This book wowed me on so many levels: the research, the character development, the way the plot weaved in and out of itself, branched out but kept coming back to the same themes… much like life, only Lethem finds ways to pause life, look down into it and examine it in ways we can’t do on a day-to-day basis. I also loved the way he made Brooklyn come alive. Dean Street becomes a living, breathing entity, the seasons its moods, its inhabitants like phases of our own lives, only here for a while but never completely gone from you when they depart. Outstanding novel, I have no complaints (okay, the switch from third to first person in Prisonaires threw me for a loop, but still) and would recommend it to anyone.