La Mujer Que Se Estrellaba Contra las Puertas = The Woman Who Walked Into Doors

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La Mujer Que Se Estrellaba Contra las Puertas = The Woman Who Walked Into Doors

by Roddy Doyle

3.78 · rating details · 2,545 ratings · 241 reviews

Roddy Doyle follows Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha, winner of the Booker Prize, and The Commitments with another remarkable book that readers will find funny, sexy, and sad. He takes an unflinching look at the life of Paula Spencer as she struggles to regain her dignity after marriage to an abusive husband and a worsening drinking problem. Capturing both her vulnerability and her s...more

Paperback, 274 pages

Published May 28th 2008 by Verticales de Bolsillo (first published April 1st 1996)

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Mar 26, 2008

Amy rated it

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Recommends it for: everyone

Shelves: favorites

I love this author. He is raw with emotion. i love this passage:
"Everything made you on thing or the other. It tired you out sometimes. I remember spending ages exhausted and upset. It was nice knowing that boys wanted you then you couldn't want them back. If you smiled at more than one you were a slut; if you didn't smile at all you were a tight bitch. If you smiled at the wrong boy you were back to being a slut and you might get a hiding from his girlfriend, and she'd be a...more

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May 23, 2008

Tracy rated it

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i need to be honest. i will forget this book in 6 months. i enjoyed it, it was touching and raw. but it will vanish like most of the quick british/irish reads i've been enjoying lately, i.e. william trevor, patrick mccabe, patrick mcgrath. if these were romance novels, or anne rivers sheldon beach reads, then that would be expected. but since they are 'contemporary classics,' shouldn't they stick to the ribs longer? just because the subject is 'serious,' it doesn't mean that they aren't fluff of...more

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Mar 29, 2008

Danna rated it

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I picked this one up from a display at the library. I had skimmed a few pages and the writing style caught my eye (he uses punctuation and italics to visually illustrate dialog and flashbacks). I think the author did a great job telling the sadly-classic story of the abused woman, how that situation came to be and the culture in which the situation flourished, how she finally found the strength to kick her husband out of the house and keep on living. I liked the way he was able to explore ho...more

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Mar 27, 2008

will rated it

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The Woman Who Walked Into Doors by Roddy Doyle.

Roddy Doyle is a wonderful writer. Normally his books are fast reads, he writes is an easy going flowing way. His books contain a certain amount of humour but that is because he writes "slice of life" stories. His characters are real, the stories are real and real life (or so I've been told) contains a certain amount of humour.

The Woman Who walked Into Doors possesses many of these ingredients but there ...more

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Dec 08, 2008

Suzanne rated it

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Shelves: summer-read, irish-writing

A tough read, at times gruesome and depressing. Not the typical Roddy Doyle novel. As a woman you can follow the thread...this could happen to any of us if we just make enough excuses and remained silent. We may fool ourselves that it would not be us...but domestic abuse occurs all the time at all levels of society. Paula's "walking into doors" rings sadly true for so many, even the best and the brightest. Doyle bring his signature wit to Paula's reclaiming of her life. One finds...more

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Nov 02, 2008

Drgibson63 rated it

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Recommends it for: Any adult

Recommended to Drgibson63 by: Friend

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. The Woman Who walked Into Doors

Irish novelist Roddy Doyle writes very well about family life. His previous novels, which include The Van, The Snapper and The Commitments, are insightful, funny peeks into the personal lives of families who argue a lot, but also love each other. A recent work, The Woman Who Walked Into Walls, is his best yet, but it may not be for all tastes. This book, told in first-person narrative, is a profoundly depressing story about wife beating, and the ripping...moreThe Woman Who walked Into Doors

Irish novelist Roddy Doyle writes very well about family life. His previous novels, which include The Van, The Snapper and The Commitments, are insightful, funny peeks into the personal lives of families who argue a lot, but also love each other. A recent work, The Woman Who Walked Into Walls, is his best yet, but it may not be for all tastes. This book, told in first-person narrative, is a profoundly depressing story about wife beating, and the ripping apart of one woman's self esteem by her sadistic, abusive husband. The scars don't completely heal, even after the monster has left the home.

