Communication is, of course, a challenge for Lionel. He's an observant and humorous narrator, and if he is occasionally led around by his id, he's aware enough to understand it. Lionel is a likable hero, Tourette's and all, driven to explain and organize around him. Here on the Upper East Side we were off our customary map, Automobile and Terrier in Candyland-or maybe in the study with Colonel Mustard." "Together made a crisscrossed game board of Frank Minna’s alliances and enmities, and me and Gil Coney and the other Agency Men were the markers-like Monopoly pieces, I sometimes thought, tin automobiles or terriers (not top hats, surely)-to be moved around that game board. Things go terribly wrong, and the relationships within Minna's Men become fragile and uncertain. Lionel and Gerald are supposed to be back-up support for Frank at a meeting. Since his teens, Lionel has worked as a small-time muscle for mentor and eventual friend Frank Minna. This is a homicide, a mystery which our protagonist, Lionel, feels compelled to solve. "My mouth won’t quit, though mostly I whisper or subvocalize like I’m reading aloud, my Adam’s apple bobbing, jaw muscle beating like a miniature heart under my cheek, the noise suppressed, the words escaping silently, mere ghosts of themselves, husks empty of breath and tone."īut a man with Tourette's is not really what this is about, not really. It's handled with aplomb, with sensitivity, with humor with an even hand that gives expression to the experience. I was distrustful at first, I admit the protagonist has a serious case of Tourette's Syndrome whiched seemed like an Authorial Big Idea that could go awfully wrong. Really, it was just so pleasant to trust in Lethem, with page after page doing fascinating things. Since it's the end of February that may not sound like much, so I'll throw in December and November of 2017 as well. Motherless Brooklyn is one of the most solidly crafted books I've read this year. Something there must spark the imagination, get at the essence of life. Not to mention a hundred different movies.
What is it about Brooklyn? A Tree Grows in Brooklyn.
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