Customer Reviews

The Unruly Life of Woody Allen: A Biography

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(6)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

As with any book, I would expect a certain amount of author bias toward the subject. From the first few pages it is obvious that Marion Meade doesn't respect Woody Allen professionally, believes his success a matter of luck, detests his films, and thinks even less of him as a person. So why bother writing about him?

There is a lot of biographical information about Woody's childhood, his family, his stand-up career and his filmmaking--which is the only reason I gave this book 2 stars. I did force myself to finish the book. However, every topic the author covers is tainted by her low opinion of Mr. Allen. I don't agree with the personal choices Woody Allen has made with regard to the Mia Farrow, Soon-Yi fiasco, but at the same time, I do like Woody Allen's films and respect him as a director. Ms. Meade doesn't, so her book is a difficult load to swallow.

If you're looking for a biography that gives Woody Allen credit for his contribution to American cinema, avoid this one.

I like Woody Allen. But I don't like this book. Author Marion Meade appears hell-bent on painting Woody to be a pedophile, homewrecker, misogynist, master manipulator of the media (not to mention the public) and a noteworthy but deeply flawed human being. (Actually, I just boiled down her book for you, hitting all the key words and concepts so now you can save your money for more worthy purchases.) Better, less barbed, Woody books are "Reconstructing Woody," by Mary P. Nichols and "Woody Allen on Woody Allen: In Conversation With Stig Bjorkman." Actually, if you're one of the few people who believe everything you see in films, and always thought Woody was the same kindly self-deprecating schlemiel off-screen as he was on (in other words, many of his movies are autobiographical), then maybe you need Meade's book. Frankly, I doubt few stars (be they movie stars, rock stars, sports stars or -- and this may come as a shock to Meade -- authors) are the same behind the scenes as they are in public. And the more creative a star is, the quirkier he or she is likely to be in private. No surprise there. Yet Meade seems to think everyone has been hoodwinked by Woody Allen over the years...and only she has the guts to set the record straight, tell it like it is, blow the lid off, dig up the dirt, etc. Baloney. Woody Allen is a creative genius, but he's not perfect. No one is. And I don't need Marion Meade to tell me that. Do you?

What a great opportunity a Woody Allen biography represents. Here's one of the great masters of American cinema, an artist who has been producing prolifically for over thirty years. Before our eyes, he went through mastering various cinematic styles and then transcending them all, contributing as a philosopher, writer, comedian, actor, director, even musician. Along the way, Allen produced a body of work replete with a quality all too rare in any, particularly American motion pictures: a thinking, interesting approach. The audiences and critics speak for themselves: here's a true visionary.

Unfortunately, those who make a name for themselves are destined to attract parasites. Enters Marion Meade, the voyeur. Unable to create worthwhile art or even advancing the cause of understanding it better or enjoying it more intelligently, she has nothing to offer that's pertinent to the art of Woody Allen. What she does offer is plenty of gossip and garbage. After having the Allen-Farrow "scandal" publicly dished out for too long, who needs more of this? Is it really a surprise to anyone after watching W.A. movies that the man should have character flaws, past pain and ongoing neuroses. Isn't the genius of his work to allow us to identify so readily with his character?

If you need gossip to make yourself feel superior to a man who has had something genuinely great to offer, then don't pass this one up. If you prefer some degree of integrity in your writing, and are desirous to learn about subjects worth remembering, avoid this one at all cost.

Rather than a well rounded and critical book on Woody Allen, we get a hatchet job. Meade sets out to discredit Allen at every turn. She focuses on neighbors who found him to be aloof, reviewers who didn't enjoy his films, and the ex-wifes who despise him. If you're actually interested in Woody Allen as an artist this is not the book to read. If you want to read about the sad and pathetic life of a sad pathetic man, and only hear the sad and or pathetic parts, read this book.

Maybe Meade should've focused her efforts on the Soon-Yi scandal exclusively.

I've only a modest interest in Woody Allen. But this unauthorized biography is so informative and entertaining--not just about Allen but about the people around him and the film industry--I just couldn't stop reading. Though the book is dense with factual matters, Meade has a way with words that make this book really compelling.

"It was crazy weather for January. A sudden balmy spell swept a froth of showers and the fresh breezes of April into the city...". Sounds more like a novel than a biography, doesn't it? A florid style is one of many problems with Marion Meade's book, which I've spent the last three days reading in the hope that the author would shake off her novelistic pretensions and provide insight into Woody Allen's life and work. I was disappointed.

