Homer & Langley by E.L. Doctorow ****

Homer and Langley are brothers. Their early years are spent in relatively normal circumstance with well-to-do parents who live in a mansion on 5th Avenue in New York. As their lives progress Homer becomes blind and Langley is the victim of a mustard gas attack during the World War 1. When he returns it is obvious that the trauma of his experience has affected him.

The novel is written entirely from the perspective of Homer as he describes their increasingly bizarre life without their parents who died of the Spanish Flu in 1918. Their historic journey as a pair of unconventional recluses becomes increasingly fascinating as Doctorow highlights major historic events in New York through the peculiar perceptions of the two brothers.

The two become increasingly eccentric throughout the novel and Doctorow’s exceptional writing style and imaginative creation of the primary characters makes it a great read.