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| Plot Summary of Motherless Brooklyn |
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"Narrator Lionel Essrog is an orphan who has Tourette's syndrome (the often uncontrollable urge to shout nonsense, touch every surface in reach, and rearrange objects). In the 1970s he and a small group of other boys were "borrowed" from St. Vincent's Home in Brooklyn by Frank Minna, a local small-time crime boss and fixer, for odd jobs.
Now, some years later, they're the "Minna Men," who work out of their mentor's "detective agency/limo service" but mostly receive stolen goods, smash up things when ordered to, and occasionally serve as weak guards. But one terrible night Frank Minna is fatally stabbed and thrown into a dumpster, and Lionel must become a real detective.
His search for Frank's killer leads through Frank's bitter wife Julia, who leaves town fast; the strange storefront Zen Buddhist temple that was Frank's last stop before he died; and ultimately to a small town on the coast of Maine where powerful Japanese business interests have revived the local fishing industry due to their willingness to pay big money for urchin eggs. And through it all, Lionel must try to control his Tourette's.
This terrific, engaging literary noir, published in 1999, surely sports one of the strangest private eyes ever seen."
David Loftus, Resident Scholar
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| Review Analysis of Motherless Brooklyn |
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Our unique search engine provides a wealth of detail about books by breaking them down into many different literary elements, all of which are searchable (click here).
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Ratings are on a 1-10 scale (Low to High)
Plot
Tone of book?
- thoughtful
Time/era of story
- 1980's-1999
Kids growing up/acting up?
Yes
Internal struggle/realization?
Yes
Crime & Police story
Yes
Story of
- catching a killer
Is this an adult or child's book?
- Adult or Young Adult Book
Age group of kid(s) in story:
- high school
Something wrong upstairs/downstairs?
- physical illness/disability
Parents/lack of parents problem?
- orphan story
Wild kid(s)?
- committing crimes
Brain/Body disability?
- mental illness
Main Character
Gender
- Male
Profession/status:
- thief/con artist
Age:
- 20's-30's
Eccentric/Mental
Yes
Eccentric:
- eccentric
- mentally ill
Ethnicity/Nationality
- White (American)
How sensitive is this character?
- sensitive to others' feelings
Sense of humor
- Strong but gentle sense of humor
Intelligence
- Average intelligence
Physique
- average physique
Main Adversary
Identity:
- Male
Age:
- 40's-50's
Profession/status:
- mastermind
How much of work is main antagonist actually present in:
- a moderate amount
How sensitive is this character?
- hard edged
Sense of humor
- Cynical sense of humor
Intelligence
- Smarter than most other characters
Physique
- average physique
Setting
United States
Yes
The US:
- Northeast
City?
Yes
City:
- New York
Small town?
Yes
Small town people:
- hostile, like Gomer Pyle on steroids
Style
Person
- mostly 1st
Accounts of torture and death?
- moderately detailed references to deaths
Sex in book?
Yes
What kind of sex:
- touching of anatomy
- actual description of hetero sex
Lot of foul language?
Yes
Amount of dialog
- roughly even amounts of descript and dialog
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Click here for more information about this book
Jonathan Lethem Resident Scholar Profiles
TOP SCHOLAR:
 David Loftus
SCHOLARS:
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Note: the views expressed here are only those of the reviewer(s). | |
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