Apropos of Nothing

Allen has previously published essay collections. He had previously planned to release a memoir in 2003 published by Penguin, but reportedly changed his mind.

Apropos of Nothing covers Allen's childhood in Brooklyn in the 1940s, as well as his early career writing on Sid Caesar's Your Show of Shows with Mel Brooks, Neil Simon, and Larry Gelbart, and his early standup years in Greenwich Village with Nichols and May and Dick Cavett. Allen also writes about his extensive filmography, and his collaborations with actors throughout his career such as Diane Keaton, Emma Stone, Scarlett Johansson, Cate Blanchett, Kate Winslet, Michael Caine, Alan Alda, Alec Baldwin, and Javier Bardem.

Allen also discusses his family life, including his relationship with his wife Soon-Yi Previn, ex-partner Mia Farrow, biological son Ronan Farrow, adoptive son Moses Farrow, and adoptive daughter Dylan Farrow. The book is dedicated to Previn. He also writes of the allegations of child molestation made against him by Dylan Farrow; he denies her charge, made in 1992 and again in 2014, that he sexually abused her when she was seven years old, but expresses sadness over their estrangement. He writes that he "would welcome Dylan with open arms if she'd ever want to reach out to us as Moses did, but so far that's still only a dream."{{Cite web |url=https://apnews.com/281015102b67c024f300c92acce1aac7 |title=Excerpts from Woody Allen memoir 'Apropos of Nothing' |date=March 24, 2020 |work=Associated Press |access-date=March 26, 2020}}

Allen, who directed Timothée Chalamet in A Rainy Day in New York in 2019, commented on Chalamet, who said he did not wish to profit from his work on the film and pledged to donate his salary from the film to three charities: Time's Up, RAINN, and the L.G.B.T. Center in New York.{{cite magazine|last=Desta|first=Yohana|date=January 16, 2018|title=Timothée Chalamet Donates Salary from Woody Allen Film to Three Charities|url=https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2018/01/timothee-chalamet-woody-allen-salary-donation|magazine=Vanity Fair|access-date=March 26, 2020}}{{cite magazine|last=Khatchatourian|first=Maane|date=January 16, 2018|title=Timothée Chalamet Donates Salary From Woody Allen Film to Time's Up, Other Charities|url=https://variety.com/2018/film/news/timothee-chalamet-woody-allen-movie-donates-salary-1202664973/|magazine=Variety|access-date=March 26, 2020}}{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/16/movies/timothee-chalamet-instagram-woody-allen.html |title=Timothée Chalamet Promises Salary From Woody Allen Film to Charity |last=Codrea-Rado |first=Anna |date=January 16, 2018 |newspaper=The New York Times |access-date=March 26, 2020}} In Apropos of Nothing, Woody Allen accuses Chalamet of telling Allen's sister and producer Letty Aronson that, "[H]e needed to do that as he was up for an Oscar for Call Me by Your Name, and he and his agent felt he had a better chance of winning if he denounced me, so he did."{{Cite news|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/news/woody-allen-timothee-chalamet-apropos-nothing-rainy-day-new-york-sexual-abuse-a9425441.html |title=Woody Allen accuses Timothée Chalamet of 'denouncing' him to improve his chances of winning an Oscar |last=Harrison |first=Ellie |date=March 25, 2020 |newspaper=The Independent |access-date=March 26, 2020}}

Allen also reveals that he and Louis C.K., whom Allen directed in Blue Jasmine (2013), attempted to write and act together in a comedy film. Their attempts to collaborate on a script failed, but C. K. contacted Allen years later offering Allen a role in a film he had written and planned to direct. After reading the script, Allen was shocked that the character he would be playing was a famed film director who was once accused of molesting a child, and is in a romantic relationship with a much younger woman. Allen declined the role, thinking the similarities to the allegations made against him would only play "right into the hands of the yahoos." C. K.'s planned film became I Love You, Daddy (2017). C. K.'s film was dropped by its distributor following sexual misconduct accusations made against him a week prior to the film's intended debut.{{cite book|first=Woody|last=Allen|authorlink=Woody Allen|title=Apropos of Nothing|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=81HYDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT303|date=March 23, 2020|publisher=Arcade|isbn=978-1-951627-37-9|page=303}}{{Cite web |url=https://www.cracked.com/article_27322_louis-c.k.-wanted-woody-allen-to-star-in-his-dumb-movie.html |title=Louis C.K.'s Creepola Movie Tried To Get Woody Allen |last=McNab |first=JM |date=March 26, 2020 |website=Cracked |access-date=April 27, 2020}}

