Paula Spencer

Paula Spencer #2

by Roddy Doyle

"Roddy Doyle returns to Paula Spencer with the tale of her fight for a better future." Paula is now forty-seven years old. Her husband is long dead, and it's been four months and five days since she's had a drink. Two of her children are out of the house - John Paul, a recovering heroin addict, and Nicola, a successful sales rep - but twenty-two-year-old Leanne, who herself has a problem with alcohol, and sixteen-year-old Jack are still at home. Paula continues to work as a house and office cleaner and to live from paycheck to paycheck; she's feeling pretty washed up and hopeless. But as she manages to get through each day sober, she begins to piece her life back together and to resurrect her family. She's even met a man at the bottle return; he's nice, there's something steady about him. Told with the unmistakable wit of Doyle's extraordinary voice, this is a redemptive tale about a brave and tenacious woman.

Genres: Fiction, Ireland, Irish Literature, Literary Fiction, Contemporary, Audiobook, Family

277 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2006

About the author

Roddy Doyle (Irish: Ruaidhrí Ó Dúill) is an Irish novelist, dramatist and screenwriter. Several of his books have been made into successful films, beginning with The Commitments in 1991. He won the Booker Prize in 1993.

Doyle grew up in Kilbarrack, Dublin. He graduated with a Bachelor of Arts from University College, Dublin. He spent several years as an English and geography teacher before becoming a full-time writer in 1993.

Reviews

[Baba · Rating 2 out of 5]

This 10(!) years in coming sequel to A Woman Who Walks into Doors, catches up with the life and times of recovering alcoholic, 48 year old mother of four, Paula Spencer and she strives to have some form of life. This was an OK read, but it feels very very very much like I should have read the first book, before starting on this one. 5 out of 12., Two Star read.

2012 read

[Colin O'Grady · Rating 5 out of 5]

Having just finished Paula Spencer, it's only natural to compare it back to The Woman Who Walked Into Doors. While I think the earlier book is superior in terms of its artistry--perhaps simply because the second book is more of the same--I enjoyed reading this one more. The tension in the first book comes from an obvious place: Paula's struggle with her alcoholism and her abusive marriage. In this book, Doyle gives us a newly sober Paula fifteen years later and sets up a different tension. Now, instead of hoping against hope that she somehow pulls herself out of her dead-end life, we get to root for Paula as she tries to get through each day and each moment without falling back into drink.

Once again, Doyle blew me away with how authentically he creates Paula's voice. I'll go out on a limb and say that I've never come across another male writer who constructed a female identity as well as Doyle has with Paula. We get to see her anxieties as a mother, as a sister, and as a single woman; we also get to see how every once of these was and is still affected by her alcoholism. Because the entire narration comes from inside Paula's head, all of her fears and insecurities are laid bare. The fact that Doyle makes her so vulnerable to us is the biggest reason that she is so easy to connect to as a character. This is especially important because the book has no real running narrative; Paula is the story.

Ultimately, I liked The Woman Who Walked Into Doors more as a book, but it was in this book that I really came to love Paula herself. If you've got an inclination to read one, you really should read them both.

[Jodi · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the story of Paula Spencer—a 48-year-old, Irish widow and mother of four. From the time she married (as a teen) 'til she was 35-ish, her husband, Charlo—an unspeakably cruel, violent, brutal gangster—beat her senseless, for any old reason or no reason at all. And, frequently, out of the blue. She didn't work. She couldn't work. Because she was so often battered black and blue. Unlike many abusive husbands, he didn't take care to ensure evidence of his brutality was hidden from sight. No. He cared nothing for that. He knew Paula would make the right excuses. If she didn't, he'd beat her again. So she didn't work, and Charlo didn't provide for her and the kids. Understandably, this pitiful existence drove her to drink. She'd drink 'til she blacked out, and when she woke, a drink was the first thing on her mind. She had to have it. She cared about nothing else. She had to find that next bottle.

But that's all in the past. As this second book in the Paula Spencer Series begins, she's a recovering alcoholic. Charlo's gone—gunned down after killing a woman in a botched robbery/kidnapping attempt ten years ago. And now, on the eve of her 48th birthday, she's newly sober. And determined to rebuild her life and put the awful past behind her. No more alcohol. No more abuse. That's the hope. But she knows it won't be easy.