Paula Spencer is in her late 30s. Her husband Charlo, who she threw out of the house a year earlier, has just been killed by the police after kidnapping and killing a woman in her home. Doyle paints us a picture of Paula's current life. She's raising three kids, the youngest five, the oldest, a young woman named Nicola. Paula has a menial job cleaning homes and offices and is also an alcoholic, but doesn't drink until after the youngest is in bed. Although we know Paula was abused by her husband, that is not the main focus early on. At times the tone of the novel is almost light. Paula directs her household with a good-natured gung-ho attitude in the mornings. She argues with her sisters, especially Carmen, about their own family's past.

Doyle offers readers two separate stories for more than half of the novel. One chapter deals with Paula's post-marriage life and trying to deal with Charlo's death. The next chapter recounts Paula's life as a teen and her eventual meeting with, courtship and marriage with Charlo, a good looking hood who had a prison record and a good job. He was a ÿride,ÿ in Paula's words, a man that every girl wanted, and he chose her for his wife.

Charlo first hits Paula when she's pregnant with Nicola. Then he hits her again, and again, and again, and again, and then some more. In one very long extremely difficult-to-read chapter, we are provided a glimpse of the personal 17 years of hell that Paula experiences as a battered wife. As brutal as the abuse is -- it includes punching, kicking, breaking bones, using a fist to induce a miscarriage, yanking arms out of sockets, hair dragging and mental abuse -- the damage inflicted to her psyche and self esteem by her husband is as cruel. She becomes a cipher, a depressed, alcoholic, beaten in front of her children, who summons just enough energy to take care of her kids. She's whipped, yet still loves a husband who tortures her because she believes he puts up with such a worthless woman.

"He butted me his head. ... He kicked me up and he kicked me down the stairs. Bruised me, scalded me, threatened me. For seventeen years. Hit me, thumped me, raped me. ... Fists, boots, knee, head. Bread knife, saucepan, brush. He tore out clumps of my hair. Cigarettes, lighter ashtray. ... Months went by and nothing happened, but it was always there -- the promise of it."

Doyle brings out in detail another terror of being abused. The fact that nobody cares or wants to know. Paula is admitted to hospitals by Charlo for having "walked into a door" or "fallen down the stairs." She hopes someone will ask her what's wrong, fantasizes about telling the truth. But no doctor or nurse ever does. Her mother, her father, never express concern, despite the obvious deterioration of her personality.

There is an irony to this, however. When sister Carmen returns from England, she sees what no one will speak of, and begs Paula to leave. But Paula can't, and in fact hates Carmen for her concern. Besides, Charlo has threatened to kill her if she ever leaves.

Something finally causes Paula to kick Charlo out. It's a spontaneous act, fueled by a terrible evil. When Charlo is booted out, with the help of a large frying pan, Paula discovers her husband, like all abusers, is a coward. He leaves and stays gone.

The Woman Who Walked Into Walls is similar in theme to Stephen King's Dolores Claiborne. But Doyle is more effective than King at showing the after-effects of long-term abuse. Paula Spencer, once a fun-loving pretty girl named Paula O;Leary who married and used to wait with joy for her new husband to come home, is still a shell of her former self. The beatings stopped long ago, and Paula proves herself a survivor. But refilling a self whittled to a hollow shell takes a long time.