The sexual abuse allegations against Allen and the Me Too movement reportedly led to Allen's memoir being rejected by several publishers, before being accepted by Grand Central Publishing, a division of Hachette Book Group. The book was officially announced by Grand Central Publishing on March 2, 2020.{{cite magazine|last=Shaffer|first=Claire|date=March 2, 2020|title=Woody Allen's Long-Rumored Memoir Is Arriving in April|url=https://www.rollingstone.com/movies/movie-news/woody-allen-memoir-apropos-of-nothing-960885/|magazine=Rolling Stone|access-date=March 6, 2020}}

Ronan and Dylan Farrow described the publication of the book by Hachette Book Group as "deeply upsetting" and a "betrayal". Ronan Farrow's book Catch and Kill (2019) was published by Little, Brown and Company, an imprint of Hachette Book Group. Farrow said that Hachette had shown "a lack of ethics and compassion for victims of sexual abuse" and announced he would no longer work with them. Michael Pietsch, CEO of Hachette Book Group, defended Grand Central Publishing's decision to publish the book, saying, "We do not allow anyone's publishing programme to interfere with anyone else's."{{cite news|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-51734119|title=Ronan and Dylan Farrow attack publisher Hachette over Woody Allen memoir|date=March 3, 2020|work=BBC News|access-date=March 4, 2020}}{{Cite web |url=https://www.theguardian.com/media/2020/mar/03/ronan-farrow-hachette-woody-allen-memoir |title=Ronan Farrow condemns his publisher over Woody Allen memoir |last=Wheeler |first=André |date=March 3, 2020 |website=The Guardian |access-date=March 6, 2020}}

On March 5, 2020, approximately 75 employees of Hachette Book Group staged a walkout in protest of the book and gathered in Rockefeller Plaza, outside the publisher's New York offices. Other employees met with CEO Michael Pietsch to demand that Hachette cancel the publication of Allen's book.{{Cite web |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/05/books/hachette-woody-allen.html |title=Hachette Workers Protest Woody Allen Book With a Walkout |last=Williams |first=John |date=March 5, 2020 |website=The New York Times |access-date=March 6, 2020}}{{Cite web |url=https://variety.com/2020/biz/news/hachette-employees-protest-woody-allen-memoir-1203525353/ |title=Hachette Employees Stage Walk-Out Over Company's Release of Woody Allen's Memoir |last=Nichols |first=Mackenzie |date=March 5, 2020 |website=Variety |access-date=March 6, 2020}} The following day, Hachette Book Group announced it would not publish the book, and would return the rights to Allen.{{cite news|last=Williams|first=John|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/06/books/hachette-woody-allen-apropos-nothing.html|title=Hachette Says It Won't Publish Woody Allen's Book|work=The New York Times|date=March 6, 2020|access-date=March 6, 2020}}

File:Stephen King, Comicon.jpg was critical of Hachette's decision not to publish Apropos of Nothing.]]

Writer Stephen King criticized Hachette's decision to cancel the book on Twitter. King stated, "The Hachette decision to drop the Woody Allen book makes me very uneasy. It's not him; I don't give a damn about Mr Allen. It's who gets muzzled next that worries me ... If you think he's a paedophile, don't buy the book. Don't go to his movies. Don't go listen to him play jazz at the Carlyle Hotel. Vote with your wallet ... In America, that's how we do it."{{Cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/film/2020/mar/08/stephen-kings-attacks-axing-woody-allen-memoir|title=Stephen King attacks axing of Woody Allen book|last=Helmore|first=Edward|date=March 8, 2020 |website=The Observer|access-date=March 8, 2020}} King also said that "it was fucking tone-deaf of Hachette to want to publish Woody Allen's book after publishing Ronan Farrow's."

