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Nnnnn (Lib)
Carl Reiner intersperses plots of biblical heresy, adultery, mild schizophrenia, and quadruplets separated at birth. NNNNN is the title of the protagonist Nat's novel, which is a comic retelling of Cain and Abel's struggles to procreate in the Garden of Eden, parts of which Reiner includes in his story. As Nat reinvents the origin of man, he investigates his own origins, looking into his adoption and discovering that he is one of four quadruplets who have been separated at birth. As Reiner interweaves the stories of Nat's four siblings, he creates sidesplitting tales of adultery, new-wave psychiatry, lost childhood love, and mistaken identity. NNNNN is Reiner's most impressive work to date, sure to captivate Reiner's generations of fans and create many new ones.
Audio CD
First published January 1, 2006
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100 people want to read
About the author
Carl Reiner
72 books45 followersCarl Reiner was an American actor, film director, producer, writer and comedian. He has won nine Emmy Awards and one Grammy Award during his career. He has the distinction of being the only person to appear on all five incarnations of The Tonight Show. He is best known for his work in Ocean's Eleven, Ocean's Twelve, and Ocean's Thirteen.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 40 reviews
October 15, 2013
I listened to the audio version with Carl Reiner reading his story. Mr. Reiner has a rare gift for the humor with the sounds of words and names. Add to that, he sacrilegious and very funny take on genesis and you real have two very amusing stories in one book. I have to admit the plot of Nat's story was difficult to swallow, but Mr. gift for sounds and absurd images the humor in the story really carrried me right past the plot. I would recommend this to anyone who does take their bible too seriously, and enjoys a funny story told by great humorist.
August 26, 2009
Like many of my sedentary compatriots, my after-school hours growing up were spent sitting in front of decade old sitcom reruns. McHale's Navy was big and Hogan's Heroes was must-see. But few if any of my friends stuck around for the Dick Van Dyke Show. In addition to somehow being immune to the affects of a certain Capri pant-wearer, my friends obviously lacked the sophistication needed to appreciate the talents of show creator and head writer Carl Reiner. But I didn't - by third grade I had Reiner pegged as a comic genius. His later work directing some of Steve Martin's best movies only added to my admiration.
I tell you all of this to give you an idea of what I expected when I saw Reiner's latest novel in the library, and to let you know just how much I hate saying that the book was a thorough disappointment.
Reiner spends way too much of NNNNN inside his oddball protagonist’s mind, and it's not a particularly funny or interesting place to be. Where most of the Dick Van Dyke Show's sharpest humor came when Rob Petrie bounced jokes off his fellow comedy-writers (neither of whom, thankfully, ever wore Capri pants), NNNNN's novelist (who is working on his fifth n-n-n-n-novel, get it?) spends most of his time talking to himself, so much so that he decides to seek professional help for a possible case of schizophrenia, which in turn leads to his looking for a possible real-life twin.
The dialogue between our novelist's personalities ranges from dull to repetitive. In fact, the whole story is dull and repetitive. Bits that weren't funny the first time show up again and again. Conversation, like the storyline, is stilted, slow, unrealistic, and just plain boring. About the only good thing I can say about the book is that it was, mercifully, pretty short.
If after reading this you still buy the novel, I would suggest you shelve it lying flat so that the title on spine appears as the much more appropriate "ZZZZZ."
I tell you all of this to give you an idea of what I expected when I saw Reiner's latest novel in the library, and to let you know just how much I hate saying that the book was a thorough disappointment.
Reiner spends way too much of NNNNN inside his oddball protagonist’s mind, and it's not a particularly funny or interesting place to be. Where most of the Dick Van Dyke Show's sharpest humor came when Rob Petrie bounced jokes off his fellow comedy-writers (neither of whom, thankfully, ever wore Capri pants), NNNNN's novelist (who is working on his fifth n-n-n-n-novel, get it?) spends most of his time talking to himself, so much so that he decides to seek professional help for a possible case of schizophrenia, which in turn leads to his looking for a possible real-life twin.
The dialogue between our novelist's personalities ranges from dull to repetitive. In fact, the whole story is dull and repetitive. Bits that weren't funny the first time show up again and again. Conversation, like the storyline, is stilted, slow, unrealistic, and just plain boring. About the only good thing I can say about the book is that it was, mercifully, pretty short.
