What is the main conflict in Motherless Brooklyn by Jonathan Lethem?

Motherless Brooklyn is at once a traditional detective story and a playful send-up of many elements and tropes common to the genre. The first indication that this is the case is the unconventional aspect its narrator, Lionel Essrog, brings to the table. He introduces himself to open the book with a description of his particular ‘quirk,’ which is a fairly severe case of Tourette’s syndrome, which causes him to compulsively blurt out frequently obscene and inappropriate words as well as to compulsively touch those with whom he comes into contact. The necessity of curbing and harnessing these impulses is among the principle struggles that Lionel engages in throughout the novel