Homer & Langley

A Novel

By: E. L. Doctorow

Narrated by: Arthur Morey

“Beautiful and haunting...one of literature’s most unlikely picaresques, a road novel in which the rogue heroes can’t seem to leave home.” (The Boston Globe)

Shortlisted for the Man Booker International Prize.

Named one of the best books of the year by San Francisco Chronicle, Chicago Tribune, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, The Kansas City Star, and Booklist.

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.

Praise for Homer & Langley:

“Masterly.” (The New York Times Book Review)

“Doctorow paints on a sweeping historical canvas, imagining the Collyer brothers as witness to the aspirations and transgressions of 20th century America; yet this book’s most powerfully moving moments are the quiet ones, when the brothers relish a breath of cool morning air, and each other’s tragically exclusive company.” (O: The Oprah Magazine)

“A stately, beautiful performance with great resonance.... What makes this novel so striking is that it joins both blindness and insight, the sensual world and the world of the mind, to tell a story about the unfolding of modern American life that we have never heard in exactly this (austere and lovely) way before.” (San Francisco Chronicle)

“Wondrous...inspired...darkly visionary and surprisingly funny.” (The New York Review of Books)

“Cunningly panoramic...Doctorow has packed this tale with episodes of existential wonder that cpature the brothers in all their fascinating wackiness.” (Elle)

©2009 E.L. Doctorow (P)2009 Random House

Critic reviews

“Following the panoramic scope of The March, Doctorow creates a microcosmic and mythic tale of compulsion, alienation, and dark metamorphosis inspired by the famously eccentric Collyer brothers of New York City.... Doctorow has Homer, who is blind, narrate with deadpan humor and spellbinding precision.... Over the decades, people come and go - lovers, a gangster, a jazz musician, a flock of hippies, but finally Homer and Langley are irrevocably alone, prisoners in their fortress of rubbish, trapped in their warped form of brotherly love. Wizardly Doctorow presents an ingenious, haunting odyssey that unfolds within a labyrinth built out of the detritus of war and excess.” (Booklist)

“A sweeping masterpiece about the infamous New York hermits, the Collyer brothers.... Occasionally, outsiders wander through the house, exposing it as a living museum of artifacts, Americana, obscurity and simmering madness. Doctorow’s achievement is in not undermining the dignity of two brothers who share a lush landscape built on imagination and incapacities. It’s a feat of distillation, vision and sympathy.” (Publishers Weekly)

“Doctorow works his usual magic in bringing history to life and larding it with disturbing implications.... As with much of Doctorow’s masterful fiction, Homer & Langley turns the American dream on its ear, offering us a glimpse of the dark side of our national - and personal - eccentricities.” (BookPage)

Two Strange Brothers in a long drawn out Life

What did you like best about Homer & Langley? What did you like least?

I liked the initial description of Homer and of Langley - two brothers with different personalities who lived their lives intertwined with each other and their large family home. The idea was intriguing and at the start of interest, but it dragged on forever, and by the last few hours of the narration, I just wanted it to end. It was clear that the end was not going to be redemptive, so I felt "get it over with already".

What could E.L. Doctorow have done to make this a more enjoyable book for you?

End it sooner.

Which character – as performed by Arthur Morey – was your favorite?

I did not have a favorite.

Do you think Homer & Langley needs a follow-up book? Why or why not?

Definitely not.

Haunting and beautiful

Once again, Doctorow has shown his mastery of the language. There are so many fine phrases and sentences here I had to buy the book and underline about 40 percent of it after I finished listening. His changing and embellishing of the story gave him the opportunity to deal with popular topics of the time that he would not have been able to touch had the retold only what the papers recorded about these fascinating brothers. This is a gem and a remarkable study of family ties, responsibility, inability to conform and the changes in the American psyche in the 20th century. I highly recommend for anyone who appreciates good writing. The narrator is especially good.

Moderately fascinating ...

I listened to this book pretty much over a single weekend. The writing is well done and you care for the protagonist, but, the storyline is meandering and seems pointless. It certainly sparked my interest in finding out the "real" story behind these two recluses. As others have pointed out, the truth of their lives needs little embellishment, yet this author decided to fabricate many of the details. It wasn't a bad book, just slightly disappointing. I found E.L. Doctorow's, The March, a more satisfying listen.

modern masterpiece

this is my favorite modern novel. the reading is very well done also. cannot reccomended it enough.

Interesting

I was rather fascinated by Homer and Langley and the eccentric lives they led. I thought the narrator did a great job.

SAD ENDING

I enjoyed . This story has humor , kindness, and sadness . I enjoy solitude, yet, how frightening to end up unable to get help if needed ,

What a Dump.....

Major disappointment.
Given the famously freakish source material; and the fact that the author MADE MUCH OF IT UP! This simply should have been so much better.

I am perhaps being unduly harsh because I mistakenly thought this a work of real historical biography. I had first heard about these famous reclusive brothers in my childhood and was excited to learn the "real story" about them. But from early on, this book hit so many inauthentic notes; both philosophical and "chronological" That I was prompted to STOP LISTENING and check it against the source material. It is here that I discovered the intended formula was anything but accurate or even meaningful, in my humble, snarky opinion.

Therefore, I confess my extreme disappointment comes from "flawed" expectations. I guess I'm writing mainly to forewarn any other potential listeners who may come to this book equally unprepared.

To be clear, I was aware of Doctorow's significant reputation - but only very indirectly through film adaptations of his earlier books. However, I would still argue that such a literally talent, under no pretentions of telling the "real story" could and should have made this a far more provocative or at least moderately entertaining story.

Fabulous Read!

I think what made this novel perfect for me was the narrator! He did a fantastic job of differentiating between the characters and pausing at just the right places. I really enjoyed the story as well. After I finished the book, I went online to read about the real Collyer Brothers. Fascinating!

Wonderful character study of two unusual men

What did you love best about Homer & Langley?

A very real characterization of unusual brothers whose lives seem unreal to most of us.

Which character ??? as performed by Arthur Morey ??? was your favorite?

Homer, a blind musician, who managed to stay sane in an insane environment

If you could take any character from Homer & Langley out to dinner, who would it be and why?

Probably Langley, to try to figure out what made him tick.

Any additional comments?

A great read, beautifully crafted.

Fictionalized

I'm not sure I can bring myself to fully approve how EL Doctorow made a departure from the facts of the Collyer brothers biographies. Its been a while so I dont' recall the specifics.
But as I gradually coaxed myself into just enjoying the story, I found myself enjoying it more and more. Narrator/Lector has a wonderful voice, just right for the material.