Suzanne Nossel of PEN America said, "This case represented something of a perfect storm. It involved not just a controversial book, but a publisher that was working with individuals on both sides of a longstanding and traumatic familial rupture. This presented unique circumstances that clearly coloured the positions staked out and decisions taken. If the end result here is that this book, regardless of its merits, disappears without a trace, readers will be denied the opportunity to read it and render their own judgments." She also said that she hoped the controversy would not mean that publishers would reject "manuscripts that editors think are worthwhile but that are about, or even by, people who may be considered contemptible".

Jo Glanville, the former director of writers' group English PEN and an editor on Index on Censorship, also objected to Hachette's decision. In an article in The Observer, Glanville stated, "I am always afraid when a mob, however small and well-read, exercises power without any accountability, process or redress. That frightens me much more than the prospect of Woody Allen's autobiography hitting the bookstores." Noting that Allen had been investigated twice after the accusation of alleged abuse and never charged, Glanville argued that "The staff at Hachette who walked out were not behaving like publishers; they were acting as censors". Hachette's decision to cancel the book's publication was also criticized by Hadley Freeman in The Guardian,{{Cite web |url=https://www.theguardian.com/film/2020/mar/09/woody-allen-publisher-wrong-drop-memoir-let-him-speak |title=Why Woody Allen's publisher was wrong to drop his memoir |last=Freeman |first=Hadley |authorlink=Hadley Freeman |date=March 9, 2020 |website=The Guardian |access-date=March 23, 2020}} Fiona Sturges in The Independent,{{Cite web |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/features/woody-allen-ronan-farrow-memoir-hachette-a9394966.html |title=I don't want to read Woody Allen's memoir – but that doesn't mean it shouldn't exist |last=Sturges |first=Fiona |date=March 12, 2020 |website=The Independent |access-date=March 23, 2020}} Robbie Collin in The Daily Telegraph,{{Cite news |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/films/0/woody-allens-influence-film-immeasurable-cant-wait-read-memoirs/ |title=Woody Allen's influence on film is immeasurable – I can't wait to read his memoirs |last=Collin |first=Robbie |authorlink=Robbie Collin |date=March 10, 2020 |website=The Daily Telegraph |access-date=March 23, 2020 |url-access=subscription}} Kyle Smith in National Review,{{Cite web |url=https://www.nationalreview.com/corner/woody-allen-gets-canceled-again/ |title=Woody Allen Gets Canceled Again |last=Smith |first=Kyle |authorlink=Kyle Smith (critic) |date=March 6, 2020 |website=National Review |access-date=March 23, 2020}} Bret Stephens in The New York Times,{{Cite web |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/18/opinion/woody-allen-memoir.html |title=Woody Allen Meets the Cancel Culture |last=Stephens |first=Bret |authorlink=Bret Stephens |date=March 18, 2020 |website=The New York Times |access-date=March 23, 2020}} Lionel Shriver in The Spectator,{{Cite web |url=https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/why-hachette-were-wrong-to-drop-woody-allens-memoir |title=Why Hachette were wrong to drop Woody Allen's memoir |last=Shriver |first=Lionel |authorlink=Lionel Shriver |date=March 21, 2020 |website=The Spectator |access-date=March 23, 2020}} Douglas Murray in The Spectator,{{Cite web |url=https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/dont-tell-me-what-i-can-read |title=Don't tell me what I can read |last=Murray |first=Douglas |authorlink=Douglas Murray (author) |date=March 14, 2020 |website=The Spectator |access-date=March 23, 2020}} Joe Nocera in Bloomberg Opinion,{{Cite web |url=https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2020-03-10/dislike-of-woody-allen-isn-t-an-excuse-for-censorship |title=Dislike of Woody Allen Isn't an Excuse for Censorship |last=Nocera |first=Joe |authorlink=Joe Nocera |date=March 10, 2020 |website=Bloomberg Opinion |publisher=Bloomberg L.P. |access-date=March 23, 2020}} Laurent Dandrieu in Le Figaro,{{Cite web |url=https://www.lefigaro.fr/vox/societe/memoires-de-woody-allen-quand-la-censure-prepare-la-fin-de-l-etat-de-droit-20200309 |title=Mémoires de Woody Allen: Quand la censure prépare la fin de l'État de droit |last=Dandrieu |first=Laurent |author-link=Laurent Dandrieu |date=March 9, 2020 |website=Le Figaro |language=fr |access-date=March 23, 2020}} Rod Dreher in The American Conservative,{{Cite web |url=https://www.theamericanconservative.com/dreher/hachette-woody-allen-witch-hunt-publishing/ |title=The Woody Allen Witch Hunt |last=Dreher |first=Rod |authorlink=Rod Dreher |date=March 6, 2020 |website=The American Conservative |access-date=March 23, 2020}} Barbara Kay in the National Post,{{Cite web |url=https://nationalpost.com/opinion/barbara-kay-another-one-bites-the-dust-woody-allen-the-latest-victim-of-cancel-culture |title=Barbara Kay: Another one bites the dust — Woody Allen the latest victim of cancel culture |last=Kay |first=Barbara |authorlink=Barbara Kay |date=March 10, 2020 |website=National Post |access-date=March 23, 2020}} and Rachel Cooke in The Observer.{{Cite web |title=Apropos of Nothing review – Woody Allen's times and misdemeanours |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2020/may/10/apropos-of-nothing-review-woody-allens-times-and-misdemeanours |last=Cooke |first=Rachel |authorlink=Rachel Cooke |date=May 10, 2020 |website=The Observer |access-date=May 17, 2020}}

