This Nervous Breakdown is Driving Me Crazy

Reiner's (The Smallest Mouse in Town) first book for adults is a cleverly conceived collection of absurdist tales, in which characters find themselves suddenly plunged into fantastic, psychologically disruptive situations. In ""In My Own Words--by God,"" the deity complains of the unbearable loneliness of monotheism and whiles away His empty hours by writing a self-help manual for dealing with unruly mortals. In ""A Special Morning Report,"" Sam Daniels is driven mad as newscasters reveal the minutiae of his life to the public. The 16-year-old protagonist of ""Leda July's Flight"" leaves home, only to find herself painting portraits of friends who assume the same poses as her middle-class parents. Sometimes, Reiner's conceits are more tantalizing than her execution. ""Time and Again"" starts with a provocative premise: after 17 years of grieving for his deceased wife, Gerald, a successful black obstetrician, is flabbergasted when she returns to earth in the body of a white teenaged girl. But the story spins its wheels as Gerald alternates between bafflement and acceptance. If many of these tales read like outlines for Twilight Zones episodes or for Borges stories, they lack the razzle-dazzle of the former and the philosophical depth of the latter. But Reiner has a richly comic imagination and brings a refreshingly light touch to matters of metaphysical and emotional confusion. Author tour. (July)