If after reading this you still buy the novel, I would suggest you shelve it lying flat so that the title on spine appears as the much more appropriate "ZZZZZ."
January 1, 2021
Carl Reiner's passing prompted me to look for some of his novels. NNNNN is the first I've read. True to his film and TV work, it's a warmhearted and humorous story about a writer who seeks therapy because he can't stop talking to himself out loud, in public. His encounter with a woman whose office is opposite the therapist's leads to adventure. Not a literary classic, but an involving and pleasant read from one of America's great humorists.
December 26, 2020
What a fun, silly, completely different book!
If you like Carl Reiner (and who doesn't), this is worth the quick read. Something light and quirky and a break from the real world...
If you like Carl Reiner (and who doesn't), this is worth the quick read. Something light and quirky and a break from the real world...
February 3, 2015
What a weird-ass book!! Funny and bizarre. I hate Larry King. "Good jeans trump bad genes" is the WORST title for a book ever. Thus ends my collection of thoughts on NNNNN.
November 13, 2018
This was mildly pleasant to listen to, though not very memorable. The main character, Nat, is an author trying to write his version of Genesis. His habit of talking (and arguing) with himself becomes more pronounced and he seeks help. His psychiatrist suggests trying to find his birth parents and Nat learns the unbelievable circumstances of his birth and adoption. While there is nothing horribly wrong with this book, there is also not much to recommend it.
January 30, 2023
Simply Carl Reiner funny. Nothing important but it made me laugh out loud a few times and has a heart-tug motive as well.
December 4, 2012
NNNNN by Carl Reiner is a short piece of metafiction that in audio form, is read by the author. My friend Ken, who also got me addicted to audio books, and chick lit, loaned me his copy.
Ned Nolan is working on his fifth book. As a good luck charm, he always titles his books in progress with an N. As this is his fifth one and he's stuck for a working title, he just types out five Ns.
As the book is metafiction, it draws attention to the methods behind the story telling. Part of that meta-ness is focus on a writer suffering from writer's block. But a big part of it, is the book within the book — Ned Nolan's piece — and the fact that it and the book as a whole share the same title.
Ned's book opens the novel and in the audio form, it comes with an annoying pastoral piece. I cringed on hearing the flowery music, combined with a rather humdrum re-imagining of the early bits of Genesis. Ned worries his newest piece is too shocking and blasphemous but frankly I found it an annoying piece of filler. Later in the book I mostly skipped over these tracks.
Ignoring (as I chose to do) Ned's novel, the rest of this book (novella, really) is about a man who has anger management issues and has started to talk to himself without realizing he's doing it. In seeking help for his problem he begins therapy with the aptly named Dr. Frucht. But more importantly his therapy sessions lead him to discovering the truth behind his birth and adoption.
It was the introduction of the adoption plot that finally got me hooked (at least on Ned's personal story) on the audio. There are so many bizarre coincidences and twists and turns that Ned uncovers. It's truly memorable and oddly charming.
Ned Nolan is working on his fifth book. As a good luck charm, he always titles his books in progress with an N. As this is his fifth one and he's stuck for a working title, he just types out five Ns.
As the book is metafiction, it draws attention to the methods behind the story telling. Part of that meta-ness is focus on a writer suffering from writer's block. But a big part of it, is the book within the book — Ned Nolan's piece — and the fact that it and the book as a whole share the same title.
Ned's book opens the novel and in the audio form, it comes with an annoying pastoral piece. I cringed on hearing the flowery music, combined with a rather humdrum re-imagining of the early bits of Genesis. Ned worries his newest piece is too shocking and blasphemous but frankly I found it an annoying piece of filler. Later in the book I mostly skipped over these tracks.
Ignoring (as I chose to do) Ned's novel, the rest of this book (novella, really) is about a man who has anger management issues and has started to talk to himself without realizing he's doing it. In seeking help for his problem he begins therapy with the aptly named Dr. Frucht. But more importantly his therapy sessions lead him to discovering the truth behind his birth and adoption.
It was the introduction of the adoption plot that finally got me hooked (at least on Ned's personal story) on the audio. There are so many bizarre coincidences and twists and turns that Ned uncovers. It's truly memorable and oddly charming.