However, Emily Alford, writing in Jezebel, welcomed the decision. Alford argued that it was disrespectful to sexual abuse survivors for Hachette to publish Allen's book. Alford argued that offering "a 'conflicting point of view' from the same company that, not even a year ago, was championing survivors' stories while promoting Catch and Kill seems willfully, almost cruelly, obtuse."{{Cite web |url=https://jezebel.com/looks-like-hachette-will-not-be-releasing-that-woody-al-1842161658 |title=Looks Like Hachette Will Not Be Releasing That Woody Allen Memoir After All|last=Alford|first=Emily|date=March 8, 2020 |website=Jezebel|access-date=March 8, 2020}} Alford also described Hachette's decision to publish the book without consulting Ronan and Dylan Farrow and Hachette's employees as "bad ethics and bad business". Writing about the controversy in Forbes, Howard Homonoff said, "It's not hard to tag Hachette's efforts here a failure", stating that the company had underestimated the negative social media response to the announcement of the publication.

{{Cite web |url=https://www.forbes.com/sites/howardhomonoff/2020/03/09/hachette-drops-woody-allen-how-not-to-navigate-cancel-culture-in-media-biz/#287cfa2413ff |title=Hachette Drops Woody Allen: How (Not) To Navigate 'Cancel' Culture In Media Biz|last=Homonoff |first=Howard|date=March 9, 2020 |website=Forbes|access-date=March 10, 2020}} Homonoff also said that having the same company publish both Allen's books and those of his outspoken critic, Ronan Farrow, "looks tone deaf at best".

