A Gamblers Anatomy, Jonathan Lethem
A Gamblers Anatomy, Jonathan Lethem
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A Gambler's Anatomy

Author: Jonathan Lethem

Narrator: Mark Deakins

Unabridged: 10 hr 33 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 10/18/2016


Synopsis

The author of Motherless Brooklyn and The Fortress of Solitude returns with a devilishly entertaining novel about an international backgammon hustler who thinks he's psychic. Too bad about the tumor in his face.

Handsome, impeccably tuxedoed Bruno Alexander travels the world winning large sums of money from amateur "whales" who think they can challenge his peerless acumen at backgammon. Fronted by his pasty, vampiric manager, Edgar Falk, Bruno arrives in Berlin after a troubling run of bad luck in Singapore. Perhaps it was the chance encounter with his crass childhood acquaintance Keith Stolarsky and his smoldering girlfriend Tira Harpaz. Or perhaps it was the emergence of a blot that distorts his vision so he has to look at the board sideways.

Things don't go much better in Berlin. Bruno's flirtation with Madchen, the striking blonde he meets on the ferry, is inconclusive; the game at the unsettling Herr Kohler's mansion goes awry as his blot grows worse; he passes out and is sent to the local hospital, where he is given an extremely depressing diagnosis. Having run through Falk's money, Bruno turns to Stolarsky, who, for reasons of his own, agrees to fly Bruno to Berkeley, and to pay for the experimental surgery that might save his life.

Berkeley, where Bruno discovered his psychic abilities, and to which he vowed never to return. Amidst the patchouli flashbacks and Anarchist gambits of the local scene, between Tira's come-ons and Keith's machinations, Bruno confronts two existential questions: Is the gambler being played by life?  And what if you're telepathic but it doesn't do you any good?

About The Author

JONATHAN LETHEM is the New York Times bestselling author of nine novels, including Dissident Gardens, The Fortress of Solitude, and Motherless Brooklyn; three short story collections; and two essay collections, including The Ecstasy of Influence, which was a National Book Critics Circle Award finalist. A recipient of the MacArthur Fellowship and winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award for Fiction, Lethem's work has appeared in The New Yorker, Harper's Magazine, Rolling Stone, Esquire, and The New York Times, among other publications.


Reviews

Goodreads review by ☘Misericordia☘ on March 04, 2018

A DNF of sorts. It went disjointedly repetitive somewhere around the middle... Q: The Berliners all spoke English, and even when they didn’t, the meanings bled through. In Singapore the alien tongues of Mandarin, Malay, and Tamil had left him happily sealed in his cone of incomprehension. (c) Q: Additio......more

Goodreads review by Sam on June 11, 2021

Professional backgammon player Alexander Bruno discovers he has a growth behind his nose that’s pressing against his eyes and producing a permanent blot in his vision. By chance, he meets a high school acquaintance who’s since become a real estate mogul and decides to bankroll Bruno’s life-saving su......more

Goodreads review by Marie on October 31, 2016

A strange, unique, intellectual novel. This, my first Jonathan Lethem novel, was decidedly interesting yet eclectic. It was full of twists & turns as well as obscure references to historical, literary and film characters. I felt that this book was in a genre the opposite of “chick-lit.” It seemed ge......more

Goodreads review by Ron on October 12, 2016

Jonathan Lethem’s new novel combines a little of the intrigue of James Bond with all the sexiness of backgammon. The result is a literary game that’s shaken not stirred. But that’s hardly the weirdest mash-up in “A Gambler’s Anatomy, ” the latest from this MacArthur “genius” who’s been splicing toge......more

Goodreads review by Jonathan on September 25, 2022

Rating: 2.96 A staff pick at the local library, when compared to "Motherless Brooklyn", this is a major disappointment due to a lackluster pace, oddball plot and most importantly, a backgammon gambler. Alexander Bruno grew up in Berkeley and became best friends with Stolarsky, who like himself was an......more


Quotes

New York Times Book Review Notable Book of 2016 

"In his new novel, he seems to be channeling (and, as usual, transforming) both Thomas Pynchon and Ian Fleming...in short, just another day in Lethemland, as strange and wondrous in its way as anyplace imagined by L. Frank Baum."
--Chicago Tribune 

"A thoughtful, first-rate novel that also happens to be a page-turner."
--New York Times Book Review

"Delightfully weird..."
--Vogue

"A Gambler’s Anatomy will lead more than one reader to rummage around in the back of their closet (or local toy store) for a backgammon set…mesmerizing, twisty, fearless.”
--San Francisco Chronicle

“An effortless blend of comic hijinks and madcap tragedy…Lethem serves up a punchy, stylish, relentlessly entertaining novel.”
--Star Tribune