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Author Jonathan Lethem gets the work up: A profile AND Michiko review in the Times today. The reason? His new book, Fortress of Solitude, his first since his National Book Critics Circle-winning, Motherless Brooklyn. Ah, the Doubleday publicists are earning their keep.
The profile examines Lethem's Brooklyn roots, in the pre-gentrified days of Smith Street, when blacks and Puerto Ricans were the dominants groups and whites were a small minority - made up of socially-minded (read: hippie) types, and how that is the foundation for Fortress; reporter Diane Cardwell also calls him a hipster celebrity. Michiko Kakutani calls Fortress, "dazzling but fundamentally flawed...with many defects, but a novel that nonetheless attests to [Lethem's] potent storytelling talents." Gothamist will take a very strong mixed review as a good sign, especially since we think Michiko's reviews are a bit wacky anyway. Salon's Peter Kurth thinks that Fortress places Lethem in the "first rank" of American authors.
The Observer on Lethem's and other hipsters' enjoyment of Mafia parties. And Ed Norton is looking to adapt, direct, and probably star in a film of Motherless Brooklyn.
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The book is the business! Michiko's "fundamentally flawed" feelings are often are misdirected and Salon's review is more about Superman than Mr. Lethem. This book is going to do very well, as is his turn and his right. I love you Jonathan.
Michiko Kakutani is the best...
I've had a copy of this book for several weeks now and I have to say I'm having a bit of a hard time getting through the first third of it. I hear it gets better but so far I like "Motherless Brooklyn" a lot more.
That said, his portrayal of Brooklyn in the 70's dead on. I remember many characters like the ones in the book.
Why do guys always talk about Superman? Maybe I'm thinking too much about Seinfeld and his unnerving obsession with it. Is that a dealbreaker, to go out with a guy who is obsessed with a superhero?