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Side Effects is a collection of seventeen humorous stories and essays by American writer, director, and comedian Woody Allen. The work does not consist of a single plot, but rather a series of independent texts in which Allen uses satire, parody, and absurdity to ridicule various phenomena of modern society.

Among the most famous stories is “Memory of the Twenties” (The Kugelmass Episode), in which literature professor Sidney Kugelmass, dissatisfied with his marriage and everyday life, with the help of a magician literally enters the novel Anna Karenina. There he begins a love affair with Anna Karenina, but the boundaries between literature and reality soon begin to dissolve, leading to a series of comic situations.

In other texts, Allen parodies detective stories, philosophical discussions, psychiatry, history, and scientific theories. Clumsy intellectuals, neurotic lovers, confused professors and eccentric scientists appear, trying to solve big life problems, but in the process creating even greater chaos. The characters often engage in endless discussions about the meaning of life, sex, art and death, while completely absurd events unfold around them.

The special feature of the collection lies in the fusion of high culture and everyday situations. Allen plays with literary classics, philosophical ideas and historical figures, but presents them through the prism of humor and irony. Behind the comic dialogues, serious questions about human loneliness, fear of death, failed love relationships and the search for happiness are often hidden.

Side Effects is considered one of Allen's best prose books because it successfully transfers his distinctive humor – intelligent, self-ironic and full of literary allusions – from the film medium to literature.