Paula Spencer by Roddy Doyle
Wednesday, 06 Sep 2006 18:01
Roddy Doyle second novel about recovering alcoholic Paula Spencer
Published by Jonathan Cape, out September 7th, hardback, 277 pages, £16.99.
In a nutshell…
Uplifting. Dreary. Straightforward. Complex. Rewarding.
What's it all about?
Step by step and minute by minute, recovering alcoholic Paula Spencer maintains her sobreity. Through the clarity she has gained from successfully battling with the bottle, she begins to observe and cherish her - now adult - children, learning how to love them as her emotions emerge from the fog of addiction.
There is not a lot more to the plot, which makes all the more surprising just what a gripping read this string of thoughts turns out to be. One woman’s struggle to let go of the drink and hold on to her family.
Who's it by?
The character Paula Spencer first appeared in an earlier novel by Doyle, the Woman Who Walked Into Doors, which was released a decade ago. At that time she was an alcoholic and recently widowed cleaner struggling to survive – and has become one of Doyle’s best known characters. Her return is a departure from the now more usual cozy charm that might be expected from the Dublin-born author following hits such as A Star Called Henry and Oh, Play That Thing.
As an example…
"Paula laughs. They’re all laughing, all able to look at one another. It’s mad. It’s the best moment of her life. It probably is. She looks at Jack and Leanne, still laughing. She can wipe her eyes. It’s all f***in' mad."
Likelihood of becoming a Hollywood blockbuster
Although there almost certainly isn’t enough of a plotline here for Hollywood, it would certainly make a "grand" addition (as Paula would say) to the Edinburgh Film Festival, or an enjoyable TV movie. Although the book is written almost entirely using Paula’s thoughts, there is a lot to explore visually, with the added potential for rooting out audience sympathy in bucketloads.
What the others say
"A phenomenally rewarding read, with observational humour on a microscopically careful scale." - Guardian.
"Bound to be beautifully written, but if it is half as bleak and bruising as its predecessor, it will be a shock for those looking forward to a warm, comic read." – Times Online.
So is it any good?
Yes. It won’t keep you up all night to reach the end, but will certainly do some decent time-killing on the train.
Doyle’s quirky presentation is effective and inviting and by the end Paula almost feels like a friend; you feel you know her so well. There are laughs as well as tears, but above all Doyle upholds a sense of affirmation that it's the little things that count - and the day-to-day drudgery is actually a form of marathon. It left me feeling almost as though simply getting through life is effort and achievement enough to justify the purpose of living. A tiring thought.
7/10
Kate Merriam
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