Happy Birthday, Wanda June, one of Vonnegut's few published attempts at drama, is a speedy read if not a terribly exciting one, a play populated by mostly flat and static characters but still capable, in the end, of having an interesting impact.

Based very loosely on the idea of the hero's return home after a long absence a la The Odyssey, the play centers on the "man's man" Harold Ryan, coming home after being presumed dead for years to a wife and son who barely recognize him. Penelope has romanced two men completely unlike the hunter, and the majority of the play consists of each character, completely resistant to change, attempting to make sense of a new life in which Harold is actually alive.

The play's themes of love, tenderness, and the obsolescence of war are a little too cloying at times to feel especially genuine, exposing the play as more a product of its time than anything else. In his introduction to the work, Vonnegut mentions that the play has no true villain and therefore no satisfying ending, which is to a certain degree a fault, but Harold is such a completely unlikable character that we are wholly convinced of his role in the good vs. evil and old school vs. new school binaries of the play. In fact, his (ever so slight) turn at the end is the only thing that really doesn't feel consistent, perhaps because it is the only real example of a character changing.

Despite the placidity of the characterizations, however, the play is humorously written and fun to read. The dialogue is lightning-quick, and the quirky self-awareness of the drama makes it feel lighthearted even as the tension continually rises. Scenes taking place in heaven intersperse the action, and make for a humorous aside in the play's closing moments, but otherwise don't feel quite as necessary or diverting as Vonnegut must have intended.

All told, the play hits and misses, as does most of Vonnegut's dramas (according to the master himself). Happy Birthday, Wanda June is by no means top-shelf Vonnegut, but it's certainly worth the time to read it if you can find it.