Books

‘Woody Allen’s wonderful novel reads like one of his films’ The Telegraph

‘As a portrait of Woody Allen by Woody Allen, it’s a classic’ The Standard

‘Good gags abound in this tale of a bespectacled Jewish writer caught up in a #MeToo takedown’ Guardian

Asher Baum is quietly losing his mind. Can you blame him?

‘Maybe what I really want is to make sense of all people’s lives. Of everything, the whole shebang’

Baum’s prestigious New York publisher has dropped him, his third marriage is on the rocks and he suspects his handsome and successful younger brother may have seduced his wife. He is uneasy with her close relationship with her son, a more successful author than he, and suspicious of her closeness with their neighbour. And in a moment of irrationality, he has impulsively tried to kiss a pretty young journalist during an interview.

What’s with Baum? is Woody Allen’s first novel and it is everything you would expect of him – and more. A portrait of an intellectual crippled by neuroses; an evocative love letter to New York; and above all, a slyly entertaining, tightly plotted, highly accomplished work of fiction from one of our foremost cinematic and literary talents.