Ghosty Men: The Strange but True Story of the Collyer Brothers and My Uncle Arthur, New York's Greatest Hoarders (An Urban Historical)

See Larger Image	List Price: $19.95 Our Price: $13.57 Your Save: $ 6.38 ( 32% ) Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours Manufacturer: Bloomsbury USA Written By: Franz Lidz Average Customer Rating:


Binding: Hardcover Dewey Decimal Number: 974.710420922 EAN: 9781582343112 ISBN: 158234311X Label: Bloomsbury USA Manufacturer: Bloomsbury USA Number Of Items: 1 Number Of Pages: 161 Publication Date: 2003-10-22 Publisher: Bloomsbury USA Studio: Bloomsbury USA
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Editorial Reviews: A true tale of changing New York by Franz Lidz, whose Unstrung Heroes is a classic of hoarder lore. Homer and Langley Collyer moved into their handsome brownstone in white, upper-class Harlem in 1909. By 1947, however, when the fire department had to carry Homer's body out of the house he hadn't left in twenty years, the neighborhood had degentrified, and their house was a fortress of junk: in an attempt to preserve the past, Homer and Langley held on to everything they touched. The scandal of Homer's discovery, the story of his life, and the search for Langley, who was missing at the time, rocked the city; the story was on the front page of every newspaper for weeks. A quintessential New York story of quintessential New York characters.
Spotlight customer reviews: Customer Rating: Summary: Ghosty Men Comment: This is a great (short) read. Local early 20th century History (U.S. History). Very entertaining! Customer Rating: Summary: Loved Uncle Arthur Even More Than The Collyers Comment: I'm a compulsive hoarder of sorts and picked this up because of a link to another book on the subject. I disagree quite strongly with the previous reviewer. I absolutely adored the few chapters on the author's Uncle Arthur and thought they provided great insight and immediacy to the story on the Collyer Brothers. Given the wealth of detail about the brothers in this fine book I don't understand how any careful reader could feel cheated. If anything, I'd love to know more about Uncle Arthur, who, by the way, is cited in the title of this book. So, his inclusion should not come as much of a surprise. Customer Rating: Summary: I Feel Cheated! Comment: To much story about Uncle Arthur and not enough about the Collyer Brothers. This was a real disappointment, save your money and get it from the library. Customer Rating: Summary: Loved the story Comment: If this book doesn't get you to clean out your basement, nothing will. A true story about a couple of hermits whose junk collection got the better of them. Customer Rating: Summary: leaves you wanting more! Comment: Is it bad that, after reading this book, these men became my instant heroes? You'll have to read the book (ha, ha-- librarian trick) to find out. From my point of view, they're ensconsed warmly amongst their piles of junk, their tottering piles of old newspaper, their stacks upon stacks of boxes, their miscellania gathered from the sides of the road and trash cans-- four floors of bliss! Protection from the outside world! A true, not-metaphorical barrier from the slings of everyday life! I sleep (candid admission!) with piles of junk surrounding me on my bed. To be surrounded by piles of junk in an entire decaying old New York mansion? Indescribable bliss. My only complaint about this book is that it does not spend quite enough time on the Collyer Brothers themselves, dwelling more instead on Uncle Arthur (fascinating himself). But Five-plus stars to the lifestyle. More Reviews