The woman who walked into doors door Roddy Doyle

Publisher: Wolters-Noordhoff BV te Groningen
Number of pages: 192
First published: 1996
Title: The Woman Who Walked Into Doors

Explanation of the title:
The main character of this book is Paula Spenser O’Leary. She has a problem, she gets beaten up by her husband, Carlo Spenser. Every time he beats her up she has to go to the doctor. She makes up excuses for her brushes and her bleedings, usually she says she walked into doors.

The part that appealed me the most:
The part that appeals me the most is where she walks into the kitchen en sees Nicolla (her oldest daughter) and Carlo in the kitchen. She sees the hate in his eyes, he wants to ruin her, to kill her, his own daughter. Then Paula comes in action, she gets very angry. She hits Carlo with a pan. She kicks him and knocks him unconscious. She throws him out of the house. She makes clear to him that he never has to come back and he never does.
This part appeals me because she’s brave enough to stand up to Carlo. She doesn’t take it any more and then she troughs him out.

What part did you find worst of least interesting? Explain why:
The part that I found the least interesting was chapter four. Paula tells about her family, her past. I found it to be very long, very boring. It wasn’t interesting. Later in the book she makes connections of how her mother treated her children (also her) and how she her self treats her children. This is pretty boring. It isn’t a tribute to the story, I found it to be very boring.

If you could choose, what person from this story would you like to be? Why?
If I could choose whom to be, I would like to be Paula, but only at the end when she kicks Jack out of the house. That’s brave, I don’t know if I would do that, I hope I would, but I don’t know if I can. I would be scared, and she isn’t. I find that good. She stands up for her children, she doesn’t let them down. They don’t suffer that much because their mother gets beaten. I don’t know if I could do that. She is a brave woman that’s why I would like to be her.

Name one character from the book whom you hated or could hate, explain:
I could hate Carlo. He hits his wife, hates his children and is an alcoholic. His wife and his children love him, but he doesn’t deserve that. He is a bad man. I liked the part from the book when she told how Carlo died, I felt a sort of revenge. When he was kicked out of the house, I was saying to myself: “Jeah, you have to go…don’t come back any more” When I realised that I was saying that, I laught. I didn’t like the character Carlo. I think that that was the purpose of the author. Everyone who reads the book has to hate Carlo.

In what period is the story set? Does it really matter to know in what period the story takes place? Why is that?
The story is set in the period 1950 until now. It doesn’t really matter in what period the story takes place because this story is a story that can take place in all periods. This story could also take place in 1800, it doesn’t really matter. The story about a man beating up his wife is a story that is a story that is possible for all periods.

Explain why you were or were not satisfied with the ending of the book:
I was very satisfied with the ending of the book, she finally kicked Carlo out. She stood up to Carlo, the tension that was build was finally gone, she did kick him out. That is what you’ve been waiting for and when she finally kicks him out, is very satisfying.

Compare the main character(s) from the beginning of the story with the same persons at the end of it. Had he/she changed? Had he/she achieved or learned something? Explain:
If I compare Paula in the beginning to the end of the book, I notice that in the beginning of the book she was a very shy and scarred girl. When someone does something she doesn’t like, she doesn’t say anything about that. She is afraid. But at the end when she kicks Carlo out of the house, she isn’t scared anymore. She stands up for herself. She doesn’t like the situation so in the end she does something about it. She becomes a brave woman.

What would you call a story like this? You can choose more than one name:
I would call this story a love story. I know it isn’t a typical love story, it comes near the most. It’s about loving and all sort of things. She loves Carlo, but she doesn’t want to love him, she knows it’s wrong, but she does love him. I think that that’s the reason why I call this book a “love story”.

Is there a tuning point in the story, a point after which the story takes a different course? Describe:
A turning point in the book would be were Paula kicks Carlo out of the house. The book is build up in “looking back periods”. This is where Paula looks back in history, she looks back at her youth. When Paula threw Carlo out the house, it was (when you think about it) somewhere in the middle of the story.
So that’s why I think that that’s the turning point of the book.

