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The Woman Who Walked into Doors
The Woman Who Walked into Doors | Roddy Doyle
9 posts | 19 read | 18 to read
Paula Spencer is a thirty-nine-year-old working-class woman struggling to reclaim her dignity after marriage to an abusive husband and a worsening drinking problem. Paula recalls her contented childhood, the audacity she learned as a teenager, the exhilaration of her romance with Charlo, and the marriage to him that left her feeling powerless. Capturing both her vulnerability and her strength, Roddy Doyle gives Paula a voice that is real and unforgettable.
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LiseWorks
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Eggs 💚☘️🇮🇪 12mo
10 likes1 comment
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ErinPringle
Pickpick

Fast read. I liked the narrator. The ending felt forced, but the larger experience of the book is worth a not-so-believable/earned ending. It‘s easy to become immersed in her life.

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bookcollecter
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Three possible candidate for prompt#5 of the #Booked2019 challenge

#RoddyDoyle is an accomplished, award-winning Irish author. His fiction is historical and rooted in the troubling aspects of life in Modern Ireland.

#WomanWhoWalkedIntoDoors and it's sequel #PaulaSpencer tackle domestic violence in a Catholic society opposed to Divorce.

@BarbaraTheBibliophage @4thhouseontheleft
@Cinfhen

BarbaraTheBibliophage I read my first John Boyne last year, The Heart‘s Invisible Furies. He tackles the social mores of Irish Catholicism too. Not surprised to see it‘s a common theme among Irish writers. (Tagging @Cinfhen again, our third co-host.) 5y
70 likes2 stack adds2 comments
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laytonwoman3rd
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In the face of her abusive husband's violent death, 39-year-old Paula Spencer mentally processes her life, hoping to make some sense of it all, struggling to hold on to the illusion of normalcy that has kept her going for nearly two decades. It's only brilliant.

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Emilymdxn
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Pickpick

I‘d never have thought I could get so into a book about abuse and violence but this was spectacularly better than any other ones I‘ve ever read (I was the only person in the world who didn‘t enjoy A Little Life). I laughed and cried with Paula, felt for her and understood her, and I never felt like it was trying to manipulate my emotions. I‘d never have thought I could laugh at a book like this but it was just perfect.

BarbaraBB I‘ll never forget this book. Doyle can write so simple and heartbreaking. I also loved 6y
BarbaraBB Made me cry too... 6y
Emilymdxn @BarbaraBB I loved Paddy Clarke too but honestly I preferred this one 6y
See All 9 Comments
pgh.femme ::whispers:: I also did not like 6y
Emilymdxn @pgh.femme I felt so bad like I wasn‘t getting something everyone else was?? Maybe it‘s just as an abuse survivor myself I resented being presented with a 800 page tome of unrelenting misery 😕 6y
pgh.femme Me too, and I know plenty of other survivors too. I also could not see the appeal in such a broken person that people would respond to them in such a way as they do in the book. A doctor who made house calls; a friend who was in love with him; adults who ADOPTED him. It felt a bit like abuse porn written from a place of privilege. It felt like a big lie to me. Eleanor Oliphant with smaller kindnesses and hard therapeutic work felt more genuine. 6y
Emilymdxn @pgh.femme I felt like the plot was such a litany of miseries where every single page a new life ruining event happened - like it had to scream ABUSE IS REALLY BAD on every page rather than actually exploring things in a nuanced way. I didn‘t find it interesting or helpful as a survivor, and I‘d recommend woman who walked into doors or Eleanor oliphant to a non-survivor who wants to learn. It‘s not a book anyone could enjoy or learn from, I feel 6y
zsuzsanna_reads I didn't like Little Life either, for much the same reasons as you a @pgh.femme named. Both what's his name and his life were just soooo perfect. Yeah, because he lives with chronicles pain, is a brilliant pastry chef, high flying lawyer, best at anything he ever tried... And it's all woe is me, despite the fact he is surrounded by the most loving friends ever. 6y
Emilymdxn @zsuzsanna_reads yeah it wasn‘t that I minded him having all the psychological problems be did because clearly he had immense trauma, but the life and relationships the author put around it felt so unrealistic and I was so frustrated by how the plot never really progressed or moved on at all 6y
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Jas16
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Because domestic violence is not love #taintedlove #junetunz

Cinfhen TRUTH 7y
46 likes1 comment
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Jas16
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This books causes me #anger in more ways than one way. It is a very well written novel about domestic violence, a topic that makes my blood boil. Also, the book pictured is my second copy of the book because I loaned several books I love to a former coworker right before she dropped off the face of the earth. I need to stop loaning books I care about to others. I never learn. #sweetemotions

candyflossramparts This is a great book, but heartbreaking. Have you read Doyle's Barrytown Trilogy? They're a little lighter. 7y
Jas16 @candyflossramparts I have and love them. 7y
candyflossramparts They're some of my favorites - especially The Snapper. 😊 7y
Jas16 I love Roddy Doyle. Have you read the sequel to this one ? 7y
34 likes4 comments
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Mc_cart_ny
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I didn't think I would be able to find a #textonlycovers (I'm ignoring that little door....) for #booktober but found this book from college!

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ApoptyGina69
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This Guinness is cheers to you guys! We're getting steaks on the grill this evening. Look for this Foreign Extra-pricy, but a tasty treat!

MrBook 😆😂👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻🙌🏻👌🏻!!! 8y
MrBook Cheers right back, m'lady! Steaks on the grill with a Guinness Foreign, scrumptious! I just ate and now I'm hungry again 😋 8y
9 likes2 stack adds2 comments