Mere Anarchy
by Woody Allen
Book Summary Information
Author: Woody AllenEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Original Language); English (Unknown); English (Published)
Published: 2008-10-14
ISBN: 0812979508
Number of pages: 176
Publisher: Random House Trade Paperbacks
Book Reviews of Mere Anarchy
Book Review: Embellished but still brilliant, and enduringly original
Summary: 5 Stars
OK: what would you guess Woody Allen would write about after these uneventful 25 years since his last volume of essays? You might well say matrimonial strife, court cases, movies and movie making, and a tell-tale nanny! Well, viola!
A book of humourous essays is a hard act to pull off. But Allen's done it three times before to acclaim. Being highly individual, if not unique, as a humourist, the real question here is how does this collection compare with his previous volumes?
Well, he's done it again. This could be no one else. It's brilliantly inventive and brilliantly written. It's tightly written, too. He is as distinctive a voice as there is. Yet there are qualifications.
Mere Anarchy does not have quite the range of styles and voices as in previous volumes. There is not the winning third person style of the Count Dracula story in Getting Even, for example.
Woody has been doing some reading and a number of quite rare and abstract words repeat themselves. Allen's use of language is stunning: he dazzles, but sometimes bemuses, too.
Humour based on absurdity must be followed to be appreciated properly. The density of the vernacular in some stories borders, occasionally, on the impenetrable. It's an enjoyable ride even then.
The vernacular is a New York Jewish patter that reads as it might be delivered: staccato. It's prevalent in the earlier stories, which suggests one could read the collection backwards. I read it twice and found it easier that way.
Most people who will read this will be Woody fans. We will forgive him more or less any inflexion, based on more or less unconditional love. Casual admirers have probably dwindled. If you are one, don't let this quibble put you off. It's a collection that showers you with so many sparks its good to re-read and absorb some of the fireworks that were disguised the first time.
Here are some highlights in reverse order.
Pinchuck's Law. "There was only one health food store that sold really deadly mushrooms, but it stopped years ago when it turned out they weren't organically grown." Magnificent work but it stops too soon!
Surprise Rocks Disney Trial. Mickey Mouse gives testimony. This has the lovely image of Warren Beatty taking Petunia Pig to the Cannes Film Festival. Amusing and sweet.
Thus Ate Zarathustra. The lost diet book of Friedrich Nietzsche. "..the circumference of any man is equal to his girth multiplied by pi.". Reminiscent of some of Woody's earlier work as are the two above; amusing but it doesn't quite strike jackpot.
Above the Law, Below the Box Springs. "It wasn't long before Stubbs and Doxy Nash began having a secret affair, although she soon found out about it." A charming silly small town tale of consumer rights.
Strung Out. "What I do know about physics is that to a man standing on the shore, time passes quicker than to a man on a boat - especially if the man on the boat is with his wife." A funny essay with several styles mixed together and mastery of pace and delivery. Allen at his best.
Attention Geniuses: Cash Only. A songwriter who pays his psychoanalysis bills in kind. This is a good tale hampered by obscurity - for the non-Jewish reader anyway.
On a Bad Day You Can See Forever. One of several references to financial ruin ("..the wallet in my breast pocket began to flutter like a hooked flounder") about a disastrous renovation. Stifled by over-clever or over-Jewish or NY references, but with laugh-out loud lines, too.
Sing, You Sacher Tortes. There is no denying the exceptional inventiveness of the Allen brain, but it is matched by the New York lingo of the first two paragraphs. And punctuated by gems. ("How does Mahler triumph over his fear of death? I asked." "By dying. I figured it out - it's really the only way.") A tale of a musical about infidelity and philosophers.
The Rejection. A swipe at snobbery among investment bankers.
Caution, Falling Moguls. A funny story neatly delivered about a movie mogul "two years over schedule on an eight week shoot".
Glory Hallelujah, Sold! Another neat idea and again, beautifully delivered and concluded. Allen's endings are central to the success of his tales. This one is about litigious clients buying bespoke prayers. ("Read the tiny letters on your prayer confirmation contract. Spells out our liability and His.")
How Deadly Your Taste Buds, My Sweet. A superbly fluent and absurd private eye story on the trail of the Mandalay Truffle.
Nanny Dearest. A wry yarn on a couple whose nanny is writing a book about their private lives, with a twist ending.
Calisthenics, Poison Ivy, Final Cut. An exchange of letters about the cut from a movie by a boy after film camp ... a belter, disguising a myriad of wonderful insults.
This Nib for Hire. Flanders Mealworm is seduced to prostitute his literary gift for B movie cash. Dosed with NY vernacular, unfortunately some sentences swallow like unshelled eggs.
Sam, You Made the Pants too Fragrant. Set in Savile Row with suits of the future (inspired by the NY Times) they still speak like Jewish New Yorkers. Beautifully written for all that and a deliciously visual idea, as are many of these pieces. You can sense mini screenplays.