How much time has passed between the beginning and the end of the story? Describe:
Paula was born in de 60’s, she’s been beaten up in the 80’s and Carlo dies in the 90’s. So the time that has passed is 30, 35 years. In the beginning I found it to be a bit confusing, I didn’t know exactly when the part that was described was setting. But in the end that’s all clear. And in the end you can say that the time from the beginning till the end is about 30, 35 years.

Has the writer tried to make a point or statement with this story, or has he tried to make something clear? In other words, what is the theme? Explain:
The theme of the book is abuse. In the book you see the story through the eyes of Paula, she’s being terribly abused, but she doesn’t let the children suffer. She’s very strong. The only thing that kept her doing was liqueur. She is an alcoholic, just like Carlo. But she manages to get that under control because she wants to take care of her children. The love and the abuse are the main themes of the book.

Who, actually, tells the story? What is the narrative perspective? Explain:
You reed the book through the eyes of Paula, in her narrative perspective. Never through the eyes of someone else, always through the eyes of Paula.

Where is the story set?
The story is set in Dublin, the capital of Ireland. That’s were they live, work and that’s were there hole lives are.

Would you recommend this book to your classmates of not? Explain why;
I would certainly recommend this book to my classmates. I found this book to be a great book. At the beginning it’s a bit boring, but that is only in the beginning.

If you could give a mark to the book, what would it be?
If I could give a mark, I would give an 8. I found it a great book.

Brief summery
The story sets in between the 60’s and the 90’s.
The main character is Paula O’Leary. She is married to Carlo Spenser. They have four children; Nicola (18), John Paul (16), Leanne (12) and Jack (5). They live in Dublin.
The story begins when a police officer comes to the Spencer house and tells then that Carlo has been shot, he is dead. Then she begins looking back at her live.
She looks back at her youth. She doesn’t like her father, he doesn’t like his family. She’s the slut of the school, she wanks boys under the table.
When she is older she meets Carlo in a bar. They dance. She’s was happy, people are watching to her, everyone wants Carlo, but he wants her. She loves him. Her parents don’t like him very much. Carlo and her father don’t get along very well ever since they met. Carlo and Paula get married. At the wedding were the Spencers very happy, they were dancing, singing, getting all the attention. Paula was happy, she would become one of them.
They live in Dublin, in a very small apartment. Paula gets pregnant. Carlo is very proud, they’re going to have a baby, but the pregnancy thing it the part he doesn’t like. He stays out late. Then he hits her for the first time.
He began to do it more often. When something happened that he didn’t like, he began to beat her up. He gives her broken noses, bruises and burns her. He also does it to her psychically, he shows her money, tells her what she can do with it and then burns it right in font of her.
Every time she has to go to the hospital, she wants some one to ask her what happened. No one asks her. She’s very sad. She makes up excuses for her bruises. She says she has walked into doors. She wanted to leave Carlo. But she can’t, she has children, she’s hasn’t got enough money. And Jack threatens her, when she leaves him, he will kill her.
And one morning she walks into the kitchen. She sees the hate in Carlo’s eyes as he’s looking Nicola. Then suddenly she realised how bad the situation was, she didn’t want to continue this way. She starts beating Carlo with a pan and kicked him out of the house. He never came back. Finally in her live Paula felt like she has done something right.
Carlo was killed by a police officer. He was keeping a woman hostage. When he heard the police cars pulling up, he panicked. He shot the woman and runs to the car, but he doesn’t have a drivers licence. He tries to get out of the car. Then he got shot, three times. He is dead.
Paula knows her live isn’t good, but she tries everything to make it as good as it can get in a situation like this. She tries not to let the children suffer too much under the situation. Her love for them is too strong for that. She will always love them, no matter what.