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buddhafish 's review for:
The House of Doors
by Tan Twan Eng
99th book of 2023.
3.5. I am always excited about a book that's about real people, and Eng's newest is a book about W. Somerset Maugham. It helps that I'm already a fan of Maugham's work and have read four or five of his novels, I don't know what this would read like if you haven't read any of his work or know much about him; but I tell a lie, because the book isn't really about Maugham at all.
There's two stories running parallel throughout the novel at different timepoints. Although the novel begins in 1947, almost all of it jumps between 1921 and 1910 and alternates every chapter from Lesley to 'Willie' Maugham himself. Eng's made an interesting structure with the book: Maugham is the 'listener', as we are; the parts in 1910 are Lesley's remembering. It's full of adultery and murder. I suppose if you're going to tell a tale like that, you want to tell it to a writer. The 1921 deal with Maugham's present day life in Penang staying with Lesley and her husband with his male secretary-lover, trying to write and dealing with all the other issues in his life like his wife back in England or his finances. I'm not often one for flashbacks, but I found Lesley's story compelling and Eng's framework (using Maugham as the listener) was a good way of doing it.
And Eng's writing is like water; it's lucid and clear. I fell through the pages with ease. In fact, it reminded me of Maugham's writing and I wonder if Eng is attempting to replicate that. There are still lines like this to catch onto,
3.5. I am always excited about a book that's about real people, and Eng's newest is a book about W. Somerset Maugham. It helps that I'm already a fan of Maugham's work and have read four or five of his novels, I don't know what this would read like if you haven't read any of his work or know much about him; but I tell a lie, because the book isn't really about Maugham at all.
There's two stories running parallel throughout the novel at different timepoints. Although the novel begins in 1947, almost all of it jumps between 1921 and 1910 and alternates every chapter from Lesley to 'Willie' Maugham himself. Eng's made an interesting structure with the book: Maugham is the 'listener', as we are; the parts in 1910 are Lesley's remembering. It's full of adultery and murder. I suppose if you're going to tell a tale like that, you want to tell it to a writer. The 1921 deal with Maugham's present day life in Penang staying with Lesley and her husband with his male secretary-lover, trying to write and dealing with all the other issues in his life like his wife back in England or his finances. I'm not often one for flashbacks, but I found Lesley's story compelling and Eng's framework (using Maugham as the listener) was a good way of doing it.
And Eng's writing is like water; it's lucid and clear. I fell through the pages with ease. In fact, it reminded me of Maugham's writing and I wonder if Eng is attempting to replicate that. There are still lines like this to catch onto,
That night, side by side, we drifted among the galaxies of sea-stars, while far, far above us the asterisks of light marked out the footnotes on the page of eternity.