![]() ![]() Lionel’s tics cast him as an outsider of sorts, and he is viewed by other characters throughout the novel as being deficient in one way or another as a result of his condition. It is this rag-tag group, which Lionel deals with on a daily basis, and they provide the novel with its title. Vincent’s Home for Boys, an orphanage in Brooklyn, folding them into a group of livery cab drivers-cum-operatives referred to as Minna Men. More externally, Lionel is engaged in getting to the bottom of the mystery of the disappearance of his mentor and employer, Frank Minna, a savvy street hood who adopted Lionel and several others from St. The necessity of curbing and harnessing these impulses is among the principle struggles that Lionel engages in throughout the novel. He introduces himself to open the book with a description of his particular ‘quirk,’ which is a fairly severe case of Tourette’s syndrome, which causes him to compulsively blurt out frequently obscene and inappropriate words as well as to compulsively touch those with whom he comes into contact. The first indication that this is the case is the unconventional aspect its narrator, Lionel Essrog, brings to the table. Motherless Brooklyn is at once a traditional detective story and a playful send-up of many elements and tropes common to the genre. ![]()
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