The memoir was published in hardcover and e-book on March 23, 2020, by Arcade Publishing, an imprint of Skyhorse Publishing.{{Cite web |url=https://www.skyhorsepublishing.com/arcade-publishing/9781951627348/apropos-of-nothing/ |title=Apropos of Nothing |website=Arcade Publishing |publisher=Skyhorse Publishing |access-date=March 23, 2020}}

Arcade Publishing founder Jeannette Seaver described the book as "wonderful, very well-written, extremely entertaining and so honest". "All you need to do is read the book, and you'll understand everything", she claimed.{{cite web|title=The Woman Who Published Woody Allen's New Memoir|date=March 24, 2020|first=Neal |last=Pollack|url=https://bookandfilmglobe.com/nonfiction/memoir/the-woman-who-published-woody-allen-new-memoir/|website=Book and Film Globe}} Of Hachette's decision not to publish the book, she said, "I was so appalled that [Hachette] would drop a man like Woody Allen."{{cite web|first=Matthew|last=Seaver|url=https://jewishinsider.com/2020/03/publisher-jeannette-seaver-defends-decision-to-publish-woody-allen-memoir/|title=Publisher Jeannette Seaver defends decision to publish Woody Allen memoir|website=Jewish Insider|date=March 24, 2020|access-date=May 29, 2020}}

El Confidencial reported on March 9, 2020, that Allen's Spanish publisher Alianza remained committed to the book's release, despite Hachette dropping the book. The Spanish-language edition, titled A propósito de nada, was published on May 21, 2020.{{Cite web |url=https://www.elconfidencial.com/cultura/2020-03-09/woody-allen-memorias-hachette-alianza_2488859/ |title=Alianza mantiene la publicación de las memorias de Woody Allen|date=March 9, 2020 |website=El Confidencial|access-date=March 10, 2020}}

Stock, a French-language subsidiary of Hachette, announced that they planned to publish a French translation of the book (by Marc Amefreville and Antoine Cazé) titled Soit dit en passant ({{translation|By the way|literal=yes}}) on May 13, 2020.{{Cite web |url=https://www.vanityfair.fr/amp/actualites/articles/woody-allen-accuse-timothee-chalamet-de-lavoir-denonce-pour-obtenir-un-oscar/79431 |title=Article "Cinéma - Woody Allen accuse Timothée Chalamet de l'avoir " dénoncé " pour obtenir un Oscar" |date=March 26, 2020 |website=vanityfair.fr |access-date=March 27, 2020}} In an interview with France Inter public radio, Stock's chairman, Manuel Carcassonne, said "Woody Allen is not Roman Polanski...Roman Polanski has acknowledged some of the accusations made against him. This is not at all the case for Woody Allen who has always protested his innocence and proved it in U.S. courts."{{Cite web |url=http://www.rfi.fr/en/americas/20200307-Hachette-publisher-woody-allen-memoirs-france-Stock?ref=tw |title=French publishers to go ahead with Woody Allen memoirs despite US protests|date=March 7, 2020 |website=Radio France Internationale|access-date=March 10, 2020}} Asked if he thought that authors signed to Stock might object to the publication, Carcassonne said "I haven't had the chance to warn all of our authors... but I think critics of the book will be satisfied and reassured when they read it." Carcassonne also said he was reassured by the reaction of his all-woman team of editors to reading the book. "Any reticence my own team had, simply disappeared after they had read the book. We're not of the same generation, they're young and are naturally into defending women's rights [but] they were reassured once they'd read it."

