Reviews

4.1
This was a read as part of my English Lit 'Trauma in Irish Lit' class, so I knew the trauma was guaranteed and the title made it clear this was about domestic violence. From class discussion I learned that Doyle didn't do a great deal of research before tackling this topic - however, he did give the manuscript to victims who praised his depiction. So I'm not sure how to feel overall; on the one hand I don't like that a man has written a woman's story, especially following very little research; but on the other hand, it's unlikely that a victim would be willing or able to write something like this, and it is a really important issue to tackle in creative art forms. And I have to say that even as someone with no experience of domestic violence either personally or via friends/family, I felt that Doyle did a truly great job here. I think what this book does really well is give the reader an insight into the mind of one type of abuse victim, helping us to understand how abusive relationships develop and why victims find themselves unable or unwilling to leave. Paula Spencer has been let down her entire life, especially by the men in her life, and Charlo is just another in a long line, only much worse. Paula's back and forth between her earlier life and the present day depict her fragmented memories. Her treatment at the hands of doctors who saw the individual symptoms but refused to see the bigger problem highlights the way women are marginalised and ignored, particularly in medicine. The way that Paula learns to 'accept' the violence from Charlo is a sad and depressing read and you can't help but feel so deeply for her inability to escape. It's only when Charlo turns his sights on his own daughter that Paula is finally, after thinking about it for so long, able to leave Charlo. It was violent, but the way in which she beat the life out of him and him out the door was incredibly satisfying to read and cathartic after the horrific descriptions of violence he took out on her. The book meanders through Paula's memories before suddenly bursting into violent depictions, much like her life/marriage suddenly erupted in violence, and this trend continues to the end. At this point, Paula seems free, but as we know, the book opens with Charlo's death and Paula is inevitably unable to shake the way this makes her feel, especially given his actions that led to his death. She was never able to shake the love she had for him, and there's a suggestion that she's either jealous of the interaction with the woman Charlo killed, or at least she's aware of her own escape from death at his hands. Doyle has written two further sequels to The Woman Who Walked into Doors. I don't think I'll be reading either of these. Id be somewhat curious to read what happens to Paula but I think the story was entirely too depressing to continue reading of my own volition.