A Book vs. A Review of Same

“Homer and Langley,” by E.L. Doctorow, is a very difficult book to read. The words don’t flow smoothly within the sentences and the print layout is “right justified”, which means that the end of each line is in exactly the same place, just as the beginning of each line on the left side of the page is. I find this layout difficult to read.

The subject of the book is the infamous Collyer brothers, who, until their deaths in 1947, were compulsive hoarders. Indeed, it turns out that Langley, the older of the two, died as a result of being crushed under the weight of a fallen stack of newspapers. Langley claimed that since his brother had gone blind, he needed to save the daily newspapers for him to read once he regained his sight.

The content of the book is written as if Homer, the younger, blind brother is speaking. Of course, since there are no recordings by him, this is a work of fiction, presumably based on real events of the day. While there are a few clever insights and assumptions, the pacing of the story is disjointed.

The author is a well-respected writer whose most notable work, "Ragtime," has been adapted for both the Broadway stage and the silver screen. Yet, a respected author cannot have his work judged on the basis of his reputation alone. Whether this new book is any good must be determined by the content alone. In that regard, this book does not measure up.

Contrast this with a review of the book by another well-known author, Joyce Carol Oates. Her two page review appeared in the September 7, 2009 issue of The New Yorker magazine and the words not only flow like melted butter on a stack of hot cakes, they also serve to convey the flavor of the life and times of the Collyer brothers.

But the most interesting part of the review hits home for many of us: “Few of us can imagine ourselves involved in deranged acts of violence, but we all know how newspapers and magazines can stack up, how ‘collectibles’ can accumulate. It’s not much of a stretch to imagine ourselves the hapless victims of our possessions – paralyzed by things we’re unable to sort out and discard, annihilated by our affluence, crushed by our consumerism.”

Amen, sister, amen.