Customer Reviews

WITHOUT FEATHERS.

5 star:		(18)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Without Feathers is good vintage Woody Allen writing. Interestingly, the breadth of essays contained in this book are a lot like his movies... there are great ones, there are good ones, and there are bad ones. I would say that this classifies the 18 different essays contained within this book to a tee with most of them landing in the "good" category. I've read all of his books, and I would say the most classic Woody Allen essay's are in Getting Even. I would recommend that anyone interested in reading a Allen book go there first, and then come to this one if they like it (plus it is in chronological order that way).

Perhaps the best thing about this book was not the essays but rather the two plays that were contained within. The play Death is hilarious, and ultimately was made into one of Woody Allen's films. This play gives an insight into how he writes primarily dialogue and very little description. Additionally, the play God was also very funny. The purchase is worth it to see the contrast between how Allen writes essays versus how he writes screenplays. The essays were good (not all that laugh out loud funny), but the plays were excellent.

"Without Feathers" was Woody Allen's second collection of humorous pieces, and probably his best. These originally appeared in the early 1970's, in magazines like "The New Yorker" and "The New Republic."

Some are short stories, like "No Kaddish for Weinstein" and "The Whore of Mensa." There are two plays, "Death" (the inspiration for Allen's "Shadows and Fog"), and the much better "God", a masterpiece of absurdity.

There are parodies of Encyclopedia Brown ("Match Wits with Inspector Ford") and Henrik Ibsen (the hysterical "Lovborg's Women Considered"), irreverent essays on English literature and civil disobedience, reviews of some very bizarre ballets, and more.

"Without Feathers" is fantastic and, as a bonus, much less expensive than many inferior humor books.

Woody is at it again. This book is great comedy in Allen's usual, older style. After reading it, I FORCED friends to read it so I would have someone to discuss it with. I often read while riding the metro, and often had spectators by the end of a ride, while reading this book. They were wondering why I was laughing out loud. I am buying Allen's other books immediately...

I was recommended this book because of the play "Death." I found the two plays to be much funnier than some of the short stories and essays. The short stories are written in the older style of Allen's humor. They are funny because Allen is constantly using unexpected silly plot twists. I found these silly twists to be a bit much at times. However, if you like his older movies then you will probably like the way he writes the short stories. The plays were, I thought, much more clever. They were still silly (of course) but they had more continuity than the short stories. In addition the unexpected still occurred frequently but it seems more in context, in the plays.

Regardless, this book is very funny and if you like Allen's movies, then you'll definitely find this book funny as well.

I love books, and I try my best to take care of them, but I failed miserably with my copy of "Without Feathers". Woody Allen's short masterpiece was so sadistically funny that I couldn't control my bodily functions... initial chortles soon gave way to sprays of guffawing spitall and drenching tears of laughter. By the time I'd finished, the paperback was reduced to a soaking mess of sidesplitting slobber.

It's the kind of book that, years later, you suddenly remember a particularly poignant passage, and you erupt into uncontrollable giggles, much to the bemusement of those around you.

Comedy legend Buster Keaton was hilarious because he had mastered the art of deadpan. His face was set in a permanently sad expression, which only made his antics and predicaments all the funnier. He never let on that he was being funny; and that makes the audience laugh all the harder.

Imagine being able to create the same effect in the written word. Woody Allen has been able to do precisely that. He never lets the reader know that the punch line is coming, so it hits the funny bone with full force. His book Without Feathers should never be read in polite company, since it causes the reader to break into hysterical peals of laughter that cannot be stopped.

I was rendered helpless while reading his material: "Do I believe in God? I did until Mother's accident. She fell on some meat loaf, and it penetrated her spleen. She lay in a coma for months, unable to do anything but sing "Granada" to an imaginary herring. Why was this woman in the prime of life so afflicted - because in her youth she dared to defy convention and got married with a brown paper bag on her head? And how can I believe in God when just last week I got my tongue caught in the roller of an electric typewriter? I am plagued by doubts. What if everything is an illusion and nothing exists? In that case, I definitely overpaid for my carpet. If only God would give me some clear sign! Like making a large deposit in my name at a Swiss bank."

Without Feathers was a bestseller in the early seventies, but it is about time a younger audience learns of this book. Don't miss the short stories of "The Whore of Mensa" and "If the Impressionists Had Been Dentists". And for heaven's sake, try not to eat or drink while you read it, or you will be laughing substances out of your nose.

A collection of Allen's comedic writings. This is for the most part solid, laugh-out-loud Allen parodies and absurdity. Allen is at his best when parodying, say, the great Russians writers ("Should I marry W.? Not if she won't tell me the other letters in her last name.") or Ibsen, as in "Lovborg's Women Considered," or just being plain absurd, as in the superbly useless "Slang Origins." Throughout, the neurotic Allen themes resonate --- fear of death and intimacy, etc. There are a couple of low points, like "God (A Play)," which is somewhat flat compared to the true absurdity of the meta-textual pioneers it parodies like Pirandello and Ionesco. But in al, this is prime, vintage Allen, and at his best, he's note-perfect.

There are a few things my wife allows me to do in bed, but reading Woody Allens' books is not one of them. She can't sleep. The bed shakes too much when I laugh, and I can only stifle myself for so long before I have to get up. Honest.

I have never written a review before, but as this book is one of the funniest things I've ever stumbled upon... here goes. I was lucky enough to find Without Feathers about 10 years ago, in a hardcover edition along with Getting Even and Side Effects. I decided to take a quick look through it on the drive home from the book store (I was'nt the one driving!) and within minutes I was laughing uncontrolably! After the first paragraph I simply could'nt put it down. The other people in the car demanded to know what was so funny, but my attempts to read out loud were useless as I was crying with laughter and could no longer see the page!?! I handed the book over to one of my friends for him to read, and eventually we had to pull the car off the road due to the histerical giggling that ensued! "A Brief, Yet Helpful, Guide To Civil Disobedience" is possibly the funniest thing I've ever read!?! A decade has gone by since I first read these books and they are still as funny and unique. I read them whenever I'm dangerously close to forgeting how cathartic sheer silliness can be! Truly joyful prose!

Without Feathers, by Woody Allen, 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 recommended 4 star effort!