy Birthday, Wanda June isn't quite like that. I found it to be a kind of... portrait of the stereotypical Americans. First of all, there's the mother, Penelope, who lives an insipid existence with her son and two suitors -- she doesn't do much, and has little character (as most Vonnegut women do). Her son, Paul, is pressured into growing into a chauvinist, like Herb Shuttle, one of Penelope's suitors. Herb is a prolific athlete who knows nothing of science or any form of literature other than Sports Illustrated. Norbert Woodly is a "hippie-ish" doctor who plays the violin, and is Penelope's other suitor -- to say the least, Woodly and Shuttle despise each other. Penelope's house is filled with animal skins and taxadermy creatures her husband, Harold, killed while scrounging through various jungles (Woodly: Throw out all this junk. Burn it! This room crawls with tropical disease.), along with jungle-theme doorbells they aparently acquired from Abercrombie and Fitch. It's a short play, quite darling, and full of enlightening perspectives (mainly in the arguments between Woodly and Harold or Shuttle). By the end, it leaves you looking at people in a different light, wondering under which category-of-character-persona they would fit under.

Superb Play! Even Better Characters!

This has to be one of the most interesting plays I've ever read! I am currently doing a monolouge from the play, Wanda June's, and I believe that the characters is this play are absolutely hilarious! What kind of genius would put an happy and slightly dumb half-witted ex-bomber, a dead 10-year old girl who was killed by a drunk ice-cream truck driver, a talented violinist-doctor, and a animal hunting, taxadermy-happy explorer into one brilliant play? I give it 6 out of 5 stars!

wanda june, how do i love thee? let me count the ways....

hello there, lovers of vonnegut!! i am currently playing penelope ryan in a high school production of "wanda june," and i simply do not have enough wonderful things to say about this play. to start with, it's absolutely hilarious. and for theater snobs like me, this is quite possibly the most difficult character i have yet come across. vonnegut has mentioned that he has had trouble writing women's roles.....and this is absolutely the most complex and interesting female i have seen in his work. he does a great deal of experimenting here, it's fascinating. not mentioning the vonnegut style brought to my favorite creative outlet...oh joy! oh rapture! i could go on for many more pages, but i suppose i'll just leave with that. go read. now.

Spelling problems seem to be common here.

I love Kurt Vonnegut, but I have not been able to procure a copy of Happy Birthday Wanda June. Also, definitely is not spelled 'definately.' Those who live in glass houses certainly should not throw stones.