Reviews - The House of Doors

1.11k reviews for:

The House of Doors

Tan Twan Eng

3.95 AVERAGE

hnntephe's review against another edition

4.0

informative reflective slow-paced

daisystevenson's review against another edition

2.0

emotional reflective medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

perseagofish's review against another edition

3.75

adventurous hopeful informative inspiring lighthearted reflective sad medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

officialashleyo's review against another edition

4.0

mysterious reflective medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Beautiful prose, and really transports you to Penang and all that it entailed at the time - from small groups of rebels to privileged colonizers struggling to maintain appearances among their peers. It's an excellent character study, diving into all the motivations that lead Willie, Lesley, and others to engage in all kinds of risky behavior, only to fight their hardest to cover them up for the sake of their status in society. So much of the book is just the cast of characters telling one another stories. While I personally found myself curious to see how the stories played out, they also lacked a certain punch to them. Most of the characters, despite all the paranoia they harbored about not being caught in their various affairs, seemed at the same time to be rather passive, content with just observing and floating through the world around them. In some ways this worked - despite being part of the colonizing class themselves, the women were still restricted by the very same misogyny of Europe, so they fell in line with the standard expectations of being dutiful wives and mothers... so it's no wonder they all ultimately find themselves and/or their husbands sleeping around with someone else.

I am also completely unfamiliar with the works of Somerset Maugham (this book was gifted by a friend, and who knows if I'd have ever picked it up otherwise!), so I'm curious how much my opinion would shift after later reading his actual works.

jkrnomad's review against another edition

5.0

adventurous challenging emotional reflective medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Complicated

izzy006's review against another edition

3.75

emotional hopeful mysterious reflective medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

madzsmiled's review

2.75

emotional mysterious reflective slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

The House of Doors was a complicated read for me. It was difficult to fall into - I struggled to relate to Lesley, particularly as a woman of means in colonial Malaysia. Willie was more compelling, but rather unlikeable in his own way. Now, I don't need to like the characters to enjoy a book, but I did find it difficult to empathize with them both. I also felt like the true plot of the story was buried under too many layers - it wasn't until close to 3/4ths of the way through that the titular House of Doors was introduced.

All that being said, the prose was beautiful. The vivid imagery leapt off the page, and everything felt rich. Tan Twan Eng weaves beautiful descriptions, but I'm afraid I'm not as big of a fan of his mysteries. I would have been happier if Sun Yat Sen and Ethel weren't involved at all. Their stories are fascinating on their own, but I feel like this book could have been just as powerful as a smaller tale between Willie and Lesley.

#bookrecommendations #bookreviews #litfic

angorarabbit's review against another edition

4.5

adventurous mysterious reflective relaxing medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Context: I have not read any works by Somerset Maugham yet. I am curious though.

Told from two different viewpoints in alternating chapters; Lesley’s in first person and Willie’s in third. The writing is what one should expect from a Booker winner particularly on how the light falls in a room or on the ocean. Where I was disappointed was in the secondary characters. Especially Dr Loh, there seemed to be very little explanation to his actions.

While being an enjoyable read the book also brings up serious topics of marriage vs attraction, class, and justice. I enjoy books that make me think. I just wish I had read more of the Malaysian and Chinese view points in this book.

Content Warnings

teabooksandbreathe's review against another edition

4.5

adventurous challenging emotional informative mysterious sad medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

eccles's review

3.0

adventurous lighthearted reflective fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: N/A

I’m not going to apologise for this note, because someone once told me never to start with an apology. But I do regret that I’m a such bad reader, and I recognise that my reaction to this book has more to do with my feeble-mindedness than anything the author has done. Someone (that’s Someone, not just someone) read this and loved it, and told me the curious story, about Maugham and Malaysia and the affairs and the homosexuality and the murder, and we looked up the history a bit and it all sounded like an improbable and fascinating subject for a novel. But when in my turn I got hold of the book, did I read it for the story? No, because Someone had already more or less told me the story. It’s a version, I suppose, of familiarity breeding contempt. I knew all about Maugham and Malaysia in the early 20c, so none of that was particularly diverting. I knew where the story was going, and most of the wrinkles that were coming, so nothing felt surprising. What did surprise me was the prose. Mostly fairly straightforward narration - although we do disconcertingly jump back and forth from 3rd person omniscient to a 1st person more or less every chapter - peppered with flights of ill-judged literary fancy. These mainly occur in moments of reflection, when the author is transported by some memory or strongly felt emotion, and a regular word just won’t do. “Twilight was foxing the margins of the sky”, “The song seemed to have wraithed through his dreams”, “They seemed to be dancing to the music of the spheres audible only to themselves”, “something about the shophouses of Penang I find beautiful and evocative”, “bitter scents.. drifted out of the shop, medicating the air, but they couldn’t fumigate the despair from my heart.” Is this what the professionals call “overwritten”? The language snagged something in me by about page two, and from then on I couldn’t really hear the story - which I kind of already knew - I just kept seeing infelicitous or banal word choice. It’s a real shame, as I think I really liked Garden of the Evening Mists and don’t recall any discomfort with the prose there. I will have to go back and try it again. But until then, if you haven’t already read GoEM, try that before this one.

More...