Motherless Brooklyn by Jonathan Lethem (ISBN:0375724834)

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		Motherless Brooklyn
	
				(148 reviews)			
(2524 Readers)

			Jonathan Lethem		
	
From America's most inventive novelist, Jonathan Lethem, comes this compelling and compulsive riff on the classic detective novel.Lionel Essrog is...more
 From America's most inventive novelist, Jonathan Lethem, comes this compelling and compulsive riff on the classic detective novel.Lionel Essrog is Brooklyn's very own self-appointed Human Freakshow, an orphan whose Tourettic impulses drive him to bark, count, and rip apart our language in startling and original ways.  Together with three veterans of the St. Vincent's Home for Boys, he works for small-time mobster Frank Minna's limo service cum detective agency. Life without Frank Minna, the charismatic King of Brooklyn, would be unimaginable, so who cares if the tasks he sets them are, well, not exactly legal. But when Frank is fatally stabbed, one of Lionel's colleagues lands in jail, the other two vie for his position, and the victim's widow skips town. Lionel's world is suddenly topsy-turvy, and this outcast who has trouble even conversing attempts to untangle the threads of the case while trying to keep the words straight in his head.  Motherless Brooklyn is a brilliantly original homage to the classic detective novel by one of the most acclaimed writers of his generation.   less

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Showing 10 of 148 reviews

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							Julie
						
							few weeks ago						
Motherless Brooklyn is a captivating mystery tale with characters that have emotional depth.  The main character Lionel, an orphan with Tourettes, is extremely sympathetic.  The writing is beautiful, descriptive and perfectly complementary to the story.  One wonderful example "She slid down to seat herself against the wall, so we were arranged like clock hands on the face of the floor, our shoes...more
 Motherless Brooklyn is a captivating mystery tale with characters that have emotional depth.  The main character Lionel, an orphan with Tourettes, is extremely sympathetic.  The writing is beautiful, descriptive and perfectly complementary to the story.  One wonderful example "She slid down to seat herself against the wall, so we were arranged like clock hands on the face of the floor, our shoes at the center.  According to the clock of us it was four o'clock. I tried not to root for midnight."  I loved the blend of an enthralling plot with three dimensional characters and beautiful writing.   hide

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							A Reader
						
							few weeks ago						
Lionel Essrog stars as a Tourette's-stricken Brooklyn orphan who, along with a couple of his fellow orphans, falls in with a small-time gangster svengali at a young age. Lethem's effortless prose shifts back and forth through Lionel's childhood, adolescence, and troubled adulthood as he reckons with the social implications of his disorder, clumsy attempts at romance, and an unraveling mob caper...more
 Lionel Essrog stars as a Tourette's-stricken Brooklyn orphan who, along with a couple of his fellow orphans, falls in with a small-time gangster svengali at a young age. Lethem's effortless prose shifts back and forth through Lionel's childhood, adolescence, and troubled adulthood as he reckons with the social implications of his disorder, clumsy attempts at romance, and an unraveling mob caper that's quickly getting out of hand. Lethem delivers the goods. Without a hint of irony: One of the best novels of the past twenty years.   hide

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							A Reader
						
							few weeks ago						
One of the most entertaining books I have ever read. Couldn't put it down...in my top 3 books of all time. Absolutely brilliant.

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							A Reader
						
							few weeks ago						
This goes in the "quirky protagonist with a mental disability" category, so if you liked "The Curious Affair of the Dog at Midnight"  or the television show "Monk", you're game for this.  The narrator here has Tourette's and is a likable, engaging fellow.  He's a member of a band of guys from an orphanage ["All of motherless Brooklyn"] recruited to help 'move furniture' by an older guy who he...more
 This goes in the "quirky protagonist with a mental disability" category, so if you liked "The Curious Affair of the Dog at Midnight"  or the television show "Monk", you're game for this.  The narrator here has Tourette's and is a likable, engaging fellow.  He's a member of a band of guys from an orphanage ["All of motherless Brooklyn"] recruited to help 'move furniture' by an older guy who he reveres.  The death of his mentor sends him out into the world to try to make sense of what is going on around him.

Recommended!   hide

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							A Reader
						
							few weeks ago						
Interesting concept, really well written but ultimately not as satisfying as I hoped it would be.  The mystery at the center of the book never lives up to its potential and the characters seemed a bit one dimensional.  That said, telling a detective story from the perspective of a man with Tourette's had me hooked and engaged throughout.  If you like books like The Curious Incident of the Dog in...more
 Interesting concept, really well written but ultimately not as satisfying as I hoped it would be.  The mystery at the center of the book never lives up to its potential and the characters seemed a bit one dimensional.  That said, telling a detective story from the perspective of a man with Tourette's had me hooked and engaged throughout.  If you like books like The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time you might dig this.   hide

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							Robert
						
							few weeks ago						
Used his ability to make a disablity understandable. Also liked how the author used Brookyn neighborhoods and its residents as chracters

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							A Reader
						
							few weeks ago						
I miss Lionel Essrog and his word mash ups.

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							A Reader
						
							few weeks ago						
I loved this off-beat novel about a low level detective with Tourette's Syndrome.  Ha!

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							A Reader
						
							few weeks ago						
One of THE most funny books ever written.  It's the story of Lionel Essrog, Brooklyn native and Tourette's Syndrome-ladden detective, working for the Mafia.  When his boss, Frank Minna, is killed, it sends him on a wild investigation with many bouts of shouting, cursing in tougues, and hilarious, unbriddled fun.  Look to be amazed at the writing style of this wonderful author,...more
 One of THE most funny books ever written.  It's the story of Lionel Essrog, Brooklyn native and Tourette's Syndrome-ladden detective, working for the Mafia.  When his boss, Frank Minna, is killed, it sends him on a wild investigation with many bouts of shouting, cursing in tougues, and hilarious, unbriddled fun.  Look to be amazed at the writing style of this wonderful author, Jonathan Lethem.   hide

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							Vicky
						
							few weeks ago						
Tell your story walking, and how a joke can solve a murder crime. Greatly enjoyed this book and especially liked Lionel Essrogg.

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