Well-structured and apparently well-researched, "The Unruly Life..." is not a complete letdown: chapters one through eleven are worth reading, providing a generally even-handed and readable account of Allen's progression from child to established film director. The eight chapters from 'Dead Sharks' to 'Second Law of Thermodynamics' can be skipped, unless your motivation for buying a Woody Allen biography is to learn all about Mia Farrow, who dominates these hundred pages - Meade apparently forgets at this point that Allen is her subject, and ditches her poetic style in favor of sub-Grisham courtroom drama, hopelessly biased against him.

In her final three chapters she partially recovers from her tangent and returns to the subject of Allen's recent films, but by this point you can't take her work seriously as biography; having wasted most of the book on the custody battle and related allegations, Meade spares no more than a page in describing 'Deconstructing Harry'. 'Sweet and Lowdown', despite a warm critical reception, is mentioned only in a table of $million grosses. And, unable to resist her literary tendencies, Meade rounds off the Epilogue with a sour-faced pseudo-obituary. Confusingly, she concludes: "Who could ever deny that he has outlasted the twists and turnings of experience?"; more pertinent questions would be: "What is Marion Meade talking about?" and "Did anyone edit this book?".

In summary, this is not a good read; I'm still looking for an engaging and readable account of Allen's work / life - maybe Eric Lax's recently updated bio is a better bet than this.

In the Unruly Life of Woody Allen, Meade presents a balanced portrait of one of the greatest filmakers of our time. Her bio. gives a wonderful, informed picture of his highly "unruly" personal life in addition to discussing his development as an independent genius able to produce a film a year. To flesh our her incisive portrait, Meade has interviewed a range of famous and not so famous who knew Woody as his career. evolved. Her prose is fast paced, a page turner that reads like a script for a Hollywood film. she manages to make exhaustive research a pleasure to read--no mean task. This bio. is a must read for film buffs, Woody's friends and foes and anyone appreciative of quality writing in any field.

Compared to the excellence of Marion Meade's biographies on Dorothy Parker and Buster Keaton, "The Unruly Life of Woody Allen" is a letdown. If you're looking for dirt on Allen's 1992 scandal, you won't be disappointed. However, when analyzing his cinematic artistry, Meade comes up short. She says little about "Deconstructing Harry" - one of Woody's best and most revealing films. In addition, there are some factual errors (Julia Roberts was NOT in "Deconstructing Harry"). Meade has a definite ax to grind in terms of Allen's personal life. Unlike Parker and Keaton, Woody Allen is alive and kicking - much to the author's disadvantage.

Very rarely has an author of a biography shown such contempt for the subject than in this volume, written by Mariod Meade (who has authored “Buster Keaton: Cut to the Chase”). “The Unruly Life of Woody Allen” mostly seems focused on portraying Woody as a not-very-nice man. While I doubt he is, Marion Mead never misses an attempt. In fact, a whopping one third of the books pages are devoted to the sex scandal of the early nineties, while “Deconstructing Harry,” “Everyone Says I Love You,” and “Celebrity” are all crammed into one chapter. Frankly, “The Unruly Life of Woody Allen” reads more like a National Enquirer expose than a biography of a great filmmaker.

I've always wondered why people would bother to spend considerable amounts of time and energy researching, interviewing, compiling facts and writing biographies of people they obviously intensely dislike. Marion Meade's disdain for Woody Allen is almost palpable on every page of this book. Basically, she presents Allen as a contemptible, meanspirited, self-absorbed, self-loathing misanthrope capable of teutonic cruelty and with nary a redeeming quality. So the question is: why bother? Sure, her subject is full of flaws (big surprise) and probably won't be publishing a guide to successful relationships anytime soon, but he does deserve better than this. That said, this book isn't your usual Kitty Kelley trash. It is meticulously researched and gracefully written, at times insightful and illuminating and extensively annotated. The author has done her homework and written this book with considerable effort and care. However, I couldn't get over the fact that she seems to more or less hate Woody Allen, even while describing the factors in his childhood and background that might have led to the behavior she condemns. This is, however, the best of all the Woody Allen biographies (the others were poorly researched or simply sycophantic), and worth reading, if one reads with an open mind.