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Jan 29, 2008

Guy rated it

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Roddy Doyle - The Woman Who Walked Into Doors. “Broken nose. Loose teeth. Cracked ribs. Broken finger. Black eyes. I don’t know how many; I once had two at the same time, one fading, the other new. Shoulders, elbows, knees, wrists. Stitches in my mouth. Stitches on my chin. A ruptured eardrum. Burns. Cigarettes on my arms and legs. Thumped me, kicked me, pushed me, burned me. He butted me with his head. He held me still and butted me; I couldn’t believe it. He dragged me around the house by my c...moreRoddy Doyle - The Woman Who Walked Into Doors. “Broken nose. Loose teeth. Cracked ribs. Broken finger. Black eyes. I don’t know how many; I once had two at the same time, one fading, the other new. Shoulders, elbows, knees, wrists. Stitches in my mouth. Stitches on my chin. A ruptured eardrum. Burns. Cigarettes on my arms and legs. Thumped me, kicked me, pushed me, burned me. He butted me with his head. He held me still and butted me; I couldn’t believe it. He dragged me around the house by my clothes and by my hair. He kicked me up and he kicked me down the stairs. Bruised me, scalded me, threatened me. For seventeen years […]”The Woman Who Walked Into Doors van Roddy Doyle is geen lachertje. Dat in tegenstelling tot de Barrytown-trilogie waar hij een jaar of vijftien geleden naam mee maakte. Ik leerde ‘m, net als zoveel andere mensen, kennen via The Commitments. Ik was destijds (in 1992?) behoorlijk wild van de film (en een jaar geleden vond ik ‘m nog steeds uitstekend), en heb me dan het boek aangeschaft, zo’n kleine gele Rainbow-pocket. Een vertaling dus. Wist ik veel dat het nu ook niet zo veel moeite kost om het origineel te lezen. Doyle schreef over gewone mensen met grootse plannen, beschikte over tonnen humor, maar vooral: hij wist als geen ander dialogen te schrijven. Erna ook deel twee (The Van) en drie (The Snapper) aangeschaft, en opnieuw weg van dat sappige Ierse Engels, de verhalen over allerhande losers uit een arbeidersmilieu, en hun pogingen om er het beste van te maken. In dat opzicht vertoonde z’n boeken overeenkomsten met zowel de sociaal-realistische films van volk als Ken Loach en Mike Leigh, als een serie die ik de voorbije jaren enorm graag heb gekeken: Shameless. Het is makkelijk om met dat soort “volkse” literatuur te gaan zitten schrijven op een dierentuin-toontje (”ziet ze lopen, ziet ze zuipen, ziet ze marginaal wezen met hun afgeprijsde en/of nagemaakte merkkledij en hun zelfgerolde sigaretten”), maar Doyle schreef duidelijk over een wereld die hij kende, in- en uitademde. Na de Barrytown-trilogie heb ik me nog Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha (1993) aangeschaft, een boek dat zo mogelijk nog beter was dan de trilogie: serieuzer, maar ook gedurfder, en Doyle slaagde moeiteloos erin om te blijven boeien met een boek geschreven vanuit het perspectief van een tienjarige die de wereld rond hem probeert te begrijpen. Daarna ben ik Doyle (en zeker zijn boeken) een beetje uit het oog verloren, tot ik laatst een weekje doorbracht aan