Rating: 
Summary: Brilliant.
Review: Lethem's writing seems to be totally hit or miss for me: I loved "Gun, With Occasional Music," I hated "Amnesia Moon" and had similar reactions to stories in his collection "Wall of the Sky, Wall of the Eye." Fortunately, this falls on the love side of my Lethem fence. Lethem's protagonist, Lionel Essrog, was raised in an orphanage in Brooklyn and suffers from Tourette's syndrome. Since becoming a teenager he has been a "Minna Man," part of a group of orphans turned into wanna-be wiseguys operated by a low-level hood. Things get going with a bang as Minna is murdered right off the bat, leaving the four Minna Men to try and figure out what happened and if they can trust each other. The mystery isn't all that special in it's own right and the climax spins a little out of control-but Lethem's deft humanization of a Tourette's sufferer is brilliant and affecting, more than making up for any plot deficiencies. Lethem is a writer who fires off literary pyrotechnics which sometimes blow up in his face, fortunately here they light up the page in a most delightfully unexpected way.
Rating:
Summary: Brilliant-but flawed. Nevertheless, I loved it.
Review: Jonathan Lethem has to be the most frustrating writer around. His novels seem to be either brilliant (Motherless Brooklyn, Gun with Occasional Music) or truly awful (Girl in Landscape, Amnesia Moon). Blessed with any extraordinary imagination and a deft and persuasive writing voice, his better novels have the potential to be true iconoclastic masterpieces. All have fallen frustratingly short of that mark however, though Motherless Brooklyn comes close to that status. The flaws are generally the same-too many major story elements that don't always mesh well, secondary characters that are a bit too much off the wall, too much dedication to the concept of the story as opposed to dedication to the story itself. Nevertheless, when he's close to on his mark-as he is here-it can be compelling reading. Motherless Brooklyn takes the concept of the "misfit" detective to an extreme. Lionel Essrog is a detective in name only. The "agency" he works for is in actuality a "gofer" shop owned by a man with loose mob connections that essentially runs errands for mobsters who want to keep things at arms length. And Lionel's status within the shop is marginal indeed-he's the gofer for the gofers, largely because his Tourette's syndrome undermines his "usefulness" as others see it. However, when his boss is killed Lionel becomes a detective in fact and seeks to track down the killer. The story revolves around the workings on the fringe of the mob, religious cults and internecine family warfare, major story elements that at times are a bit out of joint with one another. However, the characters are well developed, and while this is not a true "detective" or "suspense" novel in the traditional sense, the thread of the story is compelling and the suspense sufficient to the task, for the true object here is to see how a man with Tourette's syndrome, congenitally conditioned by both his disease and those around him to see himself as marginalized, overcomes all that to blossom into true, mature, fully engaged adulthood. It is a fascinating and well-crafted exposition. I can only hope that one day Lethem can put it all together and reach his ultimate potential-I have no doubt such an effort could only be described as a masterpiece. I hope I get to read it.
Rating: 
Summary: Nothing to write home about
Review: I picked up this book on Amazon after I saw it at the local Barnes & Noble on the 'must have' list for reading groups. Maybe my expectations were too high, but it really wasn't all that spectacular. It was just sort of there... If you are interested in Tourettes, it seems like you might be better off readin Icy Sparks, and if you are interested in mysteries, well...this one is OK. Just nothing to write home about...
Rating:
Summary: Lethem's wildly inventive language makes it special
Review: Jonathan Lethem's National Book Critics Circle Award winning "Motherless Brooklyn" (MB) is both detective thriller and serious novel. It is also curiously cinematic and hence likely that some big movie studio will soon buy the rights to exploit to the full the "noir-ish" qualities of this eminently filmable thriller. All the elements you'd expect of a book of this genre are there - shady underground characters ranging from gangster bossmen to their threatening sidekicks, from the ambitious boss wannabee who tries too hard to the inevitable femme fatale who mysteriously disappears, etc, etc. The plot is chock full of suspense and never less than rivetting but these aren't what make MB special. The magic lies in Lethem's boldly inventive but risky way with language. That takes some courage but it works because the scatty prose pulsates to Essrog's Tourettish tics. Frank Minna and his boys may put him down and call him "freakshow" to his face but it's still Lionel Essrog, the underdog, who delivers and we hear ourselves rooting for him. Believe the hype. MB makes an incredibly gripping read and deserves all the praise heaped on it.
Rating: 
Summary: Another book from a very versatile writer
Review: A very nice book that requires some patience at points, but is definitely worth the read. For hard boiled detective fans it has all the elements with a very unique main character.
