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dude_watchin_with_the_brontes's review against another edition
4.0
Of his books of short essays, this is by far the funniest. I really liked "A Twenties Memory," but "The Gossage-Varbedian Papers" is one of the funniest things I've ever read.
dotorsojak's review against another edition
4.0
4 stars
I reread this book recently (first read decades ago). The book is a collection of short humorous stories first published in magazines such as THE NEW YORKER. I picked the book off my shelf to lend to a friend and then decided to reread it. Mostly I wanted to get to the last piece, which is called “Mr. Big.” Amusing stuff throughout the collection, but it’s “Mr. Big” that ups the rating.
Lots of intellectual stuff lampooned here.
“Mr. Big” is a tale told from the pov of hard boiled detective Kaiser Lupowitz. The character Mr. Big it turns out is God, and Kaiser is hired by a beautiful blonde to find out if He exists. This blonde introduces herself as Heather Butkiss, a nudie model, but we later find out that her real name is Clarie Rosensweig and that she is a student at Vassar. Then this turns out to be a lie. The whole piece is a masterpiece parody of noir detective fiction.
Highly recommended.
I reread this book recently (first read decades ago). The book is a collection of short humorous stories first published in magazines such as THE NEW YORKER. I picked the book off my shelf to lend to a friend and then decided to reread it. Mostly I wanted to get to the last piece, which is called “Mr. Big.” Amusing stuff throughout the collection, but it’s “Mr. Big” that ups the rating.
Lots of intellectual stuff lampooned here.
“Mr. Big” is a tale told from the pov of hard boiled detective Kaiser Lupowitz. The character Mr. Big it turns out is God, and Kaiser is hired by a beautiful blonde to find out if He exists. This blonde introduces herself as Heather Butkiss, a nudie model, but we later find out that her real name is Clarie Rosensweig and that she is a student at Vassar. Then this turns out to be a lie. The whole piece is a masterpiece parody of noir detective fiction.
Highly recommended.
dixiet's review
3.0
3-1/2 stars. There are some hilarious bits, but I don't love it all the way through the way I do *Without Feathers* and *Side Effects*.
pustulio's review against another edition
4.0
Nunca esperé que fuera tan divertido Woody Allen escrito.
Me gustan sus películas pero creo que me están gustan más sus relatos.
Me gustan sus películas pero creo que me están gustan más sus relatos.
studwickl's review against another edition
funny
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
3.5
housedesignerking's review
funny
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
3.0
To be honest, I have only ever actually seen 1 of Woody Allen's films, so this was really only the 2nd of his works that I've dived into. 'Getting Even,' while being peculiarly titled, is a collection of 17 short stories that he had published, each individually before they were compiled together for this, which was originally released in 1966. I found most of these short stories to be chuckle-worthy and for the most part, clever, with 'Death Knocks' and 'Count Dracula' being hilarious knee-slappers (as they used to say). I was at a total loss with 'A Little Louder, Please.' That was the only story within 151 pages where I didn't even chuckle, possibly because I was not even thought of in the 1950s and 1960s and sometimes humor is lost to a decade. Thanks to Woody, I now know 2 things I didn't know before: 1, the meaning of 'pell-mell,' and 2, what a lot of those attractive bullfighter's are actually called: toreadors.
I'm giving this 3 stars.
I'm giving this 3 stars.
Content Warnings
Minor: Death
adamz24's review against another edition
3.0
I haven't read his other three collections of prose, but from this book my impression is that people who will especially like this are people who like Woody's sense of humour and his verbal dexterity and wit, and are prone to like absurd, esoteric jokes about philosophy and the ilk, but are not much interested in, or are otherwise unaffected by the heavily emotional and relationship-exploring nature of most post-Love and Death Allen features. I find I don't exactly love either Allen's straight dramas or his outright zany comedies or fluffy pieces, finding that most of his output finds a good, product-enhancing balance. So I don't love this book, as I'm prone to love a lot of his stuff, but it's good and occasionally very funny comic literature, though not in the exquisite company of your Wodehouses.