de andere kant van de Noordzee, en in een plaatselijke boekhandel The Woman Who Walked Into Doors (1996) in handen kreeg. Ik wist al dat de humor-factor in dit boek nog wat lager lag, niet verwonderlijk gezien het onderwerp (huiselijk geweld, zoals de titel al suggereert), maar ik had geen mokerslag van dit kaliber verwacht. Deze keer schrijft Doyle vanuit het perspectief van Paula Spencer, een negenendertigjarige kuisvrouw met vier kinderen en een drankprobleem, die op een ochtend te horen krijgt dat haar vent Charlo, die ze een jaar eerder het huis uitgooide, omgekomen is bij een misdaad. Tweehonderdtwintig pagina’s lang is zij aan het woord, en vertelt ze, verward, hortend en stotend, haar levensverhaal, en dan vooral haar huwelijk met Charlo, dat zo idyllisch begon als maar kon in hun lagere klasse-milieu, maar voor haar al snel uitdraaide op een nachtmerrie van zeventien jaar. Jaja, ook ik dacht dat dit eigenlijk even goed de “literaire” tegenhanger had kunnen zijn van het soort weekendfilm dat één vroeger (toen het nog BRT 1 heette) programmeerde op zaterdagavond (moeders ter lande joegen de mouchoirkes er met de dozen door), maar niets van dat. The Woman Who Walked Into Doors is een pure taalexplosie, een rauw-emotionele ontlading die hier en daar wat heeft van Chris Cleave’s Incendiary, maar veel beter gedoseerd is. Het maakt niet uit dat het Engels van Spencer vaak slordig is, dat ze zichzelf constant herhaalt, dat ze zo goed is in chaos. Het lijkt alsof het ritme en het register zich door het hele boek aanpast aan de gemoedstoestand, of de al dan niet nuchtere buien van de vrouw. Sommige hoofdstukken zijn rommelig en kort, andere zijn lucide en gestructureerd, en geven een inzicht op de tastbare en emotionele leefwereld van een vrouw wiens tanden en gevoel voor eigenwaarde er jaar na jaar uit werden geklopt. Ook geen all is well that ends well-verhaaltje dus, omdat Spencer, net als haar collega-slachtoffers, terechtkomt in een positie waar amper uit te ontsnappen valt, en het gewicht van het schuldgevoel constant met zich meedraagt: “He beat me brainless and I felt guilty. He left me without money and I was guilty. I wouldn’t let the kids in the kitchen after teatime, I couldn’t let them near the cornflakes – and I was to blame. They went wild, they went hungry and It was my fault. I couldn’t think. I could invent a family meal with an egg and four slices of stale bread but I couldn’t think properly. I couldn’t put a shape on anything. I kept falling apart.” Uiteindelijk slaagt ze er toch in om de geweldenaar het huis uit te krijgen, maar ook dat gebeurt natuurlijk niet zonder slag of stoot. Het boek had ondraaglijk hard en wrang kunnen zijn, maar dat was buiten de intelligentie van Doyle gerekend, die ook hier de nodige humor aanwendt om de lezer toch even het geweld te besparen. Het is een beetje een lullig, kapotgebruikt en hol woord geworden, maar The Woman Who Walked Into Doors is een aangrijpende roman geworden, menselijk en ontroerend, vol spijt, woede en onmacht, maar vooral ook de drang tot beterschap. Machtig. (****1/2)
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Sep 28, 2007