I loved this book.💙 Except that... while reading it, I spent much of my time on edge. TBH, I'm the daughter of an alcoholic. And I'm the sister of an alcoholic. I'm familiar with those walking on pins and needles and will he or won't he? feelings that go with the territory for children and siblings of alcoholics. It's an incredibly uncomfortable and hopeless feeling. It can totally drain you. It can sap you of every bit of joy and happiness you've ever had in life. Because you're constantly wondering how they'll be. What will happen? Have they been drinking? As a child, you wonder... will dad lash out at mom again? Will mom say she's leaving? On your wedding day, you wonder... will he drink too much? Will he embarrass me? And that's the atmosphere ever-present in Paula Spencer.

Roddy Doyle writes as though he's speaking to you directly. At least, that's how it seems to me. It's just such a casual, thoroughly engaging, personal style that really draws me in. I love his style. But I've deducted a half star from my rating (rounded to one)—NOT because I didn't love the book. I DID love it! It's a really tremendous book! It's fantastic!! But, as I read, I could never fully relax. Those awful, hopeless feelings were always there—hovering nearby. I felt it even as I'd prepare to read. Those feelings were so strong at some points I considered putting the book aside. But I couldn't do it. It had such a strong hold on me. And you'll feel it, too. You'll be rooting for Paula. You'll be rooting so hard you'll want to shout it out... You can do it, Paula!! or No, Paula, don't touch that bottle! Don't do it!! Because you can't help but love her! She's been through so much, and she did not deserve the horrible life she had with Charlo. You'll want her to succeed. You'll feel that if she succeeds, we ALL succeed. You'll be touched by this book... guaranteed. I highly recommend it. You can start with Book 1 (The Woman Who Walked Into Doors) but it's not absolutely necessary. It'll give you a much better idea of how Paula Spencer got to where she is in this book, though. So now... on to Book 3! (The Women Behind the Door)

4.5 “You-Got-This-Girl!” stars ⭐⭐⭐⭐

[James · Rating 4 out of 5]

'Paula Spencer' is Roddy Doyle's (2006) sequel 'The Woman Who Walked into Doors' (1996) and picks up the story of the eponymous Paula from where the previous novel left off. Although, just as the sequel was published 10 years after the first novel, so we pick up the story of Paula's life ten years later.

Paula's story is one ultimately of redemption - this is a story of a hard life and the legacy of domestic and alcohol abuse, the daily struggles of a recovering alcoholic. It is at times a hard read, but ultimately there's hope here.

Paula is a great character and so well written. Whilst perhaps not quite as strong as 'Woman Who Walked into Doors' - it's not very far off and definitely a worthy successor, which quite often isn't the case with sequels.

[Ian Wood · Rating 2 out of 5]

I am a huge fan of Roddy Doyle and ‘The Woman Who Walked into Doors’ so I couldn’t wait to get hold of its sequel ‘Paula Spencer’. To say I was disappointed would be a huge understatement.

First off Roddy had abandoned the first person telling of the story which made Paula Spencer ‘s initial book so believable and the emotions so convincing. Also the third person story telling is chronological rather than the switching from the past to the present so that the story was not showing us the course and effect of someone’s conditioning, which was so successful in the first novel.

Also the themes were less dramatic, whist ‘The Woman Who Walked into Doors’ takes us through the emotional ringer of abuse and domestic violence, ‘Paula Spencer’ is more the story of a baby boomer coming to terms with the mobile phone and Starbucks coffee houses. Whilst I appreciate that these are thing our best writers should be criticising in print I can’t help but think a character of Paula’s backlog of emotional baggage could be better served.

It is generally excepted that sequels very rarely live up to the initial story but I was hoping this would be an exception to the rule as indeed most of Roddy Doyle’s writing has been.

[Andrew · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this sequel to The Woman Who Walked Into Doors. It’s the continued story of Paula as she struggles to maintain sobriety, works to be a better mother, and imagines a new life. It never cheats the reader. Her recovery is not consistent, her family holds her to account, and she faces the guilt of her actions. Her abusive ex-husband’s death (in previous book) is not shown as a triumphant moment, and her personal growth is forever stunted by his haunting presence. The message is simple: we can be recovering, but never recovered. Keep going.

[John Owen · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a follow up to The Woman Who Walked into Doors. It's the continuing story of Paula Spencer and it's a tough one. She is a recovering alcoholic and every minute of every day is a struggle.

This is the kind of book where the author simply opens a window into a character's life and shows you around. There are no plot twists or surprises, just a clear, realistic picture. You should read The Women Who Walked into Doors first, though.

[Donna McCaul Thibodeau · Rating 3 out of 5]

This one was also a quick read. I would say it's like revisiting a friend that you haven't seen in a good while and finding out that they aren't quite as interesting as you remembered. Perhaps it's the fact that there is no shock value, unlike The Woman Who Walked Into Doors. Still worth a read.