Tandoori Ransom. This is a over embellished again but is an enjoyable story about the kidnap of an actor's body double.
To Err is Human, to Float, Divine. Smeared with the lingo but this story of levitation and dematerialisation benefits, as it really is a very amusing sidewalk tale of hocus pocus.
It's an excellent collection and benefits from a second read when the strong NY `dialect' grates less and one can appreciate Woody's enduring distinctiveness and originality. It sits well with his other volumes and tells us his faculties and ambitions as a writer remain close to top gear. He's 72 now. Let's hope it doesn't take him another 25 years before the next volume...
Entertainment Books
Book Subjects
- Arts & Photography
- Audiobooks on Cassette
- Audiobooks on CD
- Biographies & Memoirs
- Business & Investing
- Children's Books
- Comics & Graphic Novels
- Computers & Internet
- Cooking, Food & Wine
- e-Books
- Engineering
- Entertainment
- Gay & Lesbian
- Health, Mind & Body
- History
- Home & Garden
- Horror
- Law
- Literature & Fiction
- Medicine
- Mystery & Thrillers
- Nonfiction
- Outdoors & Nature
- Parenting & Families
- Professional & Technical
- Reference
- Religion & Spirituality
- Romance
- Science
- Science Fiction & Fantasy
- Sports
- Teens
- Travel
Most talked about in Intellectualism is Fun. Come on. Try it.
Cartoon History of the Universe 2: Volumes 8-13 (Pt.2)by Larry Gonick
Main Street Books/Doubleday; Published: 1994-10; Paperback; Book
Best price: $10.98
Price in other shops:
The Cartoon History of the Universe III: From the Rise of Arabia to the Renaissanceby Larry Gonick
W.W. Norton & Co.; Published: 2002-10-21; Paperback; Book
Best price: $12.95
Price in other shops:
Cartoon History of the Universe 1 Vol. 1-7 (Cartoon History of the Universe) (Pt.1)by Larry Gonick
Main Street Books; Published: 1997-09-10; Paperback; Book
Best price: $10.97
Price in other shops:
Mere Anarchyby Woody Allen
Random House Trade Paperbacks; Published: 2008-10-14; Paperback; Book
Best price: $1.99
Price in other shops:
Vicky Cristina BarcelonaGENIUS PRODUCTS INC; Release date: 2009-01-27; DVD
Best price: $6.56
Price in other shops:
Crimes and MisdemeanorsALLEN,WOODY; Release date: 2001-06-05; DVD
Best price: $6.44
Price in other shops:
The Woody Allen Collection, Set 1 (Annie Hall/ Manhattan/ Sleeper/ Bananas/ Interiors/ Stardust Memories/ Love and Death/ Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex But Were Afraid to Ask)Release date: 2000-07-05; DVD
Best price: $40.99
Price in other shops:
Fellini's RomaUnknown; Release date: 2001-04-10; DVD
Best price: $4.95
Price in other shops:
8 1/ 2 - Criterion CollectionImage Entertainment; Release date: 2001-12-04; DVD
Best price: $17.69
Price in other shops:
Band of Outsiders - Criterion CollectionImage Entertainment; Release date: 2003-01-07; DVD
Best price: $18.36
Price in other shops:
Similar books summaries and other product reviews
Woody Allen - Woody Allen on ComedyAllen; Release date: 2001-07-24; Music CD
Best price: $7.70
Price in other shops:
Three One-Act Plays: Riverside Drive Old Saybrook Central Park Westby Woody Allen
Random House Trade Paperbacks; Published: 2004-01-13; Paperback; Book
Best price: $7.90
Price in other shops:
Complete Prose of Woody Allenby Woody Allen
Wings Books; Published: 1991-03-29; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $32.95
Woody Allen and Philosophy: You Mean My Whole Fallacy Is Wrong?Open Court; Published: 2004-08-09; Paperback; Book
Best price: $3.50
Price in other shops:
Conversations with Woody Allen: His Films, the Movies, and Moviemaking (Vintage)by Eric Lax
Knopf; Published: 2009-08-18; Paperback; Book
Best price: $15.54
Price in other shops:
Woody Allen on Woody Allenby Woody Allen
Grove Press; Published: 2005-07-10; Paperback; Book
Best price: $9.15
Price in other shops:
Getting Evenby Woody Allen
Vintage; Published: 1978-08-12; Mass Market Paperback; Book
Best price: $4.87
Price in other shops:
Without Feathersby Woody Allen
Ballantine Books; Published: 1986-02-12; Mass Market Paperback; Book
Best price: $3.50
Price in other shops:
Side Effectsby Woody Allen
Ballantine Books; Published: 1986-09-12; Mass Market Paperback; Book
Best price: $2.99
Price in other shops:
The Insanity Defense: The Complete Proseby Woody Allen
Random House Trade Paperbacks; Published: 2007-06-12; Paperback; Book
Best price: $7.74
Price in other shops: