ABOUT
THE BOOK

All of the Lethem touches that have thrilled critics are here – cracking dialogue, sly humor, dizzying plot twists – but they’re secondary to wonderfully full, tragic, funny characterizations, and a dazzling evocation of place. Indeed, Brooklyn – with its charming folkways and language, its unique style of bad-guy swagger and sentimentality – becomes itself a major character. ‘Motherless Brooklyn’ is a bravura performance: funny, tense, touching, extravagant. This novel signals the coming of age of a major American writer.