MixedDeadlineTitled Apropos of Nothing, the memoir is actually three books: One is a hilarious account of his Brooklyn upbringing; the second is a superbly revealing analysis of triumphs and flaws in his filmmaking; and the third is a baffling and unhinged report of his personal encounters, which reads like a bad parody of a Dostoevsky novel, with subtitles by Freud ... If the book hides nothing, it also clarifies little ... The Allen-Mia Farrow relationship remains an operatic puzzle ... The Woody Allen who emerges from his memoir is at once numbingly egocentric and self-indulgent ... Significantly, the only character who is lovingly described in his book is Soon-Yi, who embodies both warmth and smarts. To be sure, she also happened to be Mia Farrow’s adopted daughter and Ronan’s sister ... But nothing in Woodyland is simple. \'As I get older I run into the same question that bugged the former prince of Denmark,\' he writes. \'Why suffer the slings and arrows when I can just wet my nose and insert it into a light socket?\' His answer: \'Rather than live in the hearts and minds of the public, I prefer to live in my apartment.\'
