Nnnnn

by Carl Reiner

Book Overview

The hero of Carl Reiner's nutty and wonderful novel, Nat Noland, is hard at work on his fifth book, his own version of Genesis, concentrating on the relationship between Cain and Abel. While investigating their relationship, he starts to investigate his relationship with himself. His doting wife, Glennie, gets worried when she hears him having a loud, heated discussion while he's alone in the basement. Because he is unaware that he is talking to himself...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0743286693
• ISBN13: 9780743286695
• Release Date: February 2006
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster
• Length: 224 Pages
• Weight: 0.80 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 6.1" x 8.6"

Customer Reviews

Adults' Fairy Tale

It is a true fable where all is well that ends well. Mr. Reiner writes with ease about persons with distinguished achievements, wealth, and health. Even the ones who are sick are made to seem fit. There is a reason behind everything and each character possesses great human values such as compassion and understanding. Even the ogre of the tale has his good sides. Of course, the whole story is light and full of mirth. That is Mr. Reiner's style. He knows how to make people laugh. There is a minor story within the main story. Both are equally enjoyable. Nat, the main character, suffers from serious personality disorder that he succumbs to seeing a therapist. One thing leads to another and he is on the journey of searching the truth of his origin. He finds out a lot of information and a few close relations. It is first and foremost a love story between men and women and among family members. When told in Mr. Reiner's wild humor, it becomes more pleasing.

Couldn't put it down!

I'm so glad I found this. Great writing. Enjoyed this book very much. What a funny man Carl Reiner is! The names he came up with- hilarious!- and the TWIN thing- too much! What a mind he has. I would like to read some more of his writing. This is a quick read-you've been warned- I read twenty-two chapters in a couple of hours, with a few interruptions. It was the kind of book that "I couldn't put down". Finally I went to bed but couldn't sleep so I got back up and finished it. Started weird- didn't really care for his bible story- but I admire his thinking and coming up with it- interesting take- but the rest of it was good/better. Good story about Nat. Light, easy, fun reading. Good for a quick trip, for a plane ride.

NNNNN

Quick witted, quick read, funny and serious all at once. I enjoyed this novel very much

Funny Puts It Mildly

Carl Reiner's comic writing takes us back to another era in show business history, and the way his men and women talk to,. about, and around each other is like nothing so much as the grimmer mordant tales of James Thurber. Nat and Glennie are a perfect Reiner pair. He's a questioning novelist who has just discovered that he might have been adopted, while writing an epic tome based on the antagonism of Cain and Abel. Poor Glennie has to put up with a lot, including Nat's sudden attachment to the deliciously attractive doctor, Gertrude Trampleasure. He should win the National Humor Award just for the names he comes up with. Some of them are as though Peter de Vries had never left us. It's hard to believe that anyone would exercise himself as Nat does, but the impossibility of the central situation is part of the charm of NNNNN. With a title like that, you'll be scratching your head about what it all means, but don't worry, you've got one up on the author. Some of the funniest sections of the book take place within Nat's own novel, conveniently also called NNNNN, a fantasy epic laid in the never-never land of Civviliaa, where twins first got their names through acronym: originally known as "Two Worthy Infants in Nature Similar," then reduced by verbal shorthand to "T.W.I.N.S." and thus to the word we know them by today. And if you think that Carl Reiner is too old to write convincingly about sex between a bored, wealthy housewife in Cairo, Sherry Keebler, and her French lover, Francois, dream on! The pages fairly leap into the fire. "Don't worry," Sheery promised, pushing him onto her bed and climbing on top of him. "Even though I never liked you, Francois," she purred,. taking his penis in hand, "I will never, never, never, never let you go." Funny puts it mildly.

Hilarious and fun ;-)

This is a great book writen by one of the funniest entertainers around. Carl Reiner is a classic and his humour shines through here. The main character, Nat, is a successful novelist and is always talking to himself and having bizzare conversations with himself (calling himself a shmuck etc) whilst writing his latest book (so it's like a book within a book). I'm just on half way through this, but I've really really enjoyed every part so far and it's been totally entertaining and very hard to put down. This kind of book had to be writen by a great comedian and who better than Carl Reiner?