Thoughts on *Homer & Langley* by E. L. Doctorow (audiobook)

Homer & Langley: A Novel written by E. L. Doctorow; read by Arthur Morey

Back-of-the-box blurb:  Homer and Langley Collyer are brothers – the one blind and deeply intuitive, the other damaged into madness, or perhaps greatness, by mustard gas in the Great War. They live as recluses in their once grand Fifth Avenue mansion, scavenging the city streets for things they think they can use, hoarding the daily newspapers as research for Langley’s proposed dateless newspaper whose reportage will be as prophecy. Yet the epic events of the century play out in the lives of the two brothers – wars, political movements, technological advances – and even though they want nothing more than to shut out the world, history seems to pass through their cluttered house in the persons of immigrants, prostitutes, society women, government agents, gangsters, jazz musicians . . . and their housebound lives are fraught with Odyssean peril as they struggle to survive and create meaning for themselves.

She Is Too Fond of Books’ thoughts:  I truly enjoyed this audiobook!  It’s fairly short (6 disks, probably about 6 hours?  Sorry I don’t have the exact run time; the print edition is about 225 pages), and kept me company when I was alone in the car during the long drives to and from my daughter’s ‘sleep-away’ camp this summer.

Doctorow starts with the true mystery of the Collyer brothers, adds a bit of artistic license and a great dose of imagination, and produces a creative rendering of what might have been.  These men, once well-to-do Manhattanites who have lived as recluses in their Fifth Avenue mansion for decades, amassed 130 tons of STUFF, including 14 pianos, a model T, and 25,000 books.  Seriously, the next time J complains about books all over our house, I’ll point him to this Wikipedia article about the Collyer brothers!

The author creates a framework on which to hang this path from mere eccentricity to full-blown agoraphobia at the least, what some would deem madness at its most extreme.  As the supporting cast of characters slowly fade away for a variety of reasons, a combination of mental and physical illness has each brother offering both assistance and protection to the other; co-dependence at its creative best in Doctorow’s skillful prose.

The novel is told in the first person of Homer Langley, the brother who loses his sight at an early age.  He claims that his other senses, especially hearing and touch, are more sensitive due to his lack of sight.  He is also very insightful, yet keeps a bit of emotional distance from the events as he recalls them toward the end of his life.

Do be aware that this is historical fiction based on the barest of known facts; even those facts have been skewed at times.  This is an entertaining and compelling work of fiction, not reference material.

The reading by Arthur Morey is well-paced and clearly articulated; I’ll look for other audiobooks read by this narrator.

FTC disclosure:  I borrowed this audio CD set from my local public library.  Funny thing, when I returned it, I had left one of the disks in my car … not to worry, my friendly neighborhood librarian called to let me know it was missing, and I dropped it off and avoided late fees.  Librarians are unsung heroes.