Rating:
Summary: A Modern Day Masterpiece
Review: Jonathan Lethem has outdone himself with this work. While at points going overboard on the description and the picture-painting, one cannot help but play out their own movie-type setting in Brooklyn and in Lionel's head. This was one book that I could hardly put down and when I did put it down, it wasn't more than an hour that I was back to it, pulled in, enthralled by this elaborate Murder She Wrote vs. Wiseguy vs. Medical Journal....Lionel's ecstaticism in his own mind and how he dealt with the events served as a story within a story within a story. The running commentary is enough for even the novice reader to keep up with the estranged plot. This book is entertaining to begin with; Lethem makes sure the reader is paying attention with his gross use of "Eatme"-isms. Then it becomes captivating as the reader tries to understand a very misunderstood man and sympathize with his affliction yet admire his will and sense of mind to piece this crooked puzzle together. Finally, it comes together like a symphony, everything in unison, most everything making sense and the reader being left with a strong sense of satisfaction after flipping to the last page. But the book's strong subtext to not take anything for face value can deliver a powerful message to everyone. Thank You Mr. Lethem for making this such a readable piece of work that I can assure you will be read over and over.
Rating:
Summary: a thrill to read, if not exactly a thriller
Review: the book is a wonderful surprise and delightful read. it (or i) kind of had a slow start, i must admit, but somewhere along the 2nd chapter it began to take off--and never came back down again. lethem's use of language is precise while beguilingly casual, much of the imagery simply brilliant, and the chapters' titles perfectly echoing their content and making even greater impact when you've read them through. and he captures the world of lionel's (that's the main character and the narrator) tourette's in such fine and imaginative details that it in turn captures our imagination. among other things, i'll never listen to prince's "kiss" (or look at a don martin cartoon) again without thinking of lionel's interpretation of it... although the whole book relates mainly what happened in only 3 days, the plot develops quickly, full of scenes and twists with more than a touch of dark comicality. with exception perhaps for the last chapter (which i think is a little bit weak, especially compared to the preceeding & so powerfully written ones), i've enjoyed most of the book immensely, and would gladly recommend this richly original novel.
Rating:
Summary: It's true...
Review: It seems silly to write a glowing review of a book that received so many glowing reviews, and yet... I never read detective novels, and only read this because someone literally put it in my hands when I was rummaging around looking for something to read. By the fourth page, I was grabbing people around me and saying, "Hey, listen to this," which is also something I never do (because making people listen to snippets of novels they haven't read yet is truly obnoxious). I was jazzed about this book, though, cover to cover. I gulped it all down in a big, hard swallow.
Rating:
Summary: Highly inventive and well written contemporary fiction
Review: Lionel Essrog must rank as one of the most original narrators of a novel in contemporary fiction. He deals in good faith with his Tourette's syndrome, gently educating us, amid the harsh and brutal reality of Brooklyn. Essrog is a kind of existential orphan in a motherless city. He is consumed with finding order, patterns, balance, symmetry and controlling urges to scream his innermost sensibilities in public. His friends call him "Freak Show" and yet he has one of the most endearing narrative voices in modern fiction -- gentle, highly intelligent, vulnerable and humane, like Billy Pilgrim in Slaughterhouse Five. Essrog rides through New York's subways noting how they offer a structure and canvass for irrepressible, subterranean human expressions like his. The protagonist seeks and finds the hidden gems of beauty that lie well hidden in the harsh starkness of the city. The characters like the city are original and real with freakish overtones which stop short of stereotypes. The novel is steeped in the language, street culture and underground economy that is Brooklyn. The plot is entertaining, the dialogue is authentic and the octopus joke is hilarious. The author does a great job weaving an intricate plot structure of apparently unconnected forces that come together naturally and masterfully. The word play through Essrog's Tourettic sensibilities were lyrical, poetic and even Joycean in places. I really enjoyed this novel's gritty urban realism and its flashes of real comic wit from a highly talented and inventive writer. This is a great piece of contemporary literature that's a genuine pleasure to read.
Rating:
Summary: The ticklish underbelly of Brooklyn
Review: Jonathan Lethem uses the English language with such adroitness, you will not only read his books, you will live them. "Motherless Brooklyn" is a clever, comical romp with some of the quirkiest characters I've come across in a long time. (If you liked John Kennedy Toole's "A Confederacy of Dunces", you'll enjoy this one too) The Tourette's stricken protagonist, the endearing Lionel, is portrayed with such realism that you wonder if Mr. Lethem himself may be obsessive/compulsive to some extent. Lionel's overwhelming need to repeat sounds and touch everything within reach was not only entertaining but educational. I felt true compassion for his his affliction, and a better understanding of those who suffer from it...although I guiltily admit it was hysterical at times! But this was Lethem's objective, and he succeeded well enough to have me laughing alound at least once per chapter. I gave it only 4 stars, because it was slow reading at times..but perhaps that was because I reread some of the more eloquent descriptions of the mundane. Thoroughly entertaining. Well written. A must read! Now, on to the next "Lethem"...
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