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A review by frostbitsky
Homer & Langley by E.L. Doctorow
dark
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
I found this book when going through my late dad's belongings. (Which when I think about the subject is ironic.) I don't think he actually read it. He would often start a book and not finish it or not read it at all. It looks like he bought this while vacationing in Virginia Beach, possibly. The receipt inside is from Boarders Books, Music, and Cafe but it's for a Lindt dark chocolate bar and it bookmarked on page 28. The date was September 16, 2010 at 1:18PM. So either he read to page 28 and never finished or he just stuck the receipt in the book.
I thought that since it's only 208 pages I can read it quickly. While it is a short book it took me longer to read than I anticipated.
There are no chapter breaks. There are no quotation marks when characters are speaking. It took a while to get used to and then you realize that it's written that way because Homer, who is blind, is typing his story on a Braille typewriter.
Which makes the story one endless diary that moves through the decades. It shows the descent of his brother Langley's madness, the downward spiral condition of their house, and the colorful characters who come in and out of their lives.
The story is quite depressing. The brothers spiral further down into isolation and hoarding. Homer wonders if his brother is insane but is not proactive to help him. He's an enabler, even when he feels oppressed in the home and trips over things. Also, it blows my mind how Langley can make such a dangerous environment for his blind brother.
Langley's crazy idea about the one newspaper to rule them all makes it sound like he would have loved working at the Ministry of Truth in 1984. He was clearly suffering from PTSD from WWI and needed mental help. And then a job at the New York Public Library since he liked cataloguing newspaper stories.
I realize this is somewhat based off the real Collyer brothersand so we know how their story ends, but the end of this historical fiction was abrupt and ambiguous. But maybe that was the point.
I'm glad I finished it because at 208 pages it would be embarrassing to say I couldn't. There were parts that I liked. Some characters were interesting. Some incidents and quotes were thoughtful. But overall this was not a favorite. I might hold on to it for a while but if I need to make space I'm going to give it away.
2 out of 5 Newspaper Stacks.
Memorable quotes:
Page 23 - Langley was almost court-marshaled for seeming to threaten an officer. He had said, Why am I killing men I don't know? You have to know someone to want to kill him.
Page 103 - When I played the piano for the silent movies the picture would end the projectionist would stick his head out of the booth. The next feature will begin shortly, he'd say. A moment, please, while we change reels.
And so there we were at war in Korea...
Page ? - The bad news is that if we do in fact get off the earth we will contaminate the rest of the universe with our moral insufficiency.
Page 198 - ...we were the ghosts who haunted the house we had once lived in. Not able to see myself or hear my own footsteps, I was coming around to the same idea.
I thought that since it's only 208 pages I can read it quickly. While it is a short book it took me longer to read than I anticipated.
There are no chapter breaks. There are no quotation marks when characters are speaking. It took a while to get used to and then you realize that it's written that way because Homer, who is blind, is typing his story on a Braille typewriter.
Which makes the story one endless diary that moves through the decades. It shows the descent of his brother Langley's madness, the downward spiral condition of their house, and the colorful characters who come in and out of their lives.
The story is quite depressing. The brothers spiral further down into isolation and hoarding. Homer wonders if his brother is insane but is not proactive to help him. He's an enabler, even when he feels oppressed in the home and trips over things. Also, it blows my mind how Langley can make such a dangerous environment for his blind brother.
Langley's crazy idea about the one newspaper to rule them all makes it sound like he would have loved working at the Ministry of Truth in 1984. He was clearly suffering from PTSD from WWI and needed mental help. And then a job at the New York Public Library since he liked cataloguing newspaper stories.
I realize this is somewhat based off the real Collyer brothersand so we know how their story ends, but the end of this historical fiction was abrupt and ambiguous. But maybe that was the point.
I'm glad I finished it because at 208 pages it would be embarrassing to say I couldn't. There were parts that I liked. Some characters were interesting. Some incidents and quotes were thoughtful. But overall this was not a favorite. I might hold on to it for a while but if I need to make space I'm going to give it away.
2 out of 5 Newspaper Stacks.
Memorable quotes:
Page 23 - Langley was almost court-marshaled for seeming to threaten an officer. He had said, Why am I killing men I don't know? You have to know someone to want to kill him.
Page 103 - When I played the piano for the silent movies the picture would end the projectionist would stick his head out of the booth. The next feature will begin shortly, he'd say. A moment, please, while we change reels.
And so there we were at war in Korea...
Page ? - The bad news is that if we do in fact get off the earth we will contaminate the rest of the universe with our moral insufficiency.
Page 198 - ...we were the ghosts who haunted the house we had once lived in. Not able to see myself or hear my own footsteps, I was coming around to the same idea.