Join a book club that is reading Motherless Brooklyn!

Federal Way Book Club

We're a friendly group of people who like to discuss books in a relaxed atmosphere while eating food. We read both fiction and nonfiction and variety is encouraged. Most of us joined this group to read books we might not have otherwise picked up by ourselves (and to meet people of course!). We meet in person, and therefore can only accept members who live in the Seattle/Tacoma area.

Motherless Brooklyn

NATIONAL BOOK CRITICS CIRCLE AWARD WINNER A complusively readable riff on the classic detective novel from America's most inventive novelist.

"A half-satirical cross between a literary novel and a hard-boiled crime story narrated by an amateur detective with Tourette's syndrome.... The dialogue crackles with caustic hilarity.... Unexpectedly moving." The Boston Globe


Brooklyn's very own self-appointed Human Freakshow, Lionel Essrog is an orphan whose Tourettic impulses drive him to bark, count, and rip apart our language in startling and original ways. Together with three veterans of the 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 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. 

Motherless Brooklyn is a brilliantly original, captivating homage to the classic detective novel by one of the most acclaimed writers of his generation.

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311 pages

Average rating: 6.5

24 RATINGS

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Community Reviews

Anonymous
Jan 14, 2025
6/10 stars
The plot really dragged- not a great mystery. I enjoyed Lionel Essrog as a character but found it a bit far fetched that he would try to find his mentor’s killer with no help and no weapon.
The Nerdy Narrative
Jul 19, 2024
10/10 stars
This one belongs on your shelf! I laughed so much throughout this adventure and I am so glad to own it as it will be one I will revisit time and again when I need a book that is guaranteed to having me laughing aloud and having the best kind of reading enjoyment.
ammareadabook
Jun 26, 2020
I was pleasantly surprised by this unique story. I'm happy to finally cross it off my TBR. P. S. I recommend the audiobook

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