Customer Reviews

The Insanity Defense: The Complete Prose

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I had already read Woody Allen's three previous books of essays ("Getting Even", "Without Feathers", and "Side Effects") and found them hilarious. But there is a serious problem in the subtitle of this book "The Complete Prose", even if the implication is meant to be that it is complete IF TAKEN TOGETHER WITH Woody's other 2007 publication, "Mere Anarchy". Despite its subtitle, "Insanity Defense" is NOT A COMPLETE COMPILATION OF THE FIRST THREE BOOKS, including only 46 of the 51 essays. The missing five (which are also not in "Mere Anarchy") are worthwhile and funny. Don't get me wrong--the 46 essays that are included are very good, but it does rankle me that they misleadingly claimed completeness. I recommend skipping "Insanity Defense" and obtaining the three original volumes via used-book sources, to go along with "Mere Anarchy".

I won't go into detail on this, but I defy anyone to read this and not laugh out loud. Do not bring to funerals or divorce proceedings. The topics and styles are so broad as to be nearly exhaustive. There is no stone unturned, but combined with Allen's hilarious, sometimes absurd, style I flew through these books. I've owned each of these individually, but having loaned them out many times I decided it was time to own a complete collection which I could keep for myself. And I still laugh every time I read it.

I first read the three collections compiled herein about 20 years ago. Then, as now, I found myself sputtering with convulsive laughter as I made my way through. I literally was afraid to read it around other people because I could not control my reaction. I've read a number of works of humor. Nothing has made me laugh out loud like this. The elegance of his language and the beautiful and profound absurdity is unparalleled. Pure gold.

Woody Allen is probably known more for his movies than his prose, yet his prose provides an excellent presentation of his comic genius. For me Allen is one-of-a-kind, as his comedic talent is somehow magnified by his otherwise morose and dark persona. He is an apparently well-read individual, as he takes topics from philosophy, art, literature, history and politics, and plays with them to great comic effect. As most everyone knows, Allen is the quintessential neurotic New York Jew, and this comes across in many of his pieces, as he deftly and hilariously weaves Jewish characters and culture into many of these selections. He also demonstrates the ability to write from other points of view, and the reader is treated to hilarious compositons about detectives, restaurateurs and others. The comedy aside, Allen is also simply an excellent writer.

On the down side, one piece is surprisingly serious, although I suppose the book didn't promise comedy only. There is also some repetition of various types of punch lines across the works, but this is only a minor flaw. The final piece is eerily portentious as it relates a love triangle between a lover, a mother and a daughter, in other words incest taboo, which some feel Allen engaged in when he married his step-daughter. Overall, however, this is classic Woody Allen.

Three great books all in one fun filled volume of sheer funny. Including:

Getting Even is the comedic genious at his ludicrous best. The reparte between the two chess playing opponents, via e-mail, is worth the price of the book alone. Very funny.

Side Effects was released in 1980. It is a very funny collection of Allen's work, much of which first appeared in the New Yorker and other publication. The books is pretty even, and rather funny. The high point here is The Kugelmass Episode which features a professor named Sidney Kugelmass who is, via a magician, tranpsorted into the novel Madame Bovary.

Without Feathers is a witty humorous book with 15 or so short essays/stories on a variety of topics. The humor here is very funny and not dated at all. You most pay close attention as the one-liners fly off the pages. Simply hilarious stuff. Hard to believe this was released in 1975.

A 5 star book, well worth the price... enjoy!

I had read much of this material in other venues. There was no intro or any other information so I don't know if they were presented sequentially, but it really seemed like it. The early going was often silly and inane, while the later stuff was really clever and funny.

Didn't want to do this, but I read the only other review shown here and am compelled to. The three books-- Without Feathers, Getting Even, and Side Effects-- in this compilation are without a doubt a high mark in comic writing. These stories can be reread again and again. The focus should be on the stories and essays, not the one-act plays. Any fan of comic writing needs this collection. Try "A Guide to some of the Lesser Ballets," "Lovborg's Women Considered" or "Fabulous Tales and Mythical Beasts," where one may learn of the great roe, a "mythological beast with the head of a lion and the body of a lion, though not the same lion."

A review is simply the lengthened shadow of a single person's prejudices. Thus this review is not an objective fair picture of the writing of Woody Allen, but rather my own personal impression after reading, largely in the 'New Yorker' but also in a couple of book - collections his work through the years.
In a way Allen might be seen as a kind of younger offshoot of S.J. Perelman. The same intricate interweaving of the highbrow and the everyday, the same spirit of parody, and making light and mocking fun of all the highfalutin things of this woild. The same Yiddishisms, although Allen has more than Perelman, and the same appeal to a kind of supersophisticated scorn for each and all ,perhaps most of all the super- sophisticated.
For many years I could not read Perelman and then one gloomy day I picked up in a used bookshop a long discarded volume of his and found that he could really be funny.
Thus I suppose should I make it to another thirty years, which is very doubtful, I might one day pick up Woody Allen and find him so amusing, so funny, so terrificly witty and insightful that I regret forever my crassness in not having seen this before.
But as it is now I just don't find much of this funny. I find it inane, and repetetive and predictable as hell. The same old bag of tricks are trotted out again and become one long self- reflexive put- down.
The break in this , and the only reason I can really think of reading this volume is the occasional one- liner which is striking, brilliant original and makes you wish you had said it because certainly somewhere in the back of your mind you had thought it.
Here of course I think first of all Allen's most memorable line " I don't want to achieve immortality through my work, I want to achieve it by not dying". This comes close to equalling another in the genre of 'mortality witticisms' William Saroyan's deathbed statement," I know everybody has to die. But I thought in my case they would make an exception."
This book will be read and enjoyed by Allen afficianados. I think however a good share of its readers will just not have the stamina to do more than poke in here and there looking for one- liners they may get perhaps a chuckle, but more likely a bitter ironic smile, from.

This book is not funny. It seems like someone tried to write like Woody, but compared to his previous writings a big letdown.