The Review of Contemporary Fiction

The Woman Who Walked into Doors by Roddy Doyle
Rick Henry

Roddy Doyle. The Woman Who Walked into Doors. Penguin/Viking, 1996. 226 pp. $22.95; Paper: $11.95.

Roddy Doyle’s fifth novel concerns the life and love of Paula Spencer, a thirty-nine-year-old woman, alcoholic, mother of four (her fifth, a miscarriage the result of her husband’s fist to her stomach), cleaning woman, widow. Paula tells her own story, a telling made possible by the violent death of her husband. She “isn’t too fond of herself,” nor is this reader. True, her perseverance is admirable and her situation pitiable. But this self-described “girl who wanked” a young boyfriend is hardly a likable narrator.

The novel opens with the arrival of a young member of the Guard who has the unfortunate job of informing Paula that her estranged husband, Charlo, has been killed while holding a woman hostage during an attempted robbery. As this drama unfolds, so does Paula’s life story, from her childhood through her teens and her rebellion against her family, to her introduction to Charlo, their courtship and eventual marriage. Doyle deftly manages the two narratives so that Paula and Charlo’s honeymoon is omniously juxtaposed against Charlo’s brutal murder of his hostage. His death allows Paula to talk about her marriage, about the seventeen years she endured under Charlo’s violence, until she finally struck back, not for herself, but to protect her daughter from her husband as he turns his violence toward her. The threat he poses to Nicole is enough for Paula to drive him, stumbling and barely conscious, into the street and out of their immediate lives. Doyle is savvy enough to mine the depths of this victory, for it comes with its own costs—the possible alienation of her son, who witnesses the brutal beating of his father. Nor is this the only violence perpetrated by Paula. The novel opens with a brief aside from Paula about how she herself hit Nicole.

Early reviews of the novel have lauded Doyle for his ability to give voice to Paula Spencer, that is, Doyle’s ability to efface his (male) presence in his female narrator’s voice and sensibilities. What they’ve noted is true enough, for Doyle has demonstrated yet again his mastery of voice and character. But his achievement goes well beyond his own self-effacement. What is overlooked is how he constructs his narrative to overcome what we already know—that we will, inevitably, get to what the title promises—documenting the narrator’s physical abuse at the hands of her husband. How is it, then, that Doyle is able to sustain the reader’s interest and effort necessary to completing such a story? Much of the interest lies in discovering just what Paula is up to as she tells her story. Is she rewriting history to exculpate herself? Is she telling the truth? Is her confession therapeutic? Most likely, she is discovering herself through the patient exposing of self-deceptions, tricks and games that she’s developed over the years just to survive.

The Woman Who Walked into Doors follows his 1993 Booker Award winning Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha, a novel of seething emotion and coming of age, and his “Barrytown Trilogy,” The Commitments, The Snapper, and The Van, which follow the Rabbitte family through the good fun of drinking, burping, farting, rock and roll, teenage parenthood, and economic depression. Like Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha, Doyle’s latest is not so fun as his earlier three, nor should this be a surprise. It is, however, a compelling exploration of the dark undercurrents informing all of Doyle’s fictions. [Rick Henry]


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The Review of Contemporary Fiction The Woman Who Walked into Doors by Roddy Doyle Rick Henry Roddy Doyle. The Woman Who Walked into Doors. Penguin/Viking, 1996. 226 pp. $22.95; Paper: $11.95. Roddy Doyle’s fifth novel concerns the life and love of Paula Spencer, a thirty-nine-year-old woman, alcoholic, mother of four (her fifth, a miscarriage the result of her husband’s fist to her stomach), cleaning woman, widow. Paula tells her own story, a telling made possible by the violent death of her husband. She “isn’t too fond of herself,” nor is this reader. True, her perseverance is admirable and her situation pitiable. But this self-described “girl who wanked” a young boyfriend is hardly a likable narrator. The novel opens with the arrival of a young member of the Guard who has the unfortunate job of informing Paula that her estranged husband, Charlo, has been killed while holding a woman hostage during an attempted robbery. As this drama unfolds, so does Paula’s life story, from her childhood through her teens and her rebellion against her family, to her introduction to Charlo, their courtship and eventual marriage. Doyle deftly manages the two narratives so that Paula and Charlo’s honeymoon is omniously juxtaposed against Charlo’s brutal murder of his hostage. His death allows Paula to talk about her marriage, about the seventeen years she endured under Charlo’s violence, until she finally struck back, not for herself, but to protect her daughter from her husband as he turns his violence toward her. The threat he poses to Nicole is enough for Paula to drive him, stumbling and barely conscious, into the street and out of their immediate lives. Doyle is savvy enough to mine the depths of this victory, for it comes with its own costs—the possible alienation of her son, who witnesses the brutal beating of his father. Nor is this the only violence perpetrated by Paula. The novel opens with a brief aside from Paula about how she herself hit Nicole. Early reviews of the novel have lauded Doyle for his ability to give voice to Paula Spencer, that is, Doyle’s ability to efface his (male) presence in his female narrator’s voice and sensibilities. What they’ve noted is true enough, for Doyle has demonstrated yet again his mastery of voice and character. But his achievement goes well beyond his own self-effacement. What is overlooked is how he constructs his narrative to overcome what we already know—that we will, inevitably, get to what the title promises—documenting the narrator’s physical abuse at the hands of her husband. How is it, then, that Doyle is able to sustain the reader’s interest and effort necessary to completing such a story? Much of the interest lies in discovering just what Paula is up to as she tells her story. Is she rewriting history to exculpate herself? Is she telling the truth? Is her confession therapeutic? Most likely, she is discovering herself through the patient exposing of self-deceptions, tricks and games that she’s developed over the years just to survive. The Woman Who Walked into Doors follows his 1993 Booker Award winning Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha, a novel of seething emotion and coming of age, and his “Barrytown Trilogy,” The Commitments, The Snapper, and The Van, which follow the Rabbitte family through the good fun of drinking, burping, farting, rock and roll, teenage parenthood, and economic depression. Like Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha, Doyle’s latest is not so fun as his earlier three, nor should this be a surprise. It is, however, a compelling exploration of the dark undercurrents informing all of Doyle’s fictions. [Rick Henry]

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