Can a book feed your own mental tics or does it simply remind you of what is already going on? Generally, when I read fiction it doesn’t cause me to stop and consider whether or not I have similar traits.

I’ve been diagnosed with a mild form of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD), which tends to get a bit more noticeable when I get tired or nervous. If you’ve ever seen the film AS GOOD AS IT GETS or the television show MONK, you’ll have an idea of what extreme OCD can be. Of course, in both the movie and program the OCD is played mostly for laughs and many sufferers don’t find their own symptoms particularly funny.

Motherless Brooklyn by Jonathan Lethem features a hero with Tourette’s syndrome.
Brilliantly written and capturing the spirit of working class Brooklyn, as seen through the eyes of one Lionel Essrog. An orphan, Lionel (known to his friends as the Free Human Freakshow, or simply Freakshow) grows up suffering from a disorder he cannot explain or understand. It’s only when he becomes involved with low-level wiseguys Frank & Gerard Mina, that he discovers that his symptoms have a name and he’s not the only individual who suffers from this disorder. Lionel, along with fellow orphans Tony, Danny & Gilbert become the “Minna Men”, the errand boys for the two brothers, especially Frank. When Frank is murdered Lionel decides it is his mission to solve the mystery and avenge Frank if he can.

Lionel, of course, has both OCD and Tourette’s to an extreme degree, making ordinary conversation and social interaction difficult enough. Toss in a mysterious Japanese organization, a giant Polish hitman and assorted mob wannabes and you can imagine what poor Freakshow has to deal with as he seeks redemption and a form of justice.

Winner of a National Book Critic’s Award when it was published in 1999, Lethem also had a New York Times bestseller with his FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE a couple of years ago. As in that book, Lethem tosses in comic book, television and movie references in odd moments. At one point he actually digresses during a tender and romantic scene to talk about MAD magazine artist Don Martin’s drawing style and humor.

Not to everyone’s taste, but I think that this book is something that might just interest those with seeking something a little different.