The Woman Who Walked into Doors

by Roddy Doyle

The Woman Who Walked into Doors

published

January 1st 1997 (first published 1996) by Penguin (Non-Classics)

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binding

Paperback, 240 pages

isbn

0140255125 (isbn13: 9780140255126)

description

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, ...more

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will

will rated it:

03/27/08

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 is a shadow over the boo...more

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Amy

Amy rated it:

03/26/08

bookshelves: the-best

Read in February, 2008

recommends it for: everyone

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 slu...more

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Guy

Guy rated it:

01/29/08

Read in May, 2007

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 b...more 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 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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Drgibson63

Drgibson63 rated it:

11/02/08

Read in January, 1997

recommended to Drgibson63 by: Friend
recommends it for: Any adult

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 apart o...more 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 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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Danna

Danna rated it:

03/29/08

Read in March, 2008

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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Lisa

Lisa rated it:

03/28/08

bookshelves: irish-lit

Read in March, 2008

recommends it for: people who liked Angela's Ashes

I picked up The Woman Who Walked Into Doors because I recently saw good reviews for Roddy Doyle’s new book Paula Spencer, which is a continuation of this story. In this story, Paula is an “alco” widow who was brutally abused by her husband for almost twenty years. It’s told from her kitchen table on the day she is told he is dead. (So at least that adds a buffer. )
It’s interesting because she’s still in love with parts of him and is trying to sort out her memories...more

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David

David rated it:

10/07/07

Read in August, 2007

recommends it for: those who like strong women.

I'd read a couple of Roddy Doyle's short stories and was excited to read a novel or two. The book is very well written and the story entertaining enough. It's a slice of life, no heavy philosophies or ideas, just observations on the way people change and treat each other through the years.

Doyle certainly has 'style'. The voice of the narrator, Paddy Clarke, is so convincing, so strongly individualized and so damn funny, which is why it's perplexing as to why the woman stays in such an abus...more

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Ian

Ian rated it:

09/28/07

bookshelves: roddy-doyle

Read in September, 1996

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

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. Eac...more 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 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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Darryl

Darryl rated it:

04/08/07

Read in January, 2007

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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Joanie

Joanie rated it:

06/19/08

bookshelves: 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...more

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Abby

Abby rated it:

12/07/07

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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Craig

Craig rated it:

(review of isbn 1860219829)

09/04/08

bookshelves: quoted

Read in April, 2008

"I have a hearing problem, a ruptured eardrum. A present from Charlo. It happened. A finger aches when it's going to rain. Little one on the left; he pulled it back till it snapped. It happened. I have places where there should be teeth. There are things I can't smell any more. I have marks where burns used to be. I have a backache that rides me all day. I've a scar on my chin. It happened. I have parts of the house that make me cry. I have memories that I can touch and make me wake up screaming. I'm haunted all day and all night. I have mistakes that stab me before I think of them. He hit me, he thumped me, he raped me. It happened."<...more

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James

James rated it:

(review of isbn 1860219829)

04/05/08

bookshelves: quoted

Read in April, 2008

"I have a hearing problem, a ruptured eardrum. A present from Charlo. It happened. A finger aches when it's going to rain. Little one on the left; he pulled it back till it snapped. It happened. I have places where there should be teeth. There are things I can't smell any more. I have marks where burns used to be. I have a backache that rides me all day. I've a scar on my chin. It happened. I have parts of the house that make me cry. I have memories that I can touch and make me wake up screaming. I'm haunted all day and all night. I have mistakes that stab me before I think of them. He hit me, he thumped me, he raped me. It happened." ...more

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Sally

Sally rated it:

03/05/08

I read this book after hearing that it is J.K. Rowling's favorite. At first I had difficulty getting used to the writing style, but by the end of the book I felt that the style only added to the story. I highly recommend reading this book. As a psychology major, I learned a bit about abusive relationships, but I feel this book educates better on the topic than anything else I have read. I encourage all people interested in working with domestic violence victims (and perpetrators) to read this bo...more

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Tracy

Tracy rated it:

05/23/08

Read in May, 2008

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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Becky

Becky rated it:

06/30/08

Read in June, 2008

What a sad book! The story is character driven and focuses on Paula Spencer - her disappointing high school education, her romance with her boyfriend Charlo, her life with him as a newly married couple, and the spiral into spousal abuse and alcoholism. Doyle's writing style is phenomenal as he uses Paula's perspective as the point of view, and he takes us through the events and emotions in her life in a stream of consciousness. My only reason for giving it three instead of four stars is becaus...more

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peg

peg rated it:

(review of isbn 0670867756)

09/08/07

bookshelves: ireland

Roddy Doyle is a wonderful and powerful writer. In this book he offers up a slice of life from the poor working class in Ireland. Paula, Doyle's protagonist, narrates the tragic story of her experience as a battered and abused wife. The story is heartwrenching and the dialog alone places the reader in the heart of Ireland. The characters are very convincing. However, the book left me with a sense of helplessness and doom. Paula survives and is a much stronger person at the end of the story but t...more

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Michelle

Michelle rated it:

02/24/08

bookshelves: fiction, irish-lit

Read in February, 2008

recommended to Michelle by: Allison
recommends it for: Cheri - this is the book I told you about

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Blythe

Blythe rated it:

02/12/08

bookshelves: 2008

Read in February, 2008

This is a good read, without a question. The narrator's voice is the main thing: it's strong, it's right on. But I couldn't give it four stars because it's so sad. Not too sad - it's the right amount of sadness, even - but I didn't "really like it" because that would be sick. Doyle has done something for the battered women of the world; when you read this book, you'll think it's the problem we have to solve, and when you see a bruised woman, perhaps you won't just look away. Who knows....more

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Khaya

Khaya rated it:

(review of isbn 1860219829)

10/06/07

bookshelves: intense-sad, ireland

This story of an alcoholic woman trapped in a loveless, abusive marriage was very well done, but it was also extremely gritty and depressing (although she does reclaim her life at the end). I also found the apparently random chapter order choppy and disorienting (the book's structure reminded me of "The God of Small Things"); although it came together in the end, it made it hard for me to engage with the book while I was reading it. Between this book and "Angela's Ashes," I...more

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avg rating (this edition): 3.85 (781 ratings)
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