The Best Of Woody. Review on Without Feathers - Woody Allen

Woody Allen wrote Without Feathers in 1972. It was published by Random House and has over 200 pages. I own the Hard Cover book that I bought for $1.00 in a used book store. The ISBN #0345336976.

It is a book of 18 fictional essays and they are similar to the style of the way he writes his movies scripts.

The Essays Are

A Selection From The Allen Notebooks, Examining Physic Phenomena, A Guide To Some Of The Lesser Ballets, The Scrolls, Loveborg's Women Considered, The Wh0re Of Mensa, Death, The Early Essays, A Brief Yet Helpful Guide To Civil Disobedience, Match Wits With Inspector Ford, The Irish Genius, G-D, Fabulous Tales And Mythical Beast, But Soft Real Soft, If The Impressionists Had Been The Dentist, No Kaddish For Weinstein, Fine Times An Oral Memoir and Slang Origins.

A Taste Of The Book

Take the Money & Run, Love & Death and Sleeper are stories he told when he was a stand up comic.

The funnies are The Wh0re Of Mensa To G-d, (that came from an act from a play) and No Kaddish, (the Jewish prayer you say when someone dies), For Weinstein, (a skit he wrote).

Some of the essays are longer. For example:

''Mrs Sol Schwimmer is suing me because I made the a bridge and it did not fit her ridiculous mouth. I can't work to order like a common tradesman, I decided her bridge should be huge, wind and billowing and it would be wide and explosive teeth flaring up in every direction like a fire. Now she's mad at me because they don't fit. She's so stupid and I want to smash her. I tried to force the false plate it but it sticks out like star chandelier that goes every where.''

''Getting through the night is becoming harder. Last night I had an uneasy feeling that some men were trying to break into my bedroom to shampoo my hair. But why? I could see the shadow of their bodies and at 3 a.m. the underwear I had draped over a chair looked the Kaiser of Russia roller skating. When I fell asleep I had a hideous nightmare. A woodchuck was trying to get the prize I won at a raffle.''

Some of the essays are short. For example:

''A man wakes up to find that is parrot has been made Secretary of Agriculture for the United States Government. He is so jealous he shoots himself. Unfortunately the gun was a toy gun that has a flag that pops out. The flag poked his eyes out and he learns to like his life. He now is employed on a farm sitting on a flag pole.''

''Should I get married to W.? I won't if she won't tell me the other letters in her name!''

What I Thought

I love Woody Allens humor. Some people don't. It's the same with his movies.

People that speak English as their first language often don't understand the jokes of people in English speaking countries, because there is so much slang we don't understand.

People that have learned English as a second or third language know that when they finally understand the jokes they have really learned English.

My Conclusion

I enjoyed this book and if you believe you will understand the jokes I hope you'll read it.

Thanks for reading my review.

©LL2005