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| The Woman Who Walked into Doors | 
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Avg. Customer Rating:  (based on 67 reviews)
Sales Rank: 1759239
Category: Book
Author: Roddy Doyle
Publisher: Vintage
Studio: Vintage
Manufacturer: Vintage
Label: Vintage
Format: Import
Languages: English (Original Language), English (Unknown), English (Published)
Media: Paperback
Edition: New Ed
Pages: 240
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.4
Dimensions (in): 7.7 x 5 x 0.7
ISBN: 0749395990
Dewey Decimal Number: 823.914
EAN: 9780749395995
ASIN: 0749395990
Publication Date: January 1, 1997
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Customer Reviews: Read 62 more reviews...
 Can't wait to read more June 19, 2009
This is my first Roddy Doyle and I can't wait to read more of his work. This book gripped me from the start---the voice of the protagonist, the abrupt style of the narrative, the stream of consciousness writing with its deliberate repetition---I had to force myself to slow down so I wouldn't miss anything. The language and the syntax is so compelling.
It also floored me that this was written by a man. There wasn't a moment that I questioned whether this was a woman speaking. Even his characterizations of other female characters rang true, especially the sister Carmel, and the three sister's triangular relationship.
I would have given this book 5 stars but for the ending (and I don't think I'm giving away anything significant here). I kept asking myself why a man like Charlo would take no for an answer, it seemed so out of character for him to disappear into the night. I found myself wishing that Doyle had written an earlier scene that showed why he would behave this way when bullied----particularly given what we know about abusive husbands/fathers.
In any case, I highly recommend this book and will add Doyle to my favorite authors list.
 Domestic Violence and Alcohol April 29, 2009
This novel is Roddy Doyle at his finest. The story is about a woman who is consistently
emotionally and then physically abused by her spouse. She turns to alcohol in order to
deny the extreme horror of her situation. She appears to be a classic victim of learned
helplessness until he does something that forces her to act.
This is a sad and tragic book. One hopes throughout the book that she will have the
strength to leave her monster of a husband. Does she or doesn't she. Only reading the
book will give you the answer.
Artistry! February 19, 2009
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 Spencer_, since it didn't seem like a sequel would be necessary by the end of it. There were, of course, unanswered questions - why did Carmel hate her father so? What happened to Paula's older son? And perhaps those are the types of questions that will be addressed in the sequel...
"I changed. I noticed it then." October 25, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
To say that I enjoyed The Woman Who Walked into Doors would not be the right description. The book is a rather harrowing depiction of a woman in the grip of spousal abuse and alcoholism. A woman who tries, in a now familiar story, to reconcile the idea of a man who loves her with a man who beats her.
I was suspicious about anyone who isn't Paula Spencer (or someone very close to her) claiming the experience of poverty, alcoholism, and abuse in a first person narrative fiction. As it happens, however, Doyle does a credible job with this. Given the time that he spends in Paula's head, I had the feeling that he was trying to work out the question that many of us have watching a situation like that-- why? why does she stay? how does she survive?
What's really nice about the work is that it resists the temptation to make Paula and her situation sentimental. That resistance makes the real love that she has for Charlo really affecting. She clings to it in the face of all reason and against all circumstance. I do not feel as though I closed the book any wiser about why a battered wife stays battered, but I did feel as though it lifted a little corner off the mystery as to how you keep loving someone who torments you. And how little/much that love means stacked up against the other other aspects of the relationship.
In the end I found it a good book, if often a little bit difficult to read. It is not a pleasant subject, and Doyle doesn't pull his punches. For me I found that it missed something-- something larger than the main idea, perhaps. That something kept me from finding it a great book. But it was still certainly a worthy use of time, and a book that I would recommend. I would particularly recommend it if you have some special interest in the treatment of the subject matter.
A number of my friends recommended Paula Spencer and even noted that they liked that better. I'll be giving it a try.
(p.s. From reading reviews here and online reviews, it appears that a lot of readers are picking up Doyle based on a recommendation from Rowling. This book is really really different from anything she's written, and you should be prepared for very dark material, adult language, and physical/emotional violence if you pick this up.)
Sad story, lovely main character September 22, 2007
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
I would recommend this book to a friend. It is not a happy story, but the main character is immensely likable, and her story is interesting and worth reading. I liked Paula Spencer. She's funny, insightful, vulnerable and charming. She is also flawed, which makes her seem very real to me. It was hard to read this book though, because the shadow of her tragedy creeps across every page. Doyle waits until the final chapters to tell us, though, about Paula's battering at the hands of a man she loves, her "shattered" husband, Charlo. The title tells us what we do and do not want to know, so I think it's fine that Doyle waits until the end to reveal it all.
This book is written in the first person, and as an American the Irish vernacular was initially difficult for me, but Paula's inner dialogue is well written, and very enjoyable. I think I might have picked up a few Irish colloquialisms.
Kudos to Roddy Doyle! He has created a wonderful, likable, character in Paula Spencer.
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