Book 04 - Homer & Langley - E. L. Doctorow
Long before there was A&E's "Hoarders," there were Homer & Langley Collyer, the eccentric recluses who in the late 1940s were found dead in their New York City brownstone among vast labyrinths of newspaper and junk, including a Model T Ford that occupied the house's dining room. The house was so bad that they found Homer, but didn't find Langley until more than two weeks later, even though his body was only 10 feet from where they had found his brother. For many years after that, mothers admonished their children to clean their rooms, lest they meet the fate of the Collyers. E. L. Doctorow's book Homer & Langley is a fictional re-telling of the lives of this eccentric duo, and although a factual account of their story might be interesting enough, Doctorow takes great liberties, telling it through the sightless eyes of Homer Collyer, and changing history such that they continue to live on into the 1970s.
Homer starts to slowly lose his sight in his late teens, and while his brother is off fighting World War I in Europe, both of his parents are taken by the the Spanish Flu epidemic, leaving Homer in the care of the house servants until Langley finally returns home, a man changed physically and emotionally by the ravages of war. Their journey towards eccentric reclusiveness is a gradual one, however. Early in their lives they are quite social, making the rounds of nightclubs, and even throwing open their house for tea dances during the great depression.
Langly's experience with the war has lead him to develop a rather unique world view, and he begins to obsess over the creation of a "universal newspaper." He goes out on daily excursions and brings home a copy of every newspaper he can find. As Langley's hoarding starts to worsen, he returns from his newspaper runs with various junk items: typewriters, pianos, and the aforementioned Model T, to name but a few. Langley is convinced that these are useful things that he needs for various projects and inventions, and Homer's admiration for his brother allows him to ignore his concerns about the mountains of junk that are piling up throughout the house.
Doctorow expands their lifespans considerably, taking them up through the sixties, where their house becomes a crash pad for hippies. Eventually they slip into isolation: Langley does battle with the utility companies, and becomes increasingly paranoid, setting booby traps for would-be burglars he thinks will steal his junk; Homer meets a woman who becomes his muse for writing this "memoir," but gradual hearing loss eventually isolates him even more than his lack of sight ever did.
This is my second book by Doctorow. I read my first, The March, in last year's challenge (see my review here). Doctorow has a wonderful way of making history come to life, even if the life he gives it is not entirely accurate. He takes you into the mind of the hoarder, and allows the reader come to some understanding of how the Collyer's came to live the way that they did.