A German-language translation was announced by German publisher Rowohlt with the title {{lang|de|Woody Allen. Ganz nebenbei. Autobiographie.}} for publication on April 7, 2020.{{Cite web|url=https://www.rowohlt.de/hardcover/woody-allen-ganz-nebenbei.html|title=Allen, Ganz nebenbei (Hardcover)|website=rowohlt|language=de|access-date=March 9, 2020}} In an open letter, several German authors published by Rowohlt criticized the company's decision to publish the book without fact-checking first.{{Cite web|url=https://www.zdf.de/uri/973a36c2-a4c2-4d7c-8986-487a2a805948|title=Woody Allens Memoiren: Rowohlt-Autoren gegen Publikation|website=www.zdf.de|language=de|date=March 9, 2020|access-date=March 9, 2020}} This includes Giulia Becker, Kirsten Fuchs, Lena Gorelik, Marlene Hellene, Sebastian Janata, Julia Korbik, Sascha Lobo, Anselm Neft, Kathrin Passig, Till Raether, Anna Schatz, Aleks Scholz, Nis-Momme Stockmann, Margarete Stokowski, Sven Stricker.{{Cite web|url=https://www.54books.de/offener-brief-woody-allen-autobiografie-im-rowohlt-verlag/|title=Offener Brief: Woody-Allen-Autobiografie im Rowohlt Verlag|date=March 8, 2020|website=54books|language=de-DE|access-date=March 9, 2020}}{{Cite news|url=https://taz.de/!5670005/|title=Missbrauchsvorwürfe gegen Woody Allen: Deconstructing Woody|date=March 8, 2020|work=Die Tageszeitung: taz|access-date=March 9, 2020|language=de|issn=0931-9085}}{{cite magazine|date=March 8, 2020|title=Woody Allens Autobiografie: Rowohlt-Autorinnen wollen Veröffentlichung verhindern|url=https://www.spiegel.de/kultur/literatur/woody-allens-autobiografie-rowohlt-autorinnen-wollen-veroeffentlichung-verhindern-a-eadc4e2e-bf5c-4a4e-930a-52d015aeb37c|magazine=Der Spiegel|language=de|access-date=March 9, 2020}}

A Dutch-language translation was announced by Netherlands publisher Uitgeverij Prometheus under the title À propos. for publication on April 7, 2020.{{Cite web |title=À propos |url=https://uitgeverijprometheus.nl/catalogus/a-propos.html |access-date=March 19, 2021 |website=Uitgeverij Prometheus|date=April 2020 }}

A Czech-language translation was published by {{ill|Argo (publisher)|cs|Argo|lt=Argo}} under the title Mimochodem on March 18, 2021. The translation is by Michael Žantovský, a well-known translator, former Czech Ambassador to the United States and currently director of Vaclav Havel Library.{{Cite web |title=Mimochodem |url=https://argo.cz/knihy/mimochodem/ |access-date=March 19, 2021 |website=Nakladatelství Argo}}

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Some critics described the book as banal and tone-deaf and criticized its attitude towards women and found it self-pitying,{{cite web|url=https://www.vulture.com/2020/04/woody-allen-apropos-of-nothing-review.html|title=Red Flags|last=Harris|first=Mark|date=April 22, 2020|website=Vulture|access-date=September 8, 2023}}{{Cite web |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/26/books/review-apropos-of-nothing-memoir-woody-allen.html |title=Woody Allen's New Memoir Is Sometimes Funny — and Tone Deaf and Banal |last=Garner |first=Dwight |authorlink=Dwight Garner (critic) |date=March 26, 2020 |website=The New York Times |access-date=March 28, 2020}}{{cite news|last=VanDenburgh|first=Barbara|date=March 25, 2020|title=James Patterson 'hated' that Woody Allen's memoir was canceled. We hate it for other reasons|url=https://www.usatoday.com/story/entertainment/books/2020/03/25/woody-allen-memoir-review-apropos-nothing-weak-score-settling/5076610002/|newspaper=USA Today|access-date=September 8, 2023}}{{cite news|last=Schaub|first=Michael|date=March 26, 2020|title=Woody Allen Memoir Gets Mixed Reviews|url=https://www.kirkusreviews.com/news-and-features/articles/woody-allen-memoir-gets-mixed-reviews/|work=Kirkus Reviews|access-date=September 8, 2023}} while others praised its humour and easy-going narrative voice.{{Cite web |title=Review: Canceled, creepy and still funny, Woody Allen shrugs |url=https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/books/story/2020-04-02/woody-allen-apropos-of-nothing-review |last=Biskind |first=Peter |authorlink=Peter Biskind |date=April 2, 2020 |website=Los Angeles Times |access-date=May 17, 2020}}{{Cite web |url=https://www.nationalreview.com/2020/03/a-hilarious-book-from-one-of-historys-great-wits/ |title=A Hilarious Book from One of History's Great Wits |last=Smith |first=Kyle |authorlink=Kyle Smith (critic) |date=March 25, 2020 |website=National Review |access-date=March 26, 2020}}{{cite magazine|last=Flanagan|first=Caitlin|author-link=Caitlin Flanagan|date=June 7, 2020|title=I Actually Read Woody Allen's Memoir|url=https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/06/i-read-woody-allen-memoir/612736/|magazine=The Atlantic|access-date=September 8, 2023}} At the review aggregator website Book Marks, which assigns individual ratings to book reviews from mainstream literary critics, the book received a cumulative "Pan" rating based on 12 reviews: two positive reviews, four mixed reviews, and six negative reviews.{{Cite web |url=https://bookmarks.reviews/reviews/apropos-of-nothing/ |title=Book Marks reviews of Apropos of Nothing by Woody Allen |website=Book Marks |access-date=May 17, 2020}}

