The Pocket Essential Woody Allen (Third Edition) by Martin Fitzgerald (Paul Duncan)

The Pocket Essential Woody Allen (Third Edition) by Martin Fitzgerald (Paul Duncan)

Signed by the Author 

Woody Allen is a phenomenon! An acquired taste with a relatively small fan base, he has nevertheless become a household name, his neurotic mannerisms recognised even by those totally uninterested in the cinema. Despite being described rather self-deprecatingly by the author as "compiled from various thin sources, and padded out with background detail", this is an ideal introduction to the work of the Jewish funnyman.

In just under 100 pages, Martin Fitzgerald gives us a description of Woody's working methods, a little information on his life, acting and night-time job as a jazz musician, and a bibliography. Each of his films up to Anything Else is given a full plot description and critical analysis, covering recurrent themes, and accorded an overall rating out of five. Political satire in his screwball works such as Sleeper gave way to more regular themes of sexuality, death and love in his "serious" work from Annie Hall onwards. Choice one-liners accompany each entry and stop the text appearing over-serious.

“As an introduction to an intelligent, amusing talent, this book is recommended.” Stephen Portlock

“Part (most?) of the pleasure of a book like this is agreeing/disagreeing with Fitzgerald's verdicts” Mark Thwaite ― readysteadybook.com