Motherless Brooklyn by Jonathan Lethem was first published in 1999. The story is told by Lionel Essrog who considers himself a private investigator. Lionel has Tourette’s Syndrome, a disorder marked by tics, both physical and vocal. He is one of a group of young men who grew up in a local orphanage and as boys, the four of them were taken under the wing of Frank Minna, a small time hood who sometimes calls his business a detective agency and sometimes a transportation company. Lionel and the other boys call themselves the Minna Men, and look up to Frank as a strong father figure. Lionel is devastated when Frank is murdered and vows to hunt down the killer.

While this is not a classic detective story, it is still a story about crime, pursuit and retribution told by a unique voice. Lionel’s Tourette’s shapes the story with his compulsive behavior and strange wording that he cannot control. He taps, grabs, and pats people and things, he needs to ensure that life revolves around certain numbers and his brain seizes on words and spits out vulgar variations.

I found this to be a fantastic yet bittersweet story. Although compulsive and twitchy, Lionel is a both a likeable and sympathetic character. The author has created a darkly poetic, well crafted yet absurd story whose word play enhances the lonely life the book is illuminating. ( )

Best book I've read in a while. ( )

Inside a well-paced, personal mystery set in the streets of Brooklyn, Lethem portrays the mind and voice of a Tourette's sufferer so compellingly, so logically, that I came out wondering if everyone else wasn't wasting their speech. Delightful for anyone obsessed with language, and a good story in and of itself. ( )

Lousy detective novel.

"Tengo síndrome de Tourette". Las palabras salen atropellándose, incontrolables, y las manos no pueden evitar tocar impulsiva y compulsivamente todo lo que tengan cerca. Es el sino de Lionel Essrog, criado en un orfanato y que, junto con sus tres amigos de la infancia, trabaja para un mafiosillo local, Frank Minna, en una agencia ilegal de detectives. El asesinato de Frank le obligará a sumergirse en la trama, compleja y llena de sombras, de relaciones, amenazas y favores que conforman el Brooklyn que él creía conocer tan bien y donde nadie es lo que parece.