Just Desserts: A Novellelah [Audiobook, CD, Unabridged] [Audio CD]

Carl Reiner (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 1, 2009

Successful romance novelist Nat Noland has just had his cage severely rattled. After receiving an email directly from God, he just can't seem to get anywhere with his new novel. In Just Desserts, the grand poobah of American comedy Carl Reiner will have you holding your sides like never before. Follow Nat on his romps around New York City, as he tries to make sense of this divine intervention. Reminiscent of Mark Twain's Letters from the Earth, Just Desserts sparkles with the slapstick comedy and madcap hijinks that Reiner fans have loved for decades.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In Reiner's dreadful newest, novelist Nat Noland embarks on an unfunny midlife misadventure that begins with his attempt to write a novel (working title: Blurbs) and ends with him addressing the United Nations. Seeking input on some ideas, Nat emails his friend Paul a few promising tidbits and impulsively-and oddly, considering he's a lifelong atheist-cc's [e-mail] on the email. He's shocked to receive a reply from God, who is interested in Nat's "theory of Just Desserts," which suggests that bad deeds should be swiftly and visibly punished. This proves unfortunate for Paul, who is soon only able to move only by hopping "like a friggin' pogo stick." Before long, God is implementing more of Nat's suggestions, and things get weirder. How Nat gets to the UN (with digressions for farting and wisecracking) is baffling, and the book's final "twist" may make readers want to fling it across the room. It's not just bad-it's wretched.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

About the Author

Carl Reiner is a nine-time Emmy Award winning writer, producer, director, and comedian who has written or starred in TV and movie classics such as The Dick van Dyke Show, The Jerk, and Ocean's Eleven. He has been inducted into the Television Academy Hall of Fame, won a Grammy, received the prestigious Kennedy Center Mark Twain Prize for American Humor, and is an honoree of The Paley Center for Media. Carl lives in Beverly Hills, California.

Product Details

• Audio CD
• Publisher: Phoenix Audio; Unabridged edition (September 1, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1597772356
• ISBN-13: 978-1597772358
• Product Dimensions: 5.7 x 5.1 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,159,010 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars this reader grinned widely throughout this book, May 21, 2010

By 

R. A. Frauenglas "Brooklyn Bum" (St. Louis, MO) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Just Desserts: A Novellelah (Hardcover)

Just Desserts, by Carl Reiner (136 pgs., 2009). Professional comedy writer, standup comedian, comic actor & author Carl Reiner calls this short work of fiction, a novellelah. That is a takeoff on the old Yiddish expression of affection. It harkens back to when my Grandma Hinda called my Mom, Mickelah or called me Robertelah. In this case, Reiner, was attempting to coin a new word for something shorter than a novella; which usually comes in at 100+ pages. He was aiming for 60+ pages, but ended up with 136 pages. Thus, his subtitle, "A Novellelah," is incorrect on its face. Oh well . . . it just blends in with the rest of this satirical sendup of the internet, egoism, G-d, religion, immortality, being famous, plagiarism and split personalities.

Is G-d talking to Nat Noland? This is Reiner's name for himself in this book. However, he also uses Carl Reiner as a character reference later on in the book. Is G-d talking to Noland by way of the internet? Who is R.K.? Why does Noland's publisher accuse him of plagiarism when he tells him about his new book? How has his publisher already received nearly identical pages from a person calling himself R.K.? How does the title of the book get changed from Blurbs to Just Desserts?

When Noland wishes that people who behave in ways that are mean, cruel or just wrong would receive their "just desserts" from G-d, is G-d listening? Noland wishes that people who are mean to others lose their ability to walk, for a time. Soon after, Noland's friend is in a rush to meet him for a lunch date and he grabs a cab which an elderly couple were trying to enter. Soon, this friend starts hopping.

He loses his ability to walk. He can only make small hops, so that it takes him at least twenty minutes to travel a mere fifteen feet. Noland tells him to repent. His friend repents. Eventually, he can walk again. Government leaders have growing noses when they tell lies at a United Nations Conference. When they admit they were lying, their noses eventually shrink back to their normal size. Did one of these incidents really occur while the other one didn't? Did they both occur? Did none of them?

All the reader does is grin widely all the way through this novellelah right to the end.

0 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Unfunny Ego Trip, October 13, 2009

By 

Leslie Green "IrishEyes" (Fullerton, California) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Just Desserts: A Novellelah (Hardcover)

I must preface this by saying The Dick Van Dyke Show is one of my all-time favorites. I wanted to like this book, but I found it an incredibly unfunny self-indulgent ego trip of an exercise. When an author names God with a ridiculous word play on his own name...well, it only goes down hill from there. It's short. That's its one saving grace.