At the age of 89, acclaimed actor, comedian, and filmmaker Woody Allen has published his first-ever novel. It’s the darkly comedic tale of Asher Baum, a middle-aged Jewish writer with a secret that could unravel his life. In other words, it’s like a Woody Allen movie—just in book form. It also touches on a major theme of our age: the idea that an accusation, once made, is as good as a conviction.
Read an exclusive excerpt from the book below. And make sure not to miss his wide-ranging conversation with Bari on his career, his controversies, his life, and his death. —The Editors
Lately, Asher Baum had begun talking to himself. Not just the occasional mumbling of a man trying to clarify his thoughts or calm himself before some daunting task. Nor was he engaged in any delusional score settling with imaginary figures past or present. This would have made him bonkers or crackers which he was not. At least not yet full-blown. That the conversations were a sign of early dementia was also ruled out, as he was a fit 51, with a sharp memory and no family history of any sort of cognitive gremlins.
The only warnings from his doctors were to go easy on salt, use sunscreen, and do just what he’s been doing on the treadmill. If he suffered from anything, it was hypochondriacal panic attacks where he saw the abyss in every mole, cough, and hangnail. And sadly, in every song, flower, and rainbow. When Baum looked in the mirror, he recognized an intelligent mutt, a mixture of his father’s sad eyes and his mother’s Semitic nose and his own anxious contribution.