Ian Wood rated it

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Recommends it for: anyone wanting to see the dark side of Barrtown

Shelves: roddy-doyle

The Barrytown trilogy and ‘Paddy Clark, Ha, Ha, Ha’ were the greatest feel good comedies to come out of Ireland and ‘The Van’ and ‘Paddy Clark, Ha, Ha, Ha’ were respectively and justifiably nominated for and awarded the Booker Prize. So the question was where next? Roddy didn’t leave Barrytown for his next project but showed us it’s seedier underbelly in the dark and harrowing TV show ‘Family’. This introduced us to the Spencer family with its domestic violence and abuse. Each episode focussed o...moreThe Barrytown trilogy and ‘Paddy Clark, Ha, Ha, Ha’ were the greatest feel good comedies to come out of Ireland and ‘The Van’ and ‘Paddy Clark, Ha, Ha, Ha’ were respectively and justifiably nominated for and awarded the Booker Prize. So the question was where next? Roddy didn’t leave Barrytown for his next project but showed us it’s seedier underbelly in the dark and harrowing TV show ‘Family’. This introduced us to the Spencer family with its domestic violence and abuse. Each episode focussed on a member of the family, Charlo, John-Paul, Leanne and Paula ‘The Woman Who Walked into Doors.’

Although grim ‘Family’ didn’t quite prepare us for ‘The Woman Who Walked into Doors’ which was quite a departure for Roddy. As with ‘Paddy Clarke, Ha, Ha, Ha’ the book is written in the first person and again the form was a complete success with Paula’s voice being totally convincing. That Paddy Clarke, a ten year old boy, could be brought to life by a middle aged man was a testament to Roddy Doyle’s talent but that he could give voice to an alcoholic working class woman in an abusive relationship is quite unbelievable. Literature is littered with talented male writers who’s writing of women parts is two dimensional and unconvincing, so to tackle this is the first person and with such emotive subject matter was a huge risk. Fortunately it succeeded and the book is a triumph as indeed in Paula’s part in the battle of life.

The story works well within the form switching from childhood, adolescence and different stages of the marriage to allow the reader to piece the story together but still not prepare them for the ending of the book. I was so impressed with this form that when I decided on the subject matter of my own novel I used it as the template to tell a very different story.

When I first read ‘The Woman Who Walked into Doors’ I didn’t know how Roddy Doyle could follow ‘Paddy Clarke, Ha, Ha, Ha’, I certainly had no idea it would be possible to better it.
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Apr 08, 2007

Darryl rated it

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Recommends it for: writers and survivors

I'm off to Ireland in a month on a working vacation. Wanted to read some contemporay literature from the region and found this book of Doyle's. I liked it. I do work in theodicy (the problem of evil) and trauma theory, and so am always seeking after such at the level of somatic description. In this case, I found it in the consummate craft of Doyle's characterization of Paula. Doyle has a remarkable gift of habitation. Paula is a model of sustained, air-tight, character emanicipation and density....more

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Jun 19, 2008

Joanie rated it

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Shelves: irish

I decided to re-read this before reading the sequel Paula Spencer. I had forgotten just how good this book is, just how well Doyle does a female protagonist. The book is painful and sad and unflinching in it's descriptions of marital abuse and alcoholism but as always, Doyle adds in warmth and humor to make it all hurt less.

After my re-read I'm not sure that I want to read the sequel. I don't want to ruin the image in my head with a new story that might not be as good. Plus on ...more

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Nov 26, 2008

Jillian rated it

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I picked this up because I read an interview where J.K. Rowling cited this as one of her favorites.

Depressing only begins to touch the nature of this book! It chronicles the story of how a marriage can go horribly wrong, and how a woman can feel trapped with a houseful of kids, an abusive husband, and a problem with alcohol.

I found it remarkable that this novel tells about domestic abuse from a woman's point of view--but written by a man. Doyle slowly unwinds the main c...more

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Dec 07, 2007

Abby rated it

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Shelves: fiction

It was interesting to read about domestic violence from a woman's point of view...written by a man. The first part of the book felt significantly different from the second part--the tone, the voice, the narrative itself. One part raised the questions and shuffled the puzzle pieces around so they wouldn't quite connect for the reader, and the second brought the reader directly into this woman's psyche as her husband is literally beating her soul out of her. Certain segments were brutal and almost...more

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Dec 10, 2008

Sydney rated it

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I think Roddy Doyle is a fantastic author - I have read a lot of his books and what I find most amazing about his work is that none of it is alike. Okay, each book takes place in Ireland, but the stories are so different from one another, and I have even found his style of writing to change from book-to-book. In this book, you enter the mind of a woman in her forties. She is an admitted alcoholic who was married to an abusive husband. The book begins when a police officer visits her at her h...more

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Jan 12, 2009

Faith rated it

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Shelves: 2005

The woman who walked into doors - Paula Spencer, who was married for 18 years to Charlo Spencer, who she threw out and who killed a woman and who was shot by the Guards... Paula loves Charlo and doesn't. In the book Paula looks back at her past. We find out the truth about the relationship between her and Charlo little by little.

Roddy Doyle is an expert on creating sympathetic characters. Paula too is sympathetic, even thou she is an alcoholic and a woman with a lot of problems, a w...more

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Jun 06, 2011

Dan rated it

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I have only read Doyle’s brilliant ‘Henry Smart’ trilogy (A Star Called Henry, Oh Play That Thing, and The Dead Republic) which I thoroughly enjoyed and can recommend 100%, and he is a writer I always mean to read more of but never get around to.

