Reviews are coming in for one of the most controversial books of the year.
Woody Allen’s memoir, Apropos of Nothing, was published on Monday by Skyhorse imprint Arcade Publishing. It was previously scheduled to be published by Hachette, but the publisher dumped the book after protests from employees upset that the press was doing business with the filmmaker, who has been accused of sexually assaulting his daughter when she was a child.
At the New York Times, critic Dwight Garner calls the book “incredibly, unbelievably tone deaf on the subject of women” and “sometimes appealing, occasionally funny, sad and somewhat tawdry.”
Garner goes on, “Nearly every time a woman is mentioned, there’s a gratuitous pronouncement on her looks… The heavy breathing gets more intense as the book moves on.”
Peter Bart of Deadline says of the memoir, “If the book hides nothing, it also clarifies little.”
Bart praises the “hilarious account of his Brooklyn upbringing” and “superbly revealing analysis of triumphs and flaws in his filmmaking.” But, he goes on, “the Woody Allen who emerges from his memoir is at once numbingly egocentric and self-indulgent.”
At USA Today, Barbara VanDenburgh slams the book as “400 pages of feeling stuck sitting next to the world’s most tiresome dinner party guest, a long-winded old man rhapsodizing over his many sexual conquests, recounting in exhaustive detail every fancy meal he has ever eaten and name-dropping all the celebrities he has ever rubbed elbows with.”
VanDenburgh writes, “The way he talks about women is frequently repellent. Apropos of Nothing is devoid of introspection, feeling, and accountability.”
Not every critic had such harsh words. At the conservative magazine National Review, Kyle Smith said the memoir “brings the giggles, and a touch of magic.”
“Woody Allen’s movies have trickled off in quality over the years—I’ve liked only four of his last 20,” he writes. “So it’s a wonderful surprise to run the eyes across his new autobiography, Apropos of Nothing, and discover that it’s an absolute delight, hilarious and endearing and glistening with stardust.”
Michael Schaub is a Texas-based journalist and regular contributor to NPR.
