The Unruly Life of Woody Allen: A Biography

I am a huge Woody Allen Movie fan, beginning with Sleeper, still one of the funniest movies ever made.... and found this book on display by the register at my local bookstore. I quickly purchased it and began reading it before reading the book I'd gone there for. It quickly grabbed my attention and kept it and I've enjoyed it very much. I was glad to see that some effort went into describing Diane Keaton as I am a fan of hers but have found little info about her. This would be a great book to take on vacation and I recommend it to all Woody Allen fans. I would highly recommend this book. HJK

Why the author has chosen to call Woody Allen's life unruly is somewhat of a mystery. As represented in this new biography, if anyone has been master of his domain it is the adult Allen. There's not much evidence that he demonstrated a blazing intellect as a child. Far from being an egghead who read weighty books, his passions ran to obsessive movie watching and comic books. This penchant for a glamourous, escapist world no doubt came from being the son of two hypercritical, insensitive people who demonstrated barbaric parenting skills. With all his personal angst, however, professionally Woody has been a very lucky man. Starting out as a Brooklyn schnook with a stand-up schtick , he grew into a show business brahmin. Early on, his prodigious creativity and artistic longevity had the support of investors with generous wallets. Amazingly, he was given carte blanche to pursue projects with relative autonomy even when many of his films were not profitable. Not so blessed has been his personal life which is strewn with discarded relationships, some on which he unsentimentally yanked the plug. The taint of the recent child molestation accusations are all here as well as the Soon-Yi scandal, ("She's his daughter, no she's his wife..").This story filled with lively writing provides the details of one man's genius, but what genuis is ultimately remains a mystery. It may be beacause genius itself is "unruly."

Over the years as a devoted Woody Allen fan I've read or attempted to read all the bios. This is the first one that strikes me as true and objective. Of course it isn't. The reason it works so well is because Marion Meade treats Woody the way she claims Woody treats everyone else, in a manipulative and self-serving way. Bravo! I loved it!

I've only a modest interest in Woody Allen. But this unauthorized biography is so informative and entertaining--not just about Allen but about the people around him and the film industry--I just couldn't stop reading. Though the book is dense with factual matters, Meade has a way with words that make this book really compelling.

In the Unruly Life of Woody Allen, Meade presents a balanced portrait of one of the greatest filmakers of our time. Her bio. gives a wonderful, informed picture of his highly "unruly" personal life in addition to discussing his development as an independent genius able to produce a film a year. To flesh our her incisive portrait, Meade has interviewed a range of famous and not so famous who knew Woody as his career. evolved. Her prose is fast paced, a page turner that reads like a script for a Hollywood film. she manages to make exhaustive research a pleasure to read--no mean task. This bio. is a must read for film buffs, Woody's friends and foes and anyone appreciative of quality writing in any field.