Closed Doors: A Novel
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About this ebook
A young boy on a small Scottish island where everyone knows everything about everyone else, will discover that a secret is a dangerous thing in this tense and brilliant tale of from Lisa O'Donnell, the bestselling author of The Death of Bees, winner of the 2013 Commonwealth Book Prize.
Eleven-year-old Michael Murray is the best at two things: keepy-uppies and keeping secrets. His family thinks he's too young to hear grown-up stuff, but he listens at doors; it's the only way to find out anything. And Michael's heard a secret, one that might explain the bruises on his mother's face.
When the whispers at home and on the street become too loud to ignore, Michael begins to wonder if there is an even bigger secret waiting to be discovered. Scared of what might happen if anyone finds out, and desperate for life to be normal again, Michael sets out to piece together the truth. But he also has to prepare for the upcoming talent show, keep an eye out for Dirty Alice, his arch-nemesis, and avoid eating Granny's watery stew.
Closed Doors is a vivid evocation of the fears and freedoms of childhood and a powerful tale of love, the loss of innocence, and the importance of family in difficult times.
Lisa O'Donnell
Lisa O'Donnell's debut novel, The Death of Bees, was the winner of the Commonwealth Book Prize. She won the Orange Prize for New Screenwriters for her screenplay The Wedding Gift. She lives in Scotland.
Read more from Lisa O'donnell
The Death of Bees: A Novel Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsClosed Doors: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
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Reviews for Closed Doors
31 ratings6 reviews
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Closed Doors by Lisa O’Donnell is set in an isolated community on a small island off the coast of Scotland during the early 1980s. The book unfolds through the eyes of eleven year old Michael Murray. Michael has learned to linger behind doors and listen to his family discuss things that they would rather he didn’t hear. When something terrible happens to his mother, he’s told that she fell down while running away from a flasher. While it becomes very obvious something far worse has happened, Michael’s mother doesn’t want anyone to know, and even though both this event and keeping it secret is tearing the family apart. While O’Donnell captures the voice of Michael perfectly as he goes through the growing pains of early adolescence, I struggled a little more with finding the adults believable. The mother’s stubborn insistence on keeping her attack a secret felt overly contrived to me. This author excelled in her first book, The Death of Bees, but this second novel didn’t quite capture me in the same way although it raises some important questions as to how much children should be told about traumatic events. The family’s silence was difficult to accept when more attacks occurred.Closed Doors was a better than average read and I feel that I am judging it a little harder because her first book was a such an excellent read. This book takes on tough subjects and filters than through a child’s vision and the result is a strongly written story of a family in crisis.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Wonderful voice, wonderfully told story!
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5This is a story of how a rape affects the lives of a family in small-town Scotland. Told through the eyes of an eleven-year-old boy (the son of the victim), we see how family and community members react to violence and tragedy. Well written; strong characters.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5I really enjoyed the story though I found the profanity somewhat jarring. Michael not only has to watch out for his granny's watery stew but her cooking in general. His mother's rape turns the family's entire world upside down and the secrets begin leading the community to think that Brian Murphy is a wife beater. When the truth does come out things aren't much better as there's been an attempted rape and rape after Rosemary Murphy's and she's blamed for not going to the police.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5You know how, so many times, kids in books are portrayed as all-seeing, all-knowing, and wise way beyond their years? Well, Michael Murray of the island of Rothesay, Scotland, is one of their tribe. I forgive him all because he's such a fantastic narrator and this is such an excellent domestic thriller.Something happens one night to Michael's Ma. It turns their household and their neighborhood upside down. Da, on the dole, is exiled to the couch. Granny, completed terrified of the gossip, tries to smooth things over with her horrible cooking, even cakes that are inedible except for the frosting. But the family hangs together and apart and eventually the truth comes out, but not before more damage and more pain and brutal consequences.Michael's troop of kids are unerringly true to life, even if his innermost thoughts are suspect. The setting is as much of a revelation as Guernsey was, and I long to visit. All in all, a riveting all night read and I am headed for Lisa O'Donnell's back catalogue.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5I adored Lisa O'Donnell's debut novel The Death of Bees. And so did a lot of others - O'Donnell was the winner of The Commonwealth Book Prize. When I heard she had a new novel - Closed Doors - I jumped at the chance to read it. O'Donnell has again set her novel in the recent past. Closed Doors takes place in the early 1980's on a small Scottish island where eleven year old Michael Murray lives with his mother Rosemary, his unemployed father Brian and his Granny. Michael is busy practicing his 'keepie-uppies' for the talent show the neighbourhood kids are going to put on, arguing with his arch nemesis Dirty Alice and keeping an eye on what goes on in his bit of the world. But when his mother comes home from work bruised and bleeding, he's sent to his room. Why won't his ma go to the police? Why is he told to tell the neighbours she fell down the stairs? What happened to her? Confused and worried, Michael needs to know what happened to her and what is going on. "I listen at doors now. It's the only way to find out stuff. No one tells me anything." Life has changed drastically for the Murray family. As adult readers, we know what has happened to Rosemary. And as adults, it is heartbreaking to watch Michael try to make sense of things. He continues to listen at doors, hearing bits and pieces and being told half truths as the family struggles to keep things quiet. But gossip in a small town cannot be contained and when another woman is hurt, there can be no more secrets. O'Donnell has created yet another wonderful child narrator in Michael. His voice is real, running the gamut of emotions. There is a sense of innocence in the children of this island. Part of it is the insular nature of island living, part of it is the time period used. I can't imagine this same story being told in present day. O'Donnell has chosen time and place well - it absolutely works. The loss of that innocence makes Closed Doors a coming of age tale in so many ways. "It's terrible to know too many things about people. It makes you feel like a liar because you have to act like you know nothing at all when the truth is you know everything there is to know." "Lies make people happy, I think, and that's why people tell them, not to hurt or anger anyone, but to keep them safe from the truth, except our lie, the lie Ma and Da and Granny are telling to themselves and everyone else around them, it is the worst of lies and it is making no one happy and when lies don't make you happy, you have to wonder what will happen nest. O'Donnell also deftly explores family and family dynamics in Closed Doors. What secrets would you keep to protect your family? And at what cost? Closed Doors is another great read from a talented wordsmith. I'll be waiting for book number three.