June 22, 2014
This book begins with Nat Noland, author, beginning what he hopes will be his next novel - an interesting albeit different take on the story of Cain. Now Nat has a strange habit. He discusses things. Out loud. With himself. In different voices. Oh, yes, he is totally unaware he's doing it. So with a little push from his wife Glennie, Nat begins seeing Dr. Frucht hoping to shed some light on his nutsiness. When the doctor asks about his past Nat is totally forthcoming though he doesn't mention the fact he is adopted until the session is almost over. This intrigues his shrink who then suggests Nat might hire a private detective and find his past. And so it begins...
Now this is no great work of literature. It is an odd tale of...just realized I cannot sum it up in a few words. Take this with you - this story is different in a fun and sometimes maybe not so fun way but it all works out. Don't think it was meant to be deep - if that's what you're looking for move on now. But if you just want an easy quick read which scratches the surface of adoption woes in a rather bizarre way - here you go. Read. Laugh. Question. Snicker. Curse. Think coincidence. Or six degrees of separation. Or whatever fits the pages you're reading at that moment. As I said earlier, this is not a great book, but a readable weird story straight.
Now this is no great work of literature. It is an odd tale of...just realized I cannot sum it up in a few words. Take this with you - this story is different in a fun and sometimes maybe not so fun way but it all works out. Don't think it was meant to be deep - if that's what you're looking for move on now. But if you just want an easy quick read which scratches the surface of adoption woes in a rather bizarre way - here you go. Read. Laugh. Question. Snicker. Curse. Think coincidence. Or six degrees of separation. Or whatever fits the pages you're reading at that moment. As I said earlier, this is not a great book, but a readable weird story straight.
January 7, 2009
Only from the mind of Carl Reiner would this novel be possible...and good!
From the Publisher
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 — in two distinct voices — she encourages him to seek the help of the famous Viennese psychiatrist Dr. Frucht.
After a few sessions, Dr. Frucht elicits descriptions of Nat's recurring childhood dreams and the fact that he never knew his biological parents. In the lobby, when Nat bumps into the lovely Dr. Gertrude Trampleasure, an empathologist, she tells him how much he resembles her old teenage sweetheart, Buddy Keebler: "You two could be twins!" With the assistance of a private eye, Nat embarks on a quest to search for this "twin" and his unknown past, while continuing to work on his biblical novel, NNNNN.
From the Publisher
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 — in two distinct voices — she encourages him to seek the help of the famous Viennese psychiatrist Dr. Frucht.
After a few sessions, Dr. Frucht elicits descriptions of Nat's recurring childhood dreams and the fact that he never knew his biological parents. In the lobby, when Nat bumps into the lovely Dr. Gertrude Trampleasure, an empathologist, she tells him how much he resembles her old teenage sweetheart, Buddy Keebler: "You two could be twins!" With the assistance of a private eye, Nat embarks on a quest to search for this "twin" and his unknown past, while continuing to work on his biblical novel, NNNNN.
May 19, 2010
It's not bad, very enjoyable and surprising in its developments, but just like Gene Wilder's writing, it seems to be spun out of pure whimsy and cleverness like cotton candy, with no meat in it.
This is not (necessarily) a bad thing, and is many peoples' cup of tea, but those kind of books don't linger on my palette, which is something that I want out of a book. I want a book that leaves bruises; even if it's a comedy, I want it to have vivid memorable shit in it.
If I had never read Wider's books, I would have rated this higher, but the fact is that Wilder and Reiner both seem to be shooting for the same kind of quirky-funny target, and IMHO Wilder is slightly better at it.
This is not (necessarily) a bad thing, and is many peoples' cup of tea, but those kind of books don't linger on my palette, which is something that I want out of a book. I want a book that leaves bruises; even if it's a comedy, I want it to have vivid memorable shit in it.
If I had never read Wider's books, I would have rated this higher, but the fact is that Wilder and Reiner both seem to be shooting for the same kind of quirky-funny target, and IMHO Wilder is slightly better at it.
September 13, 2008
The tale of a man who talks to himself out loud and answers himself back in a different voice. He decides to see a psychatrist to help break this behavior and, in the course of doing so, finds out he is a triplet separated at birth. This novel borders on the edge of bizarre though it did keep me interested and entertained to the end. I must say, though, that there is a lot of graphic sex in it that was a bit much for my tastes.
June 5, 2009
A writer, troubled that he talks to himself without realizing he says things aloud, seeks counseling. The counselor recognizes him - but calls him by another name. Through his counseling, the writer decides to investigate his adoption. He locates the agency which handled his adoption and subsequently meets his birth father and a twin and other family. Told succinctly and humorously in typical Reiner fashion.
