Synopses & Reviews
From America's most inventive novelist, Jonathan Lethem, comes this compelling and compulsive riff on the classic detective novel.
Lionel Essrog is Brooklyn's very own Human Freakshow, an orphan whose Tourettic impulses drive him to bark, count, and rip apart 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, the charismatic King of Brooklyn, would be unimaginable. When Frank is fatally stabbed, Lionel's world is suddenly turned upside-down, 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. A compulsively involving a and totally captivating homage to the classic detective tale.Performed by Steve Buscemi
Review
"One of the greatest feats of first-person narration in recent Americn fiction." Washington Post
About the Author
Jonathan Lethem is the author of the novels Gun, with Occasional Music, Amnesia Moon, As She Climbed Across the Table, and Girl in Landscape. He lives in Brooklyn, NY.Steve Buscemi was born in Brooklyn, NY. He has appeared in more than 50 films including Fargo, Reservoir Dogs, Living in Oblivion and The Impostors. He also wrote and directed the film Trees Lounge. On television, he has appeared on L.A. Law and Homicide: Life on the Street.
Exclusive Essay
Read an exclusive essay by Jonathan Lethem