The tale of compulsive hoarders Homer and Langley Collyer so shocked 1940s Manhattan that the brothers and their Harlem brownstone live on today as...
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Jun 05, 2009
John
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My memory, sir," declares Funes the Memorious, "is a garbage heap." The mnemonic freak imagined by Borges, however, has nothing on the two aging brothers Langley & Homer Collyer, historical figures in fact -- NYC packrat-psychos of the previous mid-century --here re-imagined by Matt Bell. Bell's new novella, a recent national prizewinner, takes us into their garbage heap: not so much a place as a passion. As for the Homer & Langley we'd call "real people," they occupi
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May 12, 2009
Kim
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We are told: “I am conducting an investigation. I am holding a wake. I am doing some or all or none of these things” (38). What is achieved then is more than just fiction, more than just referential, and more than just real. It is simultaneously a comment on each of these ideas, which is perhaps even more effective at communicating a sense of these characters than basic exposition. The authorial “I” who is making this, a testament, to “you Langley and to him, Homer” (15), makes these characters
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Dec 31, 2011
Tiffany
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This novella captured my attention from the first page and never let go of it. The writing is sure, determined and the subject of the Collyer brothers who died in their own home after "collecting" tons of junk, so as they couldn't really be mobile, is fascinating. It is a real, true story of hoarding from the 1940's and it is painted with a deft hand. We get a glimpse of Homer, the blind brother in the narration, Langley, the more mobile brother, the narrator who is trying to save them
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Dec 04, 2009
P.H.
rated it:
Much better than I even expected, which is saying something. Here is the heart of it, really:
"Just outside this circle, there are dozens of prototypes for what would have been the model’s finishing touches: Four figures, repeated over and over in different mediums. A man and a woman and two small boys, rendered from wood and clay and string and straw and hair and other, less identifiable materials. All discarded, cast aside, and no more a family than anything else we found lyin More...
"Just outside this circle, there are dozens of prototypes for what would have been the model’s finishing touches: Four figures, repeated over and over in different mediums. A man and a woman and two small boys, rendered from wood and clay and string and straw and hair and other, less identifiable materials. All discarded, cast aside, and no more a family than anything else we found lyin More...
Nov 29, 2011
Pete
rated it:
Matt Bell's The Collectors is a lovely and elegant fictionalization of the final days of the tragic Collyer brothers. The Collyers were reclusive hoarders who filled their Harlem brownstone with junk for decades before finally being found dead - Langley Collyer crushed under a mound of debris, the blind and helpless Homer starved - in 1947. Their story has been heavily explored by writers of both fiction (including E.L. Doctorow, who recently published a widely-exposed novel on the brothers a fe
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May 11, 2009
Tara
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A wonderful, creepy, weird, but somehow beautiful little book. The language is lush and the inventories will tickle you. In many places the rhythms of the narrative are pitch-perfect, almost like poetry, inviting you forward--wandering, wonderingly--into the brothers' world of newspapers, tapestries, anatomical books, baby carriages, silk stockings, and of course the rats...
It's a story about loss, love, family, too. Sad stuff. It might be a weird story, but it's one we can all under More...
It's a story about loss, love, family, too. Sad stuff. It might be a weird story, but it's one we can all under More...
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Dec 24, 2009
Tyler
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A one sitting read. Each short piece/chapter/flash is packed with images, with details, with fibers of a fantastic story. Together, this collection makes one fantastic story, varied in parts, solid as a whole. I'm flabbergasted with Matt Bell's ability to tell a story.
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Jun 18, 2011
Ben
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A novella in flashes was interesting; the way Bell put the narrative together was great. The scattered feeling really helped the book move and keep its voice effective. Plus, the subject (and Bell's treatment of it) was really interesting/entertaining, so that helped.
May 16, 2009
Carolyn
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It has been a long time since I loved a book as much as this little treasure. I like the little sections, and I like how they all add up to something big and beautiful. These sad brothers are literary treasures and Matt Bell is, too.
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Nov 18, 2009
Michael
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This is pretty fantastic historical fiction, about two brothers who collect junk in a house for years and years, then die inside...not at the same time. Great story that needed to be told, and MB's style does it justice.
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Nov 15, 2010
Judy
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One of my top five books ever. This is the book that encouraged me to keep writing and reading. Hauntingly beautiful and tragic, I read it all in one sitting and have since read it over and over again.
Sep 19, 2009
Robert
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Like an idiot, I first read this without knowing the back story. About how, in many ways, this chapbook is based on real events. Very well done.
Oct 12, 2009
Tara
rated it:
Beautiful design, brilliant novella.
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Sep 25, 2010
Steven
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Excellent fictionalization of the brother hoarders that captures their obsession. The parallel track of the brother's demise creates good tension while the inventory sections illustrate the astounding volume of their hoarding. Putting the narrator in league with them as and obsessive gives the narrative another, less distant, dimension.
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