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leaton01's review against another edition
3.0
This review is focused on both the book and audiobook. No doubt that a biography about the eccentric and neurotic little man, known as Woody Allen, would provoke some attention. In light of his scandalous past with Soon-Yi Previn, adopted daughter of his long-time romantic partner, Mia Farrow, this biography delivers Woody’s life with hard facts and sharp comments. “The Unruly Life of Woody Allen” tells the story of Woody Allen from his birth as Allan Konigsberg in 1935 to his initial career in comedy as a writer to his stand-up comedy and then on to his film career which includes screenwriting, acting, directing, and many other positions. We also learn of his personal life such as his parents, his relationships, his friends, and his enemies.
While Allen seems almost schizophrenic with his jobs and movies, he takes on the same mantle when it comes to women. We learn about each of his wives and partners in how they came together and why they split up. Obviously spending the most time on Mia Farrow, the author details Mia’s upbringing and her prior marriages which included a stint with Frank Sinatra. The long romance between the Woody and Mia had many ups and downs with the final cataclysmic down, resulting in Farrow’s discovering of naked pictures of Soon-Yi in Woody’s possession. This ultimately resulted in ensuing court battles and millions of dollars spent on Woody’s attempt to maintain custody of his natural and adopted children.
While his personal life has mostly kept him in the spotlight for the last ten years, Woody Allen has still been an intriguing figure both in the world of film and comedy. The audiobook details his beginnings as a comedic writer for the New Yorker and his initial start as a stand-up comedian. Listeners learn about his early influences both in his personal life and in movies contrasted next to his own problems and neuroses while growing up. What’s impressive about Woody Allen is that he developed skills in a variety of positions in the entertainment industry. He developed talent as a comedian but also as a screenwriter, director and actor, often using his comedic talent to influence whatever new project he found. This audiobook also gives keen insight to many of his archetypical characters and the true life people behind the movies and comedic caricatures.
To truly appreciate this biography, it takes three steps. 1. Watch the movies that Allen has been involved in, whether it is writing, directing, acting, etc. 2. Listen to the biography. 3. Watch the movies again. Otherwise, you cannot fully understand or follow the comments and references that the author mentions. Another reason to do this is that you will clearly see, in spite of seeing a therapist for several decades, Allen’s truest form of therapy and venting was in movies.
Mary Woods does a decent job of narration. While she provides the necessary straight voice for this biography, where she really lacks is with the punch lines. Spread throughout the book are quotes, comments, and jokes from Allen’s friends, families, co-workers, and even his films. The author wonderfully integrates these remarks at the most appropriate spot. Many lines from the films are straight from Allen’s mouth and Woods reads these as straightforward as the rest of the text, often flattening the would-be jokes.
This audiobook can be quite aggressive in its depiction of Woody Allen. Meade unhesitatingly reveals Woody’s borderline-perverted obsession with his children Dylan and Satchel. But Meade does give a thorough biography that spends as much time on his accomplishments and his better qualities as she does on the more “unruly” aspects of his life. This biography rolls at a great pace and keeps listeners attention for the full 15 hours of its production.
While Allen seems almost schizophrenic with his jobs and movies, he takes on the same mantle when it comes to women. We learn about each of his wives and partners in how they came together and why they split up. Obviously spending the most time on Mia Farrow, the author details Mia’s upbringing and her prior marriages which included a stint with Frank Sinatra. The long romance between the Woody and Mia had many ups and downs with the final cataclysmic down, resulting in Farrow’s discovering of naked pictures of Soon-Yi in Woody’s possession. This ultimately resulted in ensuing court battles and millions of dollars spent on Woody’s attempt to maintain custody of his natural and adopted children.
While his personal life has mostly kept him in the spotlight for the last ten years, Woody Allen has still been an intriguing figure both in the world of film and comedy. The audiobook details his beginnings as a comedic writer for the New Yorker and his initial start as a stand-up comedian. Listeners learn about his early influences both in his personal life and in movies contrasted next to his own problems and neuroses while growing up. What’s impressive about Woody Allen is that he developed skills in a variety of positions in the entertainment industry. He developed talent as a comedian but also as a screenwriter, director and actor, often using his comedic talent to influence whatever new project he found. This audiobook also gives keen insight to many of his archetypical characters and the true life people behind the movies and comedic caricatures.
To truly appreciate this biography, it takes three steps. 1. Watch the movies that Allen has been involved in, whether it is writing, directing, acting, etc. 2. Listen to the biography. 3. Watch the movies again. Otherwise, you cannot fully understand or follow the comments and references that the author mentions. Another reason to do this is that you will clearly see, in spite of seeing a therapist for several decades, Allen’s truest form of therapy and venting was in movies.
Mary Woods does a decent job of narration. While she provides the necessary straight voice for this biography, where she really lacks is with the punch lines. Spread throughout the book are quotes, comments, and jokes from Allen’s friends, families, co-workers, and even his films. The author wonderfully integrates these remarks at the most appropriate spot. Many lines from the films are straight from Allen’s mouth and Woods reads these as straightforward as the rest of the text, often flattening the would-be jokes.