Writing in The Washington Post, author Monica Hesse panned Allen's "terrible" and "preposterous" memoir, criticizing its "total lack of self-awareness," as well as criticizing Allen for releasing the book during the COVID-19 pandemic.{{Cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/if-youve-run-out-of-toilet-paper-woody-allens-memoir-is-also-made-of-paper/2020/03/27/7ab70f18-6d66-11ea-a3ec-70d7479d83f0_story.html |title=If you've run out of toilet paper, Woody Allen's memoir is also made of paper |last=Hesse |first=Monica |authorlink=Monica Hesse |date=March 27, 2020 |newspaper=The Washington Post |access-date=March 28, 2020}}

Peter Biskind of the Los Angeles Times praised Allen's "fusillade of one-liners, two-liners, three-liners" in the book as well as the "vivid detail" about the people Allen has worked with in his film career. Tim Robey of The Daily Telegraph called it a "guilt-inducingly fun memoir," praising the passages about Allen's childhood as well as the "irresistible self-deprecation" Allen employs when detailing his career.{{Cite news |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/books/what-to-read/apropos-nothing-woody-allen-reviewthe-embattled-director-denies/ |title=Apropos of Nothing by Woody Allen, review: the embattled director denies it all in a guilt-inducingly fun memoir |last=Robey |first=Tim |date=March 25, 2020 |website=The Daily Telegraph |access-date=March 25, 2020 |url-access=subscription}} Kyle Smith of National Review called the book "an absolute delight, hilarious and endearing and glistening with stardust." In an interview with The New York Times, Larry David called it "a fantastic book, so funny. You feel like you're in the room with him... it's just a great book and it's hard to walk away after reading that book thinking that this guy did anything wrong."{{cite news|first=Maureen|last=Dowd|authorlink=Maureen Dowd|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/04/style/larry-david-curb-your-enthusiasm-coronavirus-psa.html|title= Larry David, Master of his Quarantine|newspaper=The New York Times|date=April 4, 2020|access-date= April 4, 2020}}

Dwight Garner of The New York Times praised the book for being "occasionally funny" and admired parts of it for showcasing Allen's "authentic and easygoing voice," but criticized it as being "incredibly, unbelievably tone deaf on the subject of women" with Allen's "gratuitous pronouncement" on physical appearance whenever mentioning a woman. Garner also felt the final third of the book "falls apart dreadfully" with Allen's "handing out of goody bags" and the multiple "banalities" he employs when discussing celebrities he has worked with throughout his career. Peter Bart of Deadline Hollywood favorably reviewed Allen's "hilarious" account of his childhood as well as his "superbly revealing analysis" of his film career, but lamented Allen's "baffling and unhinged report of his personal encounters, which reads like a bad parody of a Dostoevsky novel, with subtitles by Freud."{{Cite web |url=https://deadline.com/2020/03/woody-allen-book-review-apropos-of-nothing-mia-farrow-peter-bart-1202893499/ |title=Peter Bart: Woody Allen's Book 'Apropos Of Nothing' Is Brilliant And Baffling |last=Bart |first=Peter |authorlink=Peter Bart |date=March 26, 2020 |website=Deadline |access-date=March 28, 2020}}

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