Finished We 3/31/21
I had seen the movie when it first came out, and I heard a podcast with Edward Norton and decided to re-watch. I liked it so much that I ordered the novel from Amazon and got it on Fr 3/19/21.
The book and the movie are completely different, although I loved them both. The movie had more (nothing in the novel) about the legendary New York City real estate mogul, Robert Moses and I was kind of hoping he would be a subject in the book. This notorious land developer probably had more effect on the history of Manhattan than any other public official in history.
From the book's page at Wikipedia:
"The story is set in Brooklyn, and follows Lionel Essrog, a detective who has Tourette's, a disorder marked by involuntary tics. Essrog works for Frank Minna, a small-time neighborhood owner of a "seedy and makeshift" detective agency."
"Lionel Essrog is a lonely private detective who doesn't let Tourette's syndrome stand in the way of his job. Gifted with a few clues and an obsessive mind, Lionel sets out to solve the murder of Frank Minna -- his mentor and only friend. Scouring the jazz clubs and slums of Brooklyn and Harlem, Essrog soon uncovers a web of secrets while contending with thugs, corruption and the most dangerous man in the city."
From the back of the book:
" Lionel Essrog is Brooklyn's very own self-appointed Human Freakshow, and orphan whose Tourettic impulses drive him to bark, count, and rip apart our language in startling and original ways. Together with three veterans of St. Vincent's Home for Boys, he works for small-time mobster frank Minna's limo service cum detective agency. Life without Frank Minna, the charismatic King of Brooklyn, would be unimaginable, so who cares if the tasks he sets for them are, well, not exactly legal. But when Frank is fatally stabbed, one of Lionel's colleagues lands in jail, the other two vie for his position, and the victim's widow skips town, Lionel's world is suddenly topsy-turvy, and this outcast who has trouble even conversing attempts to untangle the threads of the case while trying to keep the words straight in his head....totally captivating homage to the classic detective tale..."
A link to Slate's comparison on the book and the movie:
https://slate.com/culture/2019/11/motherless-brooklyn-book-movie-comparison-differences.html
***I would love to read a biography of Robert Moses and I would give almost anything to read a bio of Harry J. Anslinger, America's first and most notorious drug czar.
Odd Facts: The book says that there are two entirely different bakeries that make Oreo cookies. One of the characters is able to taste the difference between the two different styles of cookies. (p. 142).
Don Martin, the famous cartoonist from Mad Magazine is mentioned.
If you are "pulling the tug" you are going against the grain- a phrase that Frank uses often.
"Tell it walking"- Frank says when he wants someone to hurry up with the explanation.
JOKE: A customer to a Buddhist hot dog vendor- "Make me one with everything".
I really liked the book and I even found Jonathan Lethem's first novel, 'Amnesia Moon' on the shelf in hardback. I can't wait to get into this one and I'll keep my eyes peeled for anything else by Lethem.
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