Roddy Doyle's book The Woman Who Walked Into Doors a story of domestic abuse told by of a 39-year-old woman, now an alcoholic, who is suffering from domestic violence. The book is set in a working-class suburb of Dublin where domestic violence is unacknowledged by those around, despite evidence to the contrary.
[Trigger Warning: Domestic Violence]
[Spoiler alert]
The book takes us on a journey from the narrator's - Paula's - childhood, through first meeting the man who later abuses her, to their marriage and his increasingly violent and controlling behaviour. Although abuse is obvious throughout, the character holds back on her description of the physical violence she suffered until the last third of the book when it all comes pouring out.
Paddy Doyle says "It's a list of some of her injuries and what he did to her. In that passage of the book, that's where the bulk of the violence takes place. The rest of the book has the sense of the threat, and it's always there. But I wasn't interested in the violence and I got it out of the way quite quickly." (1)
The narrator, Paula, pleads a number of times "Ask me" in the numerous situations where her bruises, breaks and burns are obvious to people who could have intervened - but didn't. Finally, when her husband eyes up their eldest daughter, does she find the strength to throw him out.
I thought the book was a moving portrayal of domestic violence but to me fell into so many of the stereotypes of the "type" of woman who experiences domestic abuse - working class, lack of formal education, living in poverty (although this is partly due to the abuse). Although other aspects of abuse were present (financial abuse, coercive control etc), it was the violence that was shocking and most prevelant.
I was curious to know if the book had been shocking at the time - twenty four years ago, which might somewhat explain the stereotyping. It was written after the 1993 United Nations Declaration on the Elimination of Violence Against Women and the 1995 World Conference on Women in Beijing, but even in this century commentators would suggest that Ireland lagged behind in addressing domestic violence.
Paula McGovern in The Journal in February 2013 said "The issue of domestic violence is virtually invisible in Ireland and we lag far behind other western countries in how we deal with it in our social systems" (2) and Orla Muldoon, professor of psychology at the University of Limerick, writing in the Irish Times in March 2019 after the murder of Clodagh Hawe, said "It is often deemed inappropriate to intervene in what are seen as ‘private family matters'" (3).
It is, however, an incredibly moving and shocking account of domestic violence - and of course, written by Roddy Doyle, it is beautifully paced and written.
(1) https://www.cbc.ca/radio/writersandcompany/man-booker-prize-winner-roddy-doyle-on-domestic-violence-writing-from-memory-and-the-lure-of-irish-culture-1.4789071
(2) https://www.thejournal.ie/readme/v-day-one-billion-rising-794059-Feb2013/
(3) https://www.irishtimes.com/opinion/irish-culture-is-facilitating-the-domestic-abuse-of-women-1.3812813
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