44 pages • 1 hour read
Jonathan LethemMotherless Brooklyn
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1999A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Chapter 7Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 7 Summary: “Formerly Known”
The narrative departs from Lionel’s first-person narration. In a clipped and no-nonsense style, the narrative reveals the backstory of the two brothers and their relationship with Julia. This is presumably what Julia imparts to Lionel at the lighthouse.
Julia grew up outside Boston and was fascinated early on by Buddhism. She visited the Maine retreat center after she dropped out of college and decided to study there. There she met Gerard Minna, who had an interest in Buddhism. The two became lovers. Later, Gerard brought his younger brother, Frank, to the retreat center to protect him from mobsters back in Brooklyn. The brothers had been working as go-betweens, shuttling stolen goods between the mobsters and their clients in swanky suburban Westchester.
The brothers started skimming until the mobsters ordered a hit on them. This is why Frank disappeared to Maine. As Gerard continued his study in Buddhism, Frank courted Julia. The two returned to Brooklyn, married. When the mobsters’ flunkeys spotted Frank on the Brooklyn streets, Frank saved his skin only by blaming his brother for the skimming and promising to the two mobsters absolute fealty. That began the years of working the streets of Brooklyn for the mob, during which time he recruited the boys from the orphanage.
Lionel guesses the rest, how Frank and Gerard began to skim from the Fujisaki Corporation using the bookkeeper to launder the monies. When Fujisaki discovered the money leak, Gerard fingered his own brother and Ullman, the bookkeeper. The corporation then directed Gerard to get rid of them. However, Gerard also had to eliminate the only two loose ends: Tony and Julia. Lionel quickly figures out that Julia and Tony were lovers. Gerard dispatched the giant to kill Tony and retrieve Julia, whom he still loved.
Suddenly, the narrative returns to the lighthouse in the present. Julia pulls a gun out of her purse and aims it at Lionel; Lionel pulls out his gun and the two hold each at bay. Julia suspects that Lionel made up this giant and that he himself is responsible for all the killing. Lionel, however, has an inexplicable, unexpected change of heart. In quick order, he throws his gun into the ocean. He then swiftly disarms Julia and throws her gun into the ocean. He throws his cell phone and then even throws one of his shoes: “It’s over, Julia” (302).
Lionel recognizes that Julia truly loved Frank, and without him, she is alone, unhappy and unreachable. He says goodbye, gets into his car, and heads back to Brooklyn.
Chapter 7 Analysis
The narrative here finally reaches the denouement. We see now that solving Frank’s murder and resolving the chaos in Lionel’s head are not the same endeavors. Certainly, Julia’s confession at the lighthouse—rendered in a dispassionate and reportorial directness—at last provides Lionel (and us) with Frank Minna’s backstory, all played out in a scene familiar to aficionados of detective fiction while two characters hold each other at gunpoint. We see the depth of Frank’s involvement with criminal activities: his indebtedness to a crime syndicate, his desperate play for his life at the expense of his brother, and in turn his brother’s own betrayal. Through Julia’s backstory, the narrative reveals her involvement with both brothers, and the murder of Frank Minna is clarified into a clear chain of events. As Lionel says to Julia, “The story’s over” (301).
Yes, the mystery is solved—we know who killed Frank and even some sense of motivation—yet Lionel’s story continues. The how and the what do not satisfy the why. Lionel is left with the revelation of his mentor as evil, duplicitous, and criminal. We recall the good and bad Oreos that were, in the end, impossible to distinguish. Lionel’s illumination is complete, yet not shared with the reader. Lionel abandons his role as detective and becomes the very image Kimmery extended to him of good and evil. He returns to Brooklyn at peace, now a Zen detective.
The chapter is titled “Formerly Known,” a reference to Prince and his midcareer decision to call himself by an unpronounceable glyph. The move fascinates Lionel, how Prince could so suddenly and completely redefine himself, change his identity, and tap into a way to tell the world “you cannot know me.” Lionel adopts this position as he drives away from the lighthouse; he is now the detective formerly known as Lionel Essrog.
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By Jonathan Lethem
