[7] A statement by Arcade Publishing called the book "a candid and comprehensive personal account by Woody Allen of his life, ranging from his childhood in Brooklyn through his acclaimed career in film, theater, television, print and standup comedy, as well as exploring his relationships with family and friends.

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.

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."

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.

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.

[23] 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.

"[24] 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".

[24] Hachette's decision to cancel the book's publication was also criticized by Hadley Freeman in The Guardian,[25] Fiona Sturges in The Independent,[26] Robbie Collin in The Daily Telegraph,[27] Kyle Smith in National Review,[28] Bret Stephens in The New York Times,[29] Lionel Shriver in The Spectator,[30] Douglas Murray in The Spectator,[31] Joe Nocera in Bloomberg Opinion,[32] Laurent Dandrieu in Le Figaro,[33] Rod Dreher in The American Conservative,[34] Barbara Kay in the National Post,[35] and Rachel Cooke in The Observer.

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.

[37] 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.

[42] 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 (lit. transl.

[46] 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.

The book received mixed reviews,[52] with some critics attacking its attitude to women and accused it of self-pitying,[53][54][55] while others have praised its humour and easy-going narrative voice.

[8] Kyle Smith of National Review called the book "an absolute delight, hilarious and endearing and glistening with stardust.

"[59] 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.

[53] 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.