This is the story of a Dubliner called Paula Spencer told in the first person narrative. Paula shifts between recounting her childhood and teenage years in which she recalls meeting up with the enigmatic local heartthrob Charles ‘Charlo’ Spen...more

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Apr 18, 2010

Dennis Littrell rated it

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Shelves: fiction

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. Doyle, Roddy. The Woman Who Walked Into Doors (1996)****
The man was the door

This Irish novel about a battered and alcoholic Dublin woman owes a little to a proletariat and naturalistic traditional of novel writing (James T. Farrell's Studs Lonigan comes to mind) that I thought was dead. The first person narration by the central character, Paula Spencer, is painfully real. It's hard not to identify with her. She seems trapped by her poverty and lack of education and her attra...moreDoyle, Roddy. The Woman Who Walked Into Doors (1996)****
The man was the door

This Irish novel about a battered and alcoholic Dublin woman owes a little to a proletariat and naturalistic traditional of novel writing (James T. Farrell's Studs Lonigan comes to mind) that I thought was dead. The first person narration by the central character, Paula Spencer, is painfully real. It's hard not to identify with her. She seems trapped by her poverty and lack of education and her attraction to the wrong kind of man. I found Doyle's treatment of this all too familiar scenario interesting, especially as we see her many years later, but somewhat one-sided. The Irish terms and the lower middle class venue enlivened the narrative and Doyle has a fine eye for sexual and social detail. Nonetheless the tale is dreary in an all too familiar way and his obvious pandering to his female readership is a little embarrassing for a writer as good as he is. I suspect that Doyle was torn between attraction to his central male character, a violent, macho wife beater; but because of his need to be politically correct with feminism, he was never able to develop his character beyond the straw man.

The clever title on one level is a euphemism for a battered woman, but on another suggests something deeper, a blind tropism that the woman couldn't help. I think Doyle needed to develop that potential in the character of the husband as well. For a novelist the toughest thing often is to tell the psychological truth in spite of, and in the face of what your readership expects. Although I have no sympathy for wife beaters, and certainly none for Doyle's pathetic wretch, it is not enough to show that the wife is a victim. The husband is as well. And she makes choices. In the proletariat tradition the cause was poverty; today it is either the "daemonic nature" of males or the values of the patriarchy that lead to the violence. None of these answers is the whole story.

--a review by Dennis Littrell(less)

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Oct 18, 2009

Allison rated it

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I love the fact that this novel progressed from the good to the bad. For a story about alcoholism and abuse (more abuse than alcoholism), I find this progression logical and effective, yet rarely followed.

Also effective was Doyle's first-person narration from the POV of the abused wife. It was fascinating to read from inside Paula's head rather than as a 3rd party observer watching her life. There is a sense of frustration looking at a situation of abuse--real or fictional--but the frust

...moreI love the fact that this novel progressed from the good to the bad. For a story about alcoholism and abuse (more abuse than alcoholism), I find this progression logical and effective, yet rarely followed.

For as short as it was, I found Doyle's novel to be unnecessarily repetitive in several places. Obviously the repetition served a purpose many times, but there were some instances where I just felt "ok you've already been over this three times, I do not need to hear it again." As a reader, I would just skim-skip those parts, looking for the next piece of relevant action. E.g. I promise! I promise! I promise! I never really did figure out who was saying that. Was it Charlo promising not to do it again? I don't think so. Was it Paula promising not to do whatever it was that had provoked Charlo to hit her? Most likely, but that wasn't very clear, and therefore not very effective, either, especially because it was always followed by different content. "Don't hit my mammy!" would sometimes be sprinkled in the "I promise!' tirade, and afterwards Paula may talk about being afraid of Charlo, or she may talk about loving him and needing him and being unable to live without him. I usually skipped those entire sections, my eyes and mind hungering for the next piece of new information. These were things I already knew from what I had read and "witnessed" throughout the book, and although I understand that I was supposed to be inside Paula's mind, I simply did not need to hear them again.

