SOURCE: Henry, Rick. Review of The Woman Who Walked into Doors, by Roddy Doyle. Review of Contemporary Fiction 17, no. 2 (summer 1997): 282-83.

In the following review, Henry expresses dislike for the protagonist of The Woman Who Walked into Doors but praises Doyle's skill and adeptness for creating an engrossing and realistic story.

Roddy Doyle's fifth novel [The Woman Who Walked into Doors] concerns the life and love of Paula Spencer, a thirty-nine-year-old woman, alcoholic, mother of four (her fifth, a miscarriage the result of her husband's fist to her stomach), cleaning woman, widow. Paula tells her own story, a telling made possible by the violent death of her husband. She “isn't too fond of herself,” nor is this reader. True, her perseverance is admirable and her situation pitiable. But this self-described “girl who wanked” a young boyfriend is hardly a likable narrator.

The novel opens with the arrival of...