[Rob · Rating 4 out of 5]

Because I've never been an addict myself, or had to deal with anyone else's addiction in any meaningful way, it's always been sort of an abstract concept. I've viewed addiction in much the same way I viewed cancer before my mom was diagnosed with it in 1995 – as a horrible problem that must be terrible to live with but whose various indignities and anxieties never seemed all that real. But then someone you care about is diagnosed with it, and all the little details that you never had to think about previously (scheduling events as mundane as errands in the "good" window after chemotherapy appointments; adjusting to a bland diet; being embarrassed by and helping others not be embarrassed by wigs and head wraps) suddenly become all too real. Addiction is, I imagine, much the same in this regard, and it's to Roddy Doyle's credit that Paula Spencer helped me see that in a way I never have before. The book tackles both addiction and cancer (although much more the former than the latter), but it does it in a way that strikes a pretty even balance between humor and pathos, ensuring it's not just a relentless slog through misery.

Part of that description, though, is a little disingenuous of me. You hear "addiction story" and most likely think of Trainspotting or Less Than Zero or Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas or any number of memoirs written by personalities famous and not-famous alike, detailing the way they got hooked and (usually) eventually kicked their habit. Paula Spencer, by contrast, is very much a victory narrative, albeit a halting, tentative one. The title character is a 48-year-old recovering alcoholic, four months dry at the start of the book. She's also a survivor of spousal abuse (see this book's predecessor, 1996's The Woman Who Walked Into Doors, for all the details), a housecleaner with four children whose husband Charlo was gunned down by the police after robbing a bank and taking a hostage. At the beginning she's barely hanging on, still counting the months since her last drink:

"The drink is only part of it. She's coped well with the drink. She wants a drink. She doesn't want a drink. She doesn't want a drink. She fights it. She wins. She's proud of that. She's pleased. She'll keep going. She knows she will."

Two of her children, Leanne (20) and Jack (16), live with her. Jack is the good kid, quiet and awkward, whose biggest problem is getting suspended for calling a teacher "useless" on ratemyteachers.com; Leanne, she fears (probably rightfully), is joining her in alcoholism. Her other two children, grown and with children of their own, are Nicola and John Paul. The heart of the book is watching Paula negotiate her relationships with these four, especially the three oldest, all whom remember her at her worst. And that's one thing Doyle does remarkably well, something I'd never actually considered when it comes to addiction: How the recovering addict is essentially split in two to the people who care about him or her. There's the "new" person who is trying to set each foot right on the road to recovery, but there's also the "old" person who was duplicitous or manipulative or cruel or, in Paula's case, occasionally violent herself. So while Paula's family is happy to see her doing better, there's also the memory of who she was, and the fear that she'll return to that state. It's a constant state of living in two places – two different times, really – at once, which has to be one of the unsettling things to do.

Paula also has two sisters, neither of whom she has ever been close to: Denise, who's married and having an affair with a married man, and Carmela, around whom the cancer subplot revolves. The book captures a year in Paula's life with these people as she struggles to get her life back on track. It isn't a story that deals in melodrama or huge, cathartic sequences. Like life, Paula's progress is charted hesitantly, in the way her relationship with her sisters improves, in an invitation to visit John Paul's house, in her buying a stereo and the new U2 album. In contrast to one of my recent reviews, where I wrote that a bunch of stuff happens and none of it matters, Paula Spencer is a book where not much happens but it's all important. And, crucially, sometimes it's in the not happening that some of the biggest growth happens. You likely know those moments: the not-so-awkward silences with someone you care about; a meaningful glance; a conversation about music or the weather that carries the subtext of an epic poem.

It's really just a lovely little book. It doesn't have the impact of Doyle's The Commitments or A Star Called Henry, but as a modest tale of a woman struggling to be good and make things right with the people she loves, Paula Spencer is as real, and as revelatory, as literature gets.

Read all my reviews at goldstarforrobotboy.net

[Bill Silva · Rating 4 out of 5]

This sequel to The Woman Who Walked into Doors is, gratefully, stylistically and tonally very similar to that earlier novel…and it’s a joy to spend more time with the indomitable Paula Spencer. Roddy Doyle’s writing is both witty and moving, and his portrayal of the flawed but still sympathetic Paula is full of empathy and compassion. There is less drama in this sequel than in the first novel, but getting a fuller understanding of Paula and her children makes this an especially enjoyable read.

