“The main problem with Homer & Langley is that it fails to bring the Collyers to fictional life, mainly because Doctorow is unable to supply a dramatically convincing account of how and why they became hermits and compulsive hoarders. Their retreat into the twilight world of madness is simply something that happens bit by bit. Needless to say, this may be what actually happened to them–real life is rarely as neat as art–but it is not the stuff of which compelling novels are made, especially when they’re written in the etiolated, blandly coy prose to which Doctorow has accustomed us…”
Terry Teachout on the arts in New York City
An ArtsJournal Blog