Homer and Langley

Almost hypnotic in its narrative intensity, the brothers Homer and Langley, eccentric characters from 20th-century America, have become something of a tragicomic New York legend. Doctorow takes the liberties of fiction to retell their story from the point of view of Homer, the blind brother, in an intimate reconstruction that allows us to explore the interiors of the house and the minds of two lives famous for their strangeness. Having lost their parents at a young age, the Collyer brothers spent decades sheltered in the family mansion on New York's upscale Fifth Avenue, and over the decades they became increasingly isolated from the outside world. Alone in their fortress, they fought their solitary crusade against the world, surrounded by the tons of newspapers and old objects they kept in the house—including a car, installed in the dining room. The narrative begins beautifully and lightly, with Homer adapting to his loss of sight and Langley returning from war. Little by little, however, insanity infiltrates the brothers' lives, to the point where movement in the house becomes difficult and, owing thousands of dollars in mortgages and electricity bills and other public services, they become famous in New York at the time. Doctorow reserves the right that only literature allows to penetrate the mysterious Collyer residence to, in addition to imagining the passing of the years of two abandoned lives, relive a sad but rich story of eccentricity and loneliness.