[Rob · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fascinating look into the mind of an alcoholic woman who is dealing with the wreckage of her past. The apple never falls far from the tree. Two of her three kids are also battling addiction. One , a recovering heroin addict the other, a practicing alcoholic.

Her thoughts consist of regret for the live she has provided for her children and what if anything she can do to win back their love and respect. She deals with everyday life through a new pair of glasses and yet it's sometimes hard to clear the grimy film off of the old lenses. She discovers gratitude and learns to appreciate the small everyday things in life. her abstinence from alcohol does not take away the toils of day to day life. She experiences hardships with her family, including her two sisters and struggles to convince her daughter that alcohol is not the path to take to deal with life.

Roddy Doyle does an incredible job putting you inside Paula's head. Coming of age in your late 40's is never easy, especially when you clean houses and live pay check to pay check in order to make ends meet and provide for your family.

This book is an incredible look inside the mind of an alcoholic trying to put their life back in order. You will admire and adore our heroine and still feel her pain as she trudges along towards the path to happy destiny.

[Jackie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Terrific book. Doyle is the master of capturing the dignity of characters who might otherwise seem off-putting. He gets all the little details of life and human interaction right--plus he's so funny! The main character here, Paula Spencer, is a former alcoholic who only recently stopped drinking. Her former husband (now dead) abused her for years. She is the mother of four mostly-grown kids, all of whom were damaged in some way. Sounds rather dreary, right? It's not at all. The book shows Paula making slow but steady progress as a mom and as a person. Paula is a great character. She's funny, caring, crabby, anxious, and hopeful. I love her relationship with her sisters and her children. Great read. Note that this book is a sequel of sorts. Doyle's earlier book The Woman Who Walked Into Doors was about Paula, while she was married. I haven't read that one and didn't need to to enjoy this book. I think I will go back and read it now.

[Anna · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was curious to find out what happened to Paula Spencer since I left her in 'The Woman Who Walked into Doors'.

In this book Paula is a recovering alcoholic, her children are grown and only two of them lives at home. She struggles against her addiction and tries to be a good mother to her children before it’s too late.

Throughout the books I have come to love the Paula Spencer character, and I find her voice very believable. She’s strong and frail at the very same time and she does not want anyone’s pity. It’s the kind of woman that is rarely portraited, but her quiet struggle for a dignified existence deserves to be told.

[Anja Nicolaus · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read „The Woman Who Walked Into Doors“ and „Paula Spencer“ right after one another, and liked them both a lot. Beautiful, honest, raw and rough, but always very humane, with very real and lovable characters that will stay with me for a long time. Beautiful and very touching.

[David Gagen · Rating 3 out of 5]

As much as I love Roddy Doyle's writing, this sequel to the "The Woman Who Walked Into Doors" lacks the emotional impact of the earlier work. There are still moments of wonderful humour (amidst the bleakness). It's just that nothing much of interest happens.

[Rowan · Rating 1 out of 5]

usually i love Roddy Doyle. this book depressed the hell out of me; i could not get past the sad minutiae of this woman's life. i have to call it quits.

[Lizp · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an amazing read. I thought it was even better than The Woman Who Walked Into Doors. Paula is a brilliant character. There are no holds barred about her frailties and her issues. She’s nearly 48 and is an alcoholic who is on the dry. Leanne, her daughter, daughter of an alcoholic, is a sad and damaged character who is becoming an alcoholic herself. Leanne has few friends, and suffers from terrible excema. There is a lot of tension between Paula and Leanne that’s very well depicted by Doyle.

Nicola, her eldest daughter, is beautiful and smart. She has a great job, a good husband, kids, and seemingly has survived her terrible beginnings with her violent father and alcoholic mother unscathed. She hasn’t really though. She too has anxiety issues. Paula resents Nicola, who’s generous to a fauit, giving her a big fridge as a gift, etc. She ruminates upon why Nicola did that when she has so little food to put in the fridge. She’s a cleaner, and lives meagrely from week to week. There’s a horrible moment of cruelty where one family she cleans privately for just ups and leaves without telling her. She only discovers they have left when she finds the house empty and cleared out. I felt my heart sink when I read that, as you know it will likely adversely impact on her chances of putting food on the table every week.

Paula’s youngest, Jack, is a star. He’s good at school and even arranges himself a part-time job. You can tell he’s anxious though, and is always watching over his Mum for possible signs of relapse. At this stage, Paula has been on the dry for quite some time. Jack gets suspended from school for rating one of his teachers as “useless” on ratemyteachers.com. Paula, who could never help her older kids with any issues because of her chronic alcoholism, steps up to the plate and supports Jack in resolving the issue with the school.

