Without Feathers
by Woody Allen
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Book Summary Information
Author: Woody AllenEdition: Mass Market Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 1986-02-12
ISBN: 0345336976
Number of pages: 224
Publisher: Ballantine Books
Book Reviews of Without Feathers
Book Review: Frequently, there must be a beverage
Summary: 5 Stars
This is one of the most hilarious, actually, the most hilarious book I have ever read. I don't know how he does it, but the combination of entirely random situation with common cliches makes even the most worn out ideas and themes hilarious. Mr. Allen takes some of the biggest questions in human existence, "What happens to us when we die?" and "Is there a God?" and makes them into plays that are so incredibly disjointed and out of the common literary form that I almost couldn't follow them. Its such a relief after Shakespeare, where everything goes in the exact same pattern (gimme a break, I'm in high school)! Instead of having to read between the lines to pick up sarcasm, you have to look to pick up the plot of the play! It might be annoying to some people, but once you do figure out what "the Writer" is trying to say, it's a great feeling. Almost as good as knowing that there IS someone on this earth who is stranger than you. But then, we're not all as funny as Mr. Allen is either.
And it truly is his ramblings, not his spoof of big, deep, messages, that will make you fall out of your chair laughing. The friends I have shown this book ( I had to! They all seem to give me incredibly strange looks when I'm sitting at a pep rally and laughing hysterically after someone gets hurt) have tried to steal it after reading the first paragraph.
And what is almost the best thing is, is that he gives you a break. (in exception to the plays, which can get tedious at times) he skips around from idea to idea so quickly that it takes you by surprise, especially when he goes from trying to convince you that Shakespeare was someone else, who was someone else, who was someone else, to analyzing great impressionist art in the form of dentistry. Oops, I hope I haven't given away too much.
It fits perfectly into the spare minutes you have everyday and you an skip around, and read it however you like, and no matter what you do, it will still be funny. Now I have to go run and give it to the first person who tried to steal it from me.
Summary of Without Feathers
Here they are--some of the funniest tales and ruminations ever put into print, by one of the great comic minds of our time. From THE WHORE OF MENSA, to GOD (A Play), to NO KADDISH FOR WEINSTEIN, old and new Woody Allen fans will laugh themselves hysterical over these sparkling gems.The title of Woody Allen's second collection of New Yorker-style sprint humor is a sly comment on Emily Dickinson's famous quote, "Hope is the thing with feathers." Without Feathers delivers Allen's hopeless schlub persona--you remember, what he used to be before he was either a lecher or an auteur, depending on your politics. In addition to being as funny as anything published since, to read Without Feathers is to return to a simpler time, when being a fan of his work was common, not controversial.
Though each piece is funny, two of them are particularly notable examples of Allen's distinctive style (borrowed in large part from S.J. Perelman by way of the Borscht Belt, but distinctive, nevertheless)--"The Whore of Mensa" and "If the Impressionists Had Been Dentists." Here's an excerpt from the latter:
Mrs. Sol Schwimmer is suing me because I made her bridge as I felt it and not to fit her ridiculous mouth! That's right! I can't work to order like a common tradesman! I decided her bridge should be enormous and billowing, with wild, explosive teeth flaring up in every direction like fire! Now she is upset because it won't fit in her mouth! She is so bourgeois and stupid, I want to smash her! I tried forcing the false plate in but it sticks out like a star burst chandelier.Without Feathers is fine, funny prose, from an American master. If you're a fan, seek it out immediately. It's a document from the days when Woody was not important, but merely hysterically funny. --Michael Gerber
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