NNNNN A Novel [Hardcover]

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. As intricately tricky as a Rubik's cube, a literary equivalent of an Escher drawing, Carl Reiner's novelistic maze is a stunnnnner.
-- Larry Gelbart, creator ofM*A*S*Hand author ofLaughing Matters He's made us laugh over the little things in our lives. Now, starting with just the letter n, Carl Reiner builds an intriguing puzzle of intersecting lives in a story that ranges across the world and back to Adam and Eve.
-- Alan Alda, author ofNever Have Your Dog Stuffed Carl Reiner has written a thoughtful, funny, and slightly alarming book. This book continues his tradition of making trouble where it needs to be made.
-- Steve Martin, author ofShopgirl