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Homer And Langley (2011)

by E.L. Doctorow(Favorite Author)

3.54 of 5 Votes: 3

ISBN

0349122598 (ISBN13: 9780349122595)

languge

English

genre

Historical Fiction

publisher

Little, Brown Young Readers

review 1: I found this a wryly amusing, but not terrifically gripping, novel which traces the long slow downfall of upper-class and increasingly eccentric New York brothers, Langley and Homer Collyer. War-haunted Langley and progressively-blind Homer – who appear to be golden children, born to inherit an era post-war prosperity – fall into financial difficulties and progressively cut themselves off from the external world, civic authorities and – indeed – from a firm connection to reality.Their personal odysseys span virtually the entire Twentieth Century, and while external events – two world wars, Prohibition, the free-love era of the 1960s, and even the Cold War – intrude upon the Langley's increasingly ramshackle mansion, everything feels distant and faintly unrea... morel. There is a lovely moment where the Langley's bohemian eccentricity, their cluttered and unhygenic abode, and their own eclectic personal philosophies come briefly into vogue and they find affinity with the much younger hippies and free-spirits who take temporary refuge in their home. But apart from that, genuine moments of personal and emotional connection are few and far between. The plot – such as it is – is mainly driven by the passing of time and the physical navigation of an increasingly hazardous home.The accumulation of moments in the two brothers' long lives does allow for some reflection on social changes and political trends. The increase of clutter in the house reflects the increasing materialism (and associated decay) of the passing century, Langley's musings over how news is "made" and reality manufactured strike a chord.However, in the end I found this a very thinly-sliced take on two people's lives and the century they lived through, and wondered what it would have been had Doctorow ranged more widely.
review 2: The Anti-Forest Gump. Like good Forest, the Collyer brothers are tracked through a long period of time as they interact with society in odd ways, commenting on events over the past 50 years. Sometimes they are anti-social, sometimes cringeworthy, often funny, and always just a bit touched in the head. Unlike Forest, who seems on a positive tangent, the brothers lives are slowly decaying, as is their Fifth Avenue mansion. This trajectory does not make for a happy story. Interesting writing, or more, interesting main characters. less

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