August 2024 Author Video - Jonathan Lethem

 

August 2024

Jonathan Lethem

Motherless Brooklyn 

Character List for Motherless Brooklyn

Motherless Brooklyn (the crew from St. Vincent’s Home for Boys) aka the “Minna Men”

Lionel Essrog—aka “Freakshow,” aka “Alibi,” aka “Crazyman”; the narrator, who has Tourette’s syndrome

Gilbert “Gil” Coney—a tough guy, but tolerant of and close to Lionel; on stakeout with Lionel at beginning of book

Tony Vermonte—the oldest of the crew and favored by Frank Minna

Danny Fantl—a black kid who passes for white, a basketball player, the first to be sent for driving lessons, and the one chosen for private deliveries

The Minnas and Their “Associates”

Frank Minna—owner of a “car service” business (L & L) that’s a cover for a “detective agency” that’s a cover for something else; he plucked the Motherless Brooklyn crew from St. Vincent’s when they were teens; they work for him

Gerard Minna—Frank’s older brother who spirited Frank out of town a few years after Frank first hires Motherless Brooklyn; he didn’t return when Frank came back three years later at Carlotta’s death

Carlotta Minna—Frank and Gerard’s mother; Frank “inherited” her apartment when he returned

Julia Minna—the woman Frank Minna met and married while he was away with Gerard

Ullman—an accountant

“the giant”—a Polish strongman . . . . if he exists

Alphonso Matricardi

Leonardo Rockaforte—aka “the Clients”; shadow figures connected with some of Frank Minna’s “detective” work who seemed to make Minna uneasy

Characters Connected with the Yorkville Zendo

Kimmery—one of the students at the Yorkville Zendo; she’s the girl who entered the Zendo before Frank Minna on the day of the “stakeout” at the beginning of the book

Wallace—an “old hippie” who’s a serious student and “stoic sitter” at the Zendo

Jerry-Roshi—the roshi (leader) of the Zendo; he turns out to be Gerard Minna

The “Law”

Lucius Seminole—the homicide detective in charge of finding Frank Minna’s killer

Loomis—aka “the garbage cop”; a friend of Gilbert Coney who works as a sanitation inspector