All in all, a powerful book. I don't know how much Charlo's murder of the young woman added to the novel other than an additional unanswerable question for Paula to worry over in her mind, but perhaps a second reading would bring some of these issues into clearer perspective. It's a short enough, quick enough read, that I just might.

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Aug 14, 2010

Katherine rated it

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Shelves: fiction

“—God--; I’m sorry—" (45). **What a use of the semi-colon!
“They laughed at girls fighting even though they were scared; girls fought to maim and kill. Girls didn’t box…Boys pretended; girls didn’t. Boys pretended that girls couldn’t fight and everybody believed them. I was a great fighter. Nobody cared” (49).
“I wouldn’t have minded if he had pulled me behind a wall. But he didn’t. He respected me. He’d do that to me later” (53).
“Fellas were like easy crosswords; you knew t...more

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Dec 19, 2011

Emilia P rated it

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Shelves: real-books

This was a damn good book.
Maybe "good" isn't the right word for it, but, well, Roddy D. was spot-on at getting a regular woman's voice to come through, filled with the uncompartmentalized joy, memory, despair, need, and hope that come with a hard life.

The first-person narrative flashes between the past -- a not altogether unpleasant youth, and a pretty dismal but relieved present wherein Paula Spencer has kicked her husband out of the house, only to find, a year late...more

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Mar 03, 2010

Victoria rated it

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Shelves: ireland, lit-fic

This was an interesting and fast read. And it certainly had a clear, Irish voice. It really painted a portrait of this woman, Paula Spencer. It seemed like Roddy Doyle had seen a photograph of this scarred, missing-toothed cleaning woman, who had somehow retained a sense of beauty - either past or present and then managed to capture her story. I guess that's what the entire book felt like to me - a photograph, a window into someone's soul.
I am very interested in reading the sequel, Paula S...more

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Jul 25, 2011

Sunny rated it

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Shelves: irish-literature

"violent book. roddy doyle has an amazing way of putting himself into other peoples shows. be that a kids character or a middle aged womens one ... this book is about the life of a lady who lives with an abusive husband who is a bit of a nutter overall. its like the irish version of ""once were warriors"" but pribably not as violent as that! you get a sense of her frustration being in a relationshp shes too scared to step out of for over 15 years. her nutter husband lite...more

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Nov 22, 2011

Suzyn rated it

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Shelves: books-that-didn-t-suck

My favorite parts of this book are not the parts that are technically good. Well, the parts that are technically good are vivid descriptions of spousal abuse, so one doesn't expect to like those, but I didn't really connect with them either. It is disquieting how quickly the fairly repetitive chapters about the abuse get just plain dull.

There are chapters toward the beginning that I just adored, though. I have a friend who was a "good sister" and an "evil sister."...more

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Aug 04, 2010

Jennifer rated it

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I found this hanging out in our bookcase, courtesy of Marty. Narrated by an alcoholic Irish woman, she recounts her life and relationship with her husband Charlo. Except for my usual complaint about male authors (they just can't write believable sex scenes from a woman's perspective), the book is well-conceived and executed. The narrator is repetitive at times, and wanders around her story, but isn't that the way a drunk often talks? That may be the most realistic aspect of this book. It's ...more

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Jan 24, 2010

Paolo rated it

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Shelves: fiction

This book tells the memories of an unfortunate woman who lived a miserable life. This is the type of book that makes you appreciate the life you have and is a bit of an eye-opener to those who are sheltered from the life led by the main character (Paula).

