Motherless Brooklyn (Magill’s Literary Annual 1991-2005)
At a glance:
- Author: Jonathan Lethem
- First Published: 1999
- Type of Work: Novel
- Time of Work: The 1970’s to the 1980’s
- Setting: Brooklyn and Manhattan
- Principal Characters: Frank Minna, Lionel Essrog
- Genres: Long fiction
- Subjects: 1970’s, New York, North America or North Americans, Northeast, U.S., United States or Americans, Crime or criminals, Murder or homicide, New York City, 1980’s, Detectives, Organized crime, Speech, Orphans or orphanages, Stereotypes, Zen Buddhism, Compulsive behavior
- Locales: Manhattan, NY, Brooklyn, NY
Motherless Brooklyn, Jonathan Lethem’s fifth novel, begins with two detectives, Lionel Essrog and Gilbert Coney, on a stakeout, keeping watch over a Zen meditation center in Manhattan. (Essrog is not the typical fictional detective; he suffers from Tourette’s syndrome, a psychological condition causing a variety of compulsive behaviors.) Although Essrog and Coney are staking out the Zen center for their boss, Frank Minna, he, typically, has not told them what they are supposed to be watching for or why. Minna’s unexpected appearance at the Zen center leads to his abduction...
[The entire page is 1864 words long]
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