Zero Gravity by Woody AllenMy rating: 3 of 5 stars
Allen provides us with 19 stories. 18 of these are “of a type” that use wild, descriptive character names and focus on wordplay, and are all around ten pages, give or take. These also are full of not-so-subtle references to the kinds of information covered in 300 level or higher liberal arts courses in college, as well as recent issues of People magazine. Hopefully you’ve been paying attention. The final story is quite a bit longer, has characters with normal, forgettable names, and feels a bit lower key, less manic. I found this the best of the bunch. With the shorter stories Allen is showing us his cleverness. In the final story, “Growing Up in Manhattan”, he’s showing us his storytelling ability, and I find that was the most memorable story in the collection. Overall, I found a little goes a long way. If I ran across one of these shorter stories, say in a magazine with a variety of other stories and types of writing, I’d like it quite a bit. But reading a book’s worth in a row became more of a chore the farther you went.
I won this book in some internet contest, but that didn't impact my review.
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