June 15, 2016
I truly enjoy shows that Carl Reiner has done. I picked up this book because he is the author. It was a good book. It wasn't exceptional. It had its funny moments and its surprises but overall it was okay. It was not life changing but short enough that I didn't feel like I wasted my life.
If you like Carl Reiner and interesting characters that get on your nerves occasionally...this book is for you.
If you like Carl Reiner and interesting characters that get on your nerves occasionally...this book is for you.
June 9, 2007
What can I say about Carl Reiner except...I love this man?
He's so talented, and then to discover a book like this...wow.
When it first started, I wasn't entirely sure what was going on. But boy...did I get sucked in. I read it faster than usual (which is saying something), and finished both pleased and stunned.
I hear he's working on a new book...if it's true, I'll be pre-ordering.
He's so talented, and then to discover a book like this...wow.
When it first started, I wasn't entirely sure what was going on. But boy...did I get sucked in. I read it faster than usual (which is saying something), and finished both pleased and stunned.
I hear he's working on a new book...if it's true, I'll be pre-ordering.
June 26, 2008
Two words can pretty much sum it up for these five letters. Carl Reiner. Okay, I'll use a few more: Subtle, wise, weird, but in some perverted way, "normal" as if that exists. I don't care what sort of literature you prefer, you'll enjoy reading this ... ah ... I'm not exactly sure where to categorize it.
October 29, 2009
Love little book. The main character is having increasingly vocal discussions with his inner voice, that are no longer just in his head. He pursues answers as to why they are becoming less controllable. The loving relationships described in this book lead the reader to believe Carl Reiner and his wife must have had a very special marriage. A quick but worthwhile book.
January 14, 2010
This was short and silly, and seemed like a retro sitcom (not surprising given the author.) The humor seemed a little old-fashioned and passé, and at one point Larry King was mentioned as a “great interviewer” (perhaps it should have been named ????, but whatever.) I listened to the audio version and my favorite part was an interview with Carl Reiner at the end.
February 26, 2010
Slightly ridiculous, sometimes funny, always quirky, this is the story of an author who titles his novels with the letter N. Currently he's working on his fifth novel, titled NNNNN. He talks aloud to himself which is often a problem, so he goes to a psychiatrist to work on that and ultimately finds the truth about himself. This might actually be a 2.5 book...possibly a 3 depending on my mood.
September 7, 2007
Carl Reiner - personal hero as fellow straight man (in the comic sense). DIrector of a couple of my favorite comedies. Not really a novelist. The man's in his 80's. I should just be glad he's still got it together.
January 14, 2008
Wonderful, just a great book! Carl Reiner is a class act. So funny, perfectly put together no wasted time and funny (oh, I already said that!) Listening to it was great with Carl narrating it, truely an enjoyable book - do you get my point yet????
September 15, 2008
I bought this book at the dollar store when I was waiting for AAA and was desperate for something to read. Considering the price, it wasn't bad! The main character was goofy and the plot was totally unbelievable, but it was a pleasant enough way to pass a few metro rides.
June 15, 2009
Thoroughly enjoyable. A bit on the silly side as one would expect from the author.
This book would be the perfect airplane read in that it is engaging and entertaining without being in the least bit demanding.
Beware of spoiler in "Brandi" review
This book would be the perfect airplane read in that it is engaging and entertaining without being in the least bit demanding.
Beware of spoiler in "Brandi" review
September 3, 2009
The dialogue makes this an enjoyable book and one you can't stop reading. He starts out seeing a doctor for a problem and the story quickly unfolds with him in search of an ever unfolding story that will have you wanting to call in sick from work so you can finish the book.
January 14, 2008
This audio tape was entertaining but a bit far-fetched!
February 15, 2008
Super fun read! Pretty short...I read it in a day. Carl Reiner is the old guy in Oceans 11 and 12.
June 15, 2009
Clever, but a little redundant, especially when they in fact are all of a sudden quadruplets.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
October 21, 2009
A very strange book but enjoyable.
September 29, 2009
More fun for a road trip ... very funny!
July 13, 2010
Loved the story......especially the part of the book of Genesis.....interesting "human" look into Adam, Eve, Cain and Abel....A true man's perspective......Like it.....Must read this book.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 40 reviews