Homer and Langley by E. L. Doctorow

In 1947, the reclusive Collyer brothers were both found dead in their disintegrating NYC 5th Ave. mansion among 130 tons of hoarded mess. Doctorow has taken their odd story, played a little fast and loose with the historical details and created a story even more bizarre than the real one. But is that the real story or is it one of the possibility of isolation in one of the largest cities in the world? Or is it about the line between genius and insanity? Or is it a metaphor about the role of wealth in the decline of the city. The fine writing leads the reader away from the concrete details of the story to something much more meaningful. What that might be turned out to be different for almost everyone in our book group.