Rating: 
Summary: A New Hero
Review: If you're going to open up Lethem's most recent offering, Motherless Brooklyn, you'd better make sure you're comfortable. You're not going to be going anywhere for awhile. I can almost guarantee you'll read the first chapter at least twice in a row before moving on. The story itself is more reality based than many of Lethem's other works, but in no way is it any less original. Motherless Brooklyn revolves around a group of unofficial private detectives, quasi-tough guys who have been working together since they were fourteen when they were plucked out of a Brooklyn orphanage by a crime Lord wannabe. The main character, Lionel Essrog, has an unlikely affliction for a private detective: he suffers from Tourette's Syndrome. He is obsessed with words, numbers, touching, and often finds it difficult to control himself. I don't know if it's a natural progression of writing about someone with Tourette's or premeditated, just another stroke of Lethem's usual genius, but the entire novel is written with just the kind of snappy and bouncy rhythym that would please Lionel greatly. It teases you into re-reading sentences and taunts you into peeking at pages you shouldn't be peeking at yet. The action will make you bite your nails and the mystery will render you incapable of putting the book down, but the real beauty lies in Lethem's characterization. Each character is multi-faceted and so human you can see them. You will miss them you're finished. It's been awhile since I've added to my list of favorite literary figures, but I have a new hero now, and his name is Lionel Essrog.
Rating:
Summary: One of the most creative novels ever
Review: This book has so many twists and takes the reader into so many interesting worlds. Lionel Essrog is the type of character that most writers would portray as a one dimensional afterthought. This story is written from the perspective of the character who's usually the comic relief. Lionel is endearing, believable and so well developed. To think of this "freakshow" of a human being thrown into a film-noirish world of gangsters, crooks and zen buddhists leaves so many possibilities and Lethem puts it all together in a wonderful package. This is the first book I've read in a long time where I was so involved that I would literally yell at the book when Lionel would get in trouble. That is a true feat of writing.
Rating: 
Summary: Very disappointing
Review: I'm surprised to see that this book has generally gotten such positive reviews. I was excited to read it after hearing the author discuss his new book on the radio, but I found it to be ... not very good at all. The writing is fine, and the Tourettes thing is kind of well done, but the plot is absolutely terrible - a sophomoric pastiche of hard-boiled detective stories. I read the whole thing only because it was a quick read and I hate to put down a book, but I really didn't care what happened in the end, and then the ending turned out to be the worst part of the book. Not sure why this author is getting such hype. Perhaps his new book is better.
Rating: 
Summary: A most original novel!
Review: Lionel Esrog, a young man with Tourette's syndrome, is one of a group of youngsters hand-picked by Frank Minna from St. Vincent's Home for Boys to eventually become part of his "Minna Men". At first working for Minna as moving boys, these young men later become his personal "detectives", working under the cover of a car rental service. On one of their jobs, Esrog and a partner suddenly realize realize that their boss has been taken captive and is being sped away by car through the streets of New York city. They must rush after him and not allow him to be lost from view. The race is on!Lethem gives his readers a wonderfully creative and somewhat unusual novel. Throughout the story, Lionel displays the aberrant behavior of a person afflicted with Tourette's Syndrome. Since Lionel is the protagonist, the reader not only experiences Lionel's verbal outbursts and physical tics, but is also given some insight into their manifestation . The story is a mystery, and at times almost becomes a satire of life in New York city. It is fast-paced and funny, with creative word-play, occasional amusing situation descriptions, and even a few (good) jokes. The writing is done so well that, once this story has begun, the book is often hard to put down. As the novel draws to a close, the plot tends to become a bit more complicated and confusing. Nevertheless, it's an exciting, entertaining story and one that should not be missed.
Rating:
Summary: Edward Norton Making a Movie of This?
Review: I admit it. The only reason I picked up this book in the first place was because Edward Norton optioned it as a possible movie. But then something funny happened: I couldn't put it down. I completely see why Norton likes this book. The main character, Lionel Essrog is the ultimate anti-hero: a man afflicted with Tourette's Sydrome who tries to solve a murder with no leads, and nobody to listen to him. Sure, the detective story subplot isn't always edge-of-your-seat, but it's not boring either. Much of this is due to the charm that Lethem brings to his endearing, fractured protagonist, a loner who can't connect with anybody on a physical or emotional level. I'm going to tell you all a secret now. Motherless Brooklyn isn't really a detective story about crimes and murders and what not. Sure, those elements are in there, but in actuality it's a meditation on a man seemingly too smart for his life, but too afflicted with Tourette's to change it. I highly recommend this book. Although I didn't give it five stars, I still think it's memorable and charming enough to curl up with whenever you feel like getting lost in somebody else's world. Cheers...
