Getting Even |  | Author: Woody Allen
Publisher: Vintage
List Price: $10.95
Buy Used: $0.60
as of 11/25/2009 05:51 CST details
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Seller: green_earth_books
Rating:  18 reviews
Sales Rank: 16987
Media: Mass Market Paperback
Edition: Vintage Books ed
Pages: 128
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 6.7 x 3.9 x 0.5
ISBN: 0394726405
Dewey Decimal Number: 818.5407
EAN: 9780394726403
ASIN: 0394726405
Publication Date: August 12, 1978
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Amazon.com Review
After three decades of prodigious film work (and some unfortunate tabloid adventures as well), it's easy to forget that Woody Allen began his career as one heck of a great comedy writer. Getting Even, a collection of his late '60s magazine pieces, offers a look into Allen's bag of shtick, back when it was new. From the supposed memoirs of Hitler's barber: "Then, in January of 1945, a plot by several generals to shave Hitler's moustache in his sleep failed when von Stauffenberg, in the darkness of Hitler's bedroom, shaved off one of the Führer's eyebrows instead..." Even though the idea of writing jokes about old Adolf--or addled rabbis, or Maatjes herring--isn't nearly as fresh as it used to be, Getting Even still delivers plenty of laughs. At his best, Woody can achieve a level of transcendent craziness that no other writer can match. If you're looking for a book to dip into at random, or a gift for someone who's seen Sleeper 13 times, Getting Even is a dead lock.
Product Description
The classic, with 316,000 copies sold to date.
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| Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 1-5 of 18
 again, classic allen April 11, 2009
James D. Bell (Hudson Valley, NY)
Death falls in through the window - a chess game gone beserk - Allen at the top of his game. Great book (got great service for $.08) - most pleased
 Early and Very Funny November 22, 2008
Choice Critic (Highland, IN)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
This is a first collection of Woody Allen's early articles that appeared in various New York publications in the 1960's. They are hit and miss, but mostly hits. A Woody Allen movie fan will recognize his parodies of intellectual pretension and his continuing obsessions with death, metaphysics, and religion.
Allen is a master of parody. The pseudo-intellectual silliness in the review of "The Metterling Lists" and the life of the Earl of Sandwich in "Yes, But Can the Steam Engine Do This?" are laugh-out-loud hysterical. "Conversations with Hemholz" is a lesser light about one of the alleged founders of psychoanalysis and the petty rivalries that tickle the funny bone. "Schmeed's Memoirs" about the top Nazi barber is a miss.
The "Hassidic Tales" are also top-rate Allen on display. The interpretations of rabbinical misfits by his "noted scholar" are wonderfully absurd justifications for equally absurd behavior. His "Death Knocks" is a weak first encounter with one of his most famous and laughable fears.
The other pieces in the collection from chess-by-mail to encounters with Hemingway, Gertrude Stein and Alice B. Toklas all have their moments. One can foresee the germination of "Bananas" in "Viva Vargas" and "Play it Again, Sam" in "Mr. Big." Curiously, in this volume sex takes a holiday since there are no pieces on his second greatest obsession next to death.
If you are an Allen fan this small volume is well worth buying at the price for which it is now selling. Since it is a collection of separate pieces you also have the luxury of reading each in any order at any time. I enjoyed reading early Woody, not only for the laughs but also for a view of the potential that would make him a legend later.
Getting Even = Hilarious August 13, 2007
Happy Chappy (Elk Grove, California)
Getting Even, by Woody Allen, is the comedic genious at his ludicrous best. The reparte between the two chess playing opponents, via e-mail, is worth the price of the book alone. Very funny.
A 5 star delight.
Woody Allen. Chess By Mail. need i say more? also, mafia August 20, 2006
Carrie Sheridan (los angeles)
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
accounting [of the office supplies] ~
these two ALONE are worth the price of admission, especially used in the z shops...
i can STILL laugh over the Gossage-Vardebedian papers [the chess by mail] 30+ years after i first bought this for a friend in the hospital [i wasn't thinking ~ he'd had a hernia operation... and couldn't get past the first line]
timelessly funny ~
Getting Even January 4, 2006
J. Lang (Internetsville)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
If your a fan of Allen's work than you'll enjoy this book. Otherwise you may not like it. If you're not familiar with his work than I highly recommend his prose for their witty, bizzare, and humorus content.
In, "The Gossage-Vardebedian Papers," you'll find humor in the trials and tribulations of chess, via letter writing.
In, "Mr. Big," I question if the beautiful existentialist really killed God. Yeah, she probably did. (GOD that's too bad.)
awkward, funny, weird, smart, read...
Showing reviews 1-5 of 18
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