Motherless Brooklyn - my review

[Matt2010]

"Motherless Brooklyn" by Jonathan Lethem. You should read it twice to appreciate it in full. The first time you go through it, it's a comedy-drama with detective story overtones, with appealing characters, and comical dialogue laced with tragedy, and the ending leaves you sad. The second time you read it, you'll notice that nearly all the characters have changed a little. The bad guys are suddenly sympathetic, and the good guys - well, except for the lead character, you don't even know who the good guys are anymore. The lead guy has Tourette's, and he's a detective. The girl he falls in love with, who came across as bold earlier, is now timid for all the wrong reasons. His mentor is still a selfish jerk, yet he's an affectionate jerk. And so on. The plot is as twisted as they come, and the many surprises it contains have their own rhythm. Just when you think you've figured it all out, everything suddenly changes, and you find yourself chasing shadows along with the lead character.

The language is at times very, very appealing.

[best4buys]

Motherless Brooklyn is a riff on the hard-boiled detective novel as told by a thirty-year-old with Tourette's Syndrome, Lionel Essrog by name. Lionel and three other orphans at the St. Vincent Home for Boys in Brooklyn were commandeered by a petty but charismatic criminal, Frank Minna to carry out various and sundry jobs in support of Minna's criminal exploits. By so doing, Frank gave Lionel a life and a modicum of respectability and self-esteem. After Frank is murdered, Lionel sets out on his own investigation to discover the killer and wreak vengeance.

While not a great novel, MOTHERLESS BROOKLYN is literate and very entertaining. I would certainly recommend this book to anyone who enjoys reading for either style and or content, although it has to be said that the reader for style will enjoy this more than the once searching for content.

[JoshBransonTeacher]

Motherless Brooklyn sounds interesting - I believe that I've heard about it from a friend as well...I will check it out.

-Josh

[Obasi]

After reading I wanted be a cop..carried his readers mind