Rating: 
Summary: You call this noir?
Review: As a crime fiction reader, writer, and Brooklynite, I don't understand the positive reviews of this book. To call it "hardboiled" or even whisper it in the same sentence as true masters like Jim Thompson or David Goodis, whose characters, though "quirky," as Lethem would call them, are part of a real nightmare while Essrog...belongs with Frank Capra in a romantic farce set in a foreign country. At least the people who laud this book seem to be unfamiliar with the likes of Woolrich or Willeford or Spillane, which is a good thing for Lethem. If his book were to be put alongside real crime fiction, people would be able to realize the sham that Motherless Brooklyn is.
Rating:
Summary: Highly unusual
Review: Lionel Essrog is the center of attention in this riveting novel by Jonahtan Lethem--he (Lionel, not the author) has Tourette's Syndrome, that unfortunate and uncontrollable desire to shout, bark, and curse. As if that weren't enough premise, add to this the fact that poor Lionel ends up working for a small-time mobster who runs a limo service. I was expecting something along the lines of a Pahalinuk novel with extreme situations and characters (and I did get that), but I also got something more: great storytelling and a great plot. There are several novels out nowadays that deal with "handicaps" of some sort. This must the going thing. Haddon's THE CURIOUS INCIDIENT deals with autism, and McCrae's BARK OF THE DOGWOOD deals with a child who has Dissociative Identity Disorder, among a host of other ailments, as well as being an abused child. So why not a novel about Tourette's syndrome? One shudders to think what these materials would be like in less capable author's hands, but in all three novels, the ideas work, especially in MOTHERLESS BROOKLYN. I can't recommend this book enough. It's just one of the most unusual things I've read in years.
Rating:
Summary: A minor masterpiece of character
Review: In another writer's hands, the concept of a narrator suffering from Tourettes', and trying to solve a murder could have been a gimmicky mess. Instead, Jonathan Lethem's MOTHERLESS BROOKLYN turns out to be an intriguing, original and fascinating novel. Lethem is not afraid to take chances and his gamble paid off here. While I agree that the mystery itself is secondary to the character studies (and a drop disappointing), the resulting glimpses into the short-circuiting manners of a Tourettes' victim is a minor masterpiece in character study. In fact, the other realm described here, the motherless world of orphans, is equally brilliant and convincing. Give this book a read--I highly and hugely recommend it.
Rating:
Summary: Interesting twist on the detective novel
Review: This book is hard to categorize. Is it a detective novel? A satire of the detective novel? A literary journey through the complexities of language? Who knows, and the book is so thoroughly entertaining that it really doesn't matter what the authors real motives are. The narrator, Lionel Essrog (a name just dying for a Tourettic tic) has Tourette's Syndrome, which makes him a wonderful and unique storyteller. And the reader can't help but laugh out loud at his unexpected yellings and shoulder taps. I kept expecting Lionel to become annoying or to find a cure for his tics, but Lethem gratefully keeps him true to character the entire book. The word associations and spoonerisms that Lionel erupts with will be interesting to anyone who likes wordplay. The detective part of this novel comes in when Minna, a low status criminal, is knifed. It's up to his gang, the Minna Men, of which Lionel is one, to figure out whodunnit. What occurs is a tongue-in-cheek crime story that actually manages to be a pretty good mystery in the end. This is overall a pretty strange book in that it was never what I expected it to be. Hilarious, mysterious, tragic, and touching. How did Lethem manage to do all this in just over 300 pages? I'll be reading another Lethem very soon....
Rating: 
Summary: Spectacuarly un-science fiction
Review: If you have not read any of Jonathan Lethem's other books, this one might turn you off to his Science Fiction abilities. Amnesia Moon is what essentially dragged me into his other books, including this one. This book has less of a twisted plotline than some of his others (for instance, Girl in Landscape); however, the Tourettes is a beautiful touch and I applaud him for it. I gave Motherless Brooklyn three stars for two reasons: One: I much prefer the Sci-Fi touch of his other books, and Two: I have not finished this yet and thus far feel the need for only three stars.
It's a good book if your not expecting him to be in outer space or anything, and it's wonderful if you're into psychology. I wouldn't recommend it if you haven't loved his other books, for the talent would go unnoticed in this one.
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