This audiobook can be quite aggressive in its depiction of Woody Allen. Meade unhesitatingly reveals Woody’s borderline-perverted obsession with his children Dylan and Satchel. But Meade does give a thorough biography that spends as much time on his accomplishments and his better qualities as she does on the more “unruly” aspects of his life. This biography rolls at a great pace and keeps listeners attention for the full 15 hours of its production.
ericwelch's review against another edition
4.0
Bright as he was, or perhaps because he was so intelligent, Woody (born Allan Konigsberg) was a difficult child at school, often playing hooky, his mother making numerous trips to school to explain his behavior. He was a reluctant reader, although he would devour as many as fifty comic books per day. He was addicted to movies, plunking down 11 cents for a double feature in the air-conditioned comfort of the neighborhood theater, a rather forbidding place with rats scurrying around the floor.
Despite his self-depiction in his movies, Allen was not bashful nor repressed as a child, and he was considered a bad influence by the parents of most of his friends. He would practice magic tricks for hours each day, becoming quite proficient. His mother could be quite a nag, but Woody would often dish it right back. Once, when she had a patch over one eye because of a cataract and she was haranguing him about something, he shot back, "Shut up Mom, or I'll blind your other eye."
His first marriage, to Harlene, was not a success. Married in their teens, they had to move back in with her parents after the Colgate Show folded. He had been writing for them. Neil Simon's brother, Danny, took an interest in him and taught him that writing jokes was not enough; he needed to learn how to write whole sketches. It was about this time that he began therapy, insisting he was constantly depressed. He used to joke that his wife's cooking tasted like coffee, everything, even the eggs. The marriage was strained, but his career was beginning to take off, and he wrote for Sid Caesar's Show of Shows. He was soon working around the clock. His jokes about their marriage were borne silently by "Mrs. Woody" as she was rather derisively called. He remarked she looked like Olive Oil in the Popeye comics. She was studying philosophy and German, however, and she encouraged him to broaden his reading. They realized the marriage was a mistake and his belittling of his wife did not help. (For example he made comments that he almost choked to death on a bone in her chocolate pudding and he gave her an electric chair disguised as a hair dryer for her birthday; she was so bumble-brained that after burning herself it took her two minutes to think of the word "ouch;" or his wife was raped, but knowing her it was not considered a moving violation.) They were divorced after six years, just before Woody made it big.
Soon he became enamored with Louise Lasser, a talented actress and singer. Her mother was a depressive and never forgave Louise for preventing her suicide, something she was to eventually succeed at. More grist for Woody's therapy mill.
Allen's comedy was evolving into the self-deprecating analysis of Allen Konigsberg ("My parents rented out my room after I was kidnapped," and "My mother nursed me through falsies.") By 1969, he had gotten over his stage fright and become the hottest comic in the U.S.
Meade, author of a very good biography of Eleanor of Aquitaine, goes into considerable detail concerning the accusations and counter-charges related to Woody's affair and subsequent marriage to Sooni, Mia Farrow's adopted daughter. Bizarre doesn't even begin to describe the hate that resulted from this ill-advised liaison. Meade also describes Allen's movies, although most after the Sooni debacle and media frenzy hardly seem worth watching. It must be hard to write a biography of a living person and we'll just have to watch and see what happens in future years. Stay tuned.
Despite his self-depiction in his movies, Allen was not bashful nor repressed as a child, and he was considered a bad influence by the parents of most of his friends. He would practice magic tricks for hours each day, becoming quite proficient. His mother could be quite a nag, but Woody would often dish it right back. Once, when she had a patch over one eye because of a cataract and she was haranguing him about something, he shot back, "Shut up Mom, or I'll blind your other eye."
His first marriage, to Harlene, was not a success. Married in their teens, they had to move back in with her parents after the Colgate Show folded. He had been writing for them. Neil Simon's brother, Danny, took an interest in him and taught him that writing jokes was not enough; he needed to learn how to write whole sketches. It was about this time that he began therapy, insisting he was constantly depressed. He used to joke that his wife's cooking tasted like coffee, everything, even the eggs. The marriage was strained, but his career was beginning to take off, and he wrote for Sid Caesar's Show of Shows. He was soon working around the clock. His jokes about their marriage were borne silently by "Mrs. Woody" as she was rather derisively called. He remarked she looked like Olive Oil in the Popeye comics. She was studying philosophy and German, however, and she encouraged him to broaden his reading. They realized the marriage was a mistake and his belittling of his wife did not help. (For example he made comments that he almost choked to death on a bone in her chocolate pudding and he gave her an electric chair disguised as a hair dryer for her birthday; she was so bumble-brained that after burning herself it took her two minutes to think of the word "ouch;" or his wife was raped, but knowing her it was not considered a moving violation.) They were divorced after six years, just before Woody made it big.
Soon he became enamored with Louise Lasser, a talented actress and singer. Her mother was a depressive and never forgave Louise for preventing her suicide, something she was to eventually succeed at. More grist for Woody's therapy mill.
Allen's comedy was evolving into the self-deprecating analysis of Allen Konigsberg ("My parents rented out my room after I was kidnapped," and "My mother nursed me through falsies.") By 1969, he had gotten over his stage fright and become the hottest comic in the U.S.
Meade, author of a very good biography of Eleanor of Aquitaine, goes into considerable detail concerning the accusations and counter-charges related to Woody's affair and subsequent marriage to Sooni, Mia Farrow's adopted daughter. Bizarre doesn't even begin to describe the hate that resulted from this ill-advised liaison. Meade also describes Allen's movies, although most after the Sooni debacle and media frenzy hardly seem worth watching. It must be hard to write a biography of a living person and we'll just have to watch and see what happens in future years. Stay tuned.
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