Not the type of book I usually read and I have to say I thought the story was depressing without being gripping. I guess the repetitive style in which the story is told is important to make us feel and live Paula's nightmare, but I j...more

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Feb 01, 2010

Benny rated it

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I feel like this book needed a serious edit. Too much of it is given over to repetitive point-of-view ramblings of the main character and narrator, the abused and driven-to-alcoholism Paula Spencer. You could make the argument that Doyle was just being true to the narrative voice - that this would actually be how the mind of an abused woman worked. And that's true. But good fiction will give the reader the illusion of the repetition without actually having to do it to the point of becoming obvio...more

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Apr 20, 2009

Kornela rated it

· review of another edition

Shelves: favorites-read-in-2009

A funny, sad, and moving little book about an Irish woman named Paula Spencer. Paula seems unremarkable until she reveals bit by bit the tragedies of her life including an abusive husband and an increasingly worse drinking problem.
Some of the passages in this book were a bit hard for me to read, due to the subject matter and the relentless, raw, hopeless prose. I had to put the book down a couple of times just to clear my head and get away from the intensity of it. But I am so glad th...more

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Feb 27, 2009

Esther rated it

· review of another edition

just to annoy Jessica, yes I've got through another book. You know I have a wonderful commute each day on the (h)el(l) - books are essential to block out the delays, smells and general crapness. Oh where was I. Oh this book, now Roddy Doyle is a fine writer, but this book about a woman in an abusive relationship, with uptight father, priests, alcoholism was pretty much ORISH cliche from start to end. Oh t'be sure, bless me mary and baby jeisus, he's punched my lights out again and oh the wee bai...more

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Jan 14, 2010

Kate Reid rated it

· review of another edition

Not a bad companion to "I'll Fly Away" as it is about an abused wife and her feelings. Many of the inmates writing in "I'll Fly Away" had abusive spouses and families and finally did something about it which is what landed them in jail. In the case of "The Woman Who Walked into Doors" she does something,it does not land her in jail, but it took 17 years for her to finally realize that she didn't have to take it any more. An interesting read, and well done conside...more

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Jul 30, 2011

Rachel added it · review of another edition

Not entirely that this is a truthful description; it's rather over the top in my opinion- "shows the inner life of this battered housecleaner to be the same stuff as that of the heroes of the great novels of Europe."So, she gets up and carries on for the sake of the children, she can't bring herself to leave and the final realisation of what is also occuring motivates her to take action. The only thing is that as with other Doyle books he leaves you with a sting in the tail. You end up...more

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May 10, 2010

Anita Dalton rated it

· review of another edition

Shelves: fiction, literary-fiction, books-we-own

Doyle understands that life might have a moment wherein a paralyzed person is suddenly capable of action, but that a moment of clarity does not a changed life make. Doyle shows the arc of Paula’s life as she gradually loses more and more innocence, slowly becomes more and more broken. This novel, better than any novel I have read in recent memory, tells the story of how men defined the world of women, from their actions to their words, and how hard it is to overcome such intrusive beginnings.
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About Roddy Doyle

Roddy Doyle (Irish: Ruaidhrí Ó Dúill) is an Irish novelist, dramatist and screenwriter. Several of his books have been made into successful films, beginning with The Commitments in 1991. He won the Booker Prize in 1993.

Doyle grew up in Kilbarrack, Dublin. He graduated with a Bachelor of Arts from University College, Dublin. He spent several years as an English and geography teacher bef...more

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title link	preview: La Mujer Que Se Estrellaba Contra las Puertas = The Woman Who Walked Into Doors
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BBCode	[url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/4961515-la-mujer-que-se-estrellaba-contra-las-puertas-the-woman-who-walked-int?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book][img]http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1267055969m/4961515.jpg[/img][/url] [url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/4961515-la-mujer-que-se-estrellaba-contra-las-puertas-the-woman-who-walked-int?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book]La Mujer Que Se Estrellaba Contra las Puertas = The Woman Who Walked Into Doors by Roddy Doyle[/url]

La Mujer Que Se Estrellaba Contra las Puertas = The Woman Who Walked Into Doors

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