I'm asking myself why I decided to give a murder mystery 5 stars. I know that 5 stars should be reserved for classics, or for touted literature, or for heralded authors. But for me, five star books are usually the ones whose authors have managed to somehow pierce through the veil of disinterest that I have built up over decades of reading too many okay or mediocre to bad books, and too few stories of refreshing excellence. I love being surprised, or delighted, or captivated -- first by the words, then by the stories. I will also settle for the stories if the words are not brilliant, or if nothing else will do I'll settle into a completely forgettable beach read, which is where a whole lot of the detective/mystery genre usually falls. 
 But Lethem's book is not just a beach read detective story. The protagonist, Lionel, is an unforgettable character whose mental dialogue with himself about his own behavior (as a Tourette's sufferer) allows us an unusual opportunity to occupy Lionel's mind's stream-of-consciousness. Yes, he has Tourette's syndrome, and therefore it is easy to distance yourself from his flow of thoughts because they are so unique... but on the other hand Lionel becomes almost instantly a cherished friend and one of the most relatable characters I've ever run across. And I think one reason for this is because we all have some similar running dialogue going on all the time in our own heads -- about what we should do next, what we just did that we shouldn't have done, what we've just said that might be offensive, or just why the hell did I say that. The difference of course is that the rest of us "normal" people keep our thoughts hidden... often from ourselves as well as from others. 
 It was also sobering to witness the contrast of Lionel's more quiet moments, when he was not frantically swallowing his words or his thoughts, when he was instead reflecting quietly and sanely about life and other people and our effects on each other. 
 What I loved most about this story, however, was the joyful play of language. Lethem used the venue of Tourette's to engage us in ingenious wordplay. It reminded me of when I was very young, and we used to rattle off pig latin or some variation of gibberish language to each other, safe from the adults in our secret word games. After reading this, I couldn't hear anyone speaking without wanting to rattle off counterpart word flips and inversions and other fascinating manipulations. 
 I notice a lot of reviewers have hedged their bets with Lethem's Motherless Brooklyn, awarding 4 stars even when their commentary discusses how much impact Lionel had on them. Maybe they are comparing this book to others Lethem has written, which I have not read, and all his other books are 5 star in comparison. That's fine with me... I intend to read them all.