Then there’s John Paul, her eldest son. He is a recovering heroin addict. They’ve had no contact for many years and he approaches Paula to try to repair the relationship. It’s a slow process as old bitterness and past hurts resurface. Paula tries to understand the new, reformed John Paul. She struggles to build a relationship with her grandchildren. His partner, a silent and unprepossessing person, doesn’t help much.

There’s Paula’s sister, Carmel, a bit of a braggart, who has a holiday home in Bulgaria, and is inclined to patronise Paula. At one point, she texts Paula on a new mobile that Nicola has given her, crassly offering her a spare chicken. You can almost feel Paula’s humiliation. The text starkly reads “Chick - want?” And there’s another sister, Denise, who is not the brightest bulb in the universe.

Paula cleans offices, as well as cleaning for private clients. She’s promoted to supervisor at work. The extra money makes a difference. Being chosen as supervisor is good for her decimated self esteem.

She meets a man at a bottle depository. They start a tentative relationship. He’s a bit strange, and Paula struggles with being with him, as she (understandably) struggles with everything.

All the characters here are brilliantly painted by Doyle. This is a story of hope and redemption. We get the feeling that Paula will prevail despite her horrendous past of being brutalised and humiliated.

This is a book I have read a number of times, relishing it more and more with each read, despite its bleakness in many parts.

[Joanne · Rating 4 out of 5]

I just finished a 1-2 reading of The Woman Who Walked Into Doors followed by Paula Spencer. Read together, these books are so powerful. As in volume 1, it took a while to grab the rhythm of Paula Spencer, but once I did, I couldn't let go. The story is really uplifting. We meet Paula 15 years after book 1, and she is newly sober. Her kids are sceptical of her sobriety, and she struggles not to let them down. She loves them all so much, and has agonizing guilt about how they suffered, yet at the same time, she can't help wishing they'd just cut her a break. We follow Paula for a year, as she works, re-establishes bonds with her kids and sisters, and begins to build a little bit of self-respect. Paula is such a survivor, you can't help but root for her. These two books are so worthwhile.

[Cecilia Lawrence · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked this book, I read the pre quill along time ago and good though it was, it was dark. This on the other hand was a new dawn, a shape if a life ahead. Perhaps this is what I needed in the middle of covid.
It is well written as always, I love Roddy Doyle. I found this an easy gentle read when I needed one.

[Wes · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read the first book years ago to the point I have only vague recollections of it , so this was basically a stand alone book for me. A gritty Dublin drama centred around Paula Spencer a recovering alcoholic hitting middle age and dealing with life on the poorer side of the tracks. A good read looking forward to reading the next book in the series.

[Conor Tannam · Rating 3 out of 5]

Quite a lot of sadness contained within its pages. A good read and its setting in Dublin brought me joy.

[Adrian Bloxham · Rating 4 out of 5]

Brilliant

[Kim · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely love Roddy Doyle’s characters . His writing takes me away to little homes in Ireland with characters so familiar.

[Amy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Shameful that it took me so long to read this book. I don't know how Doyle does it, but he consistently handles difficult topics with such humor and precision and brevity and grace. Paula's struggle to "recover" from alcoholism not only involves staying away from it despite a crazy strong urge to get it, it also includes her determination to educate herself and to face her fear of her own ignorance. Doyle unflinchingly presents scenes in which Paula dives under her daughter's bed (and she's in currently in it), where she is sure she will find some old booze to get a fix. With courage and honesty, Paula faces the broken relationship she has with each of her four children, and smartly and briefly expresses how she feels and what she's trying to accomplish, then lets them come to her. She is constantly amazed at her kids' knowledge of geography and their internet savvy ways, which is testament to her own past dismissal of curiosity, and her pride in her children, as she knows they didn't pick up what they know from her.

This passage comes toward the end of the book, which means we will leave Paula to her everlasting struggle, and things won't be tidy for her:

"The smell, the stale drink--the dead air is around her. She'd climb in. She'd lick every broken piece and bleed happily to death. Especially the green glass. She'd bleed green and lie down." (at the recycle center)

However, there are such wonderful, small rays of hope (and it's dead-on right that they'd be small--so real!) throughout the entire book, that you know Paula Spencer is going to be just fine.

[Trish at Between My Lines · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a reread of an old favorite. Paula Spencer is a gritty, hard-hitting story about a downtrodden woman that somehow manages to be both funny and surprisingly optimistic at times. I love the disjointed, confusing, and conflicting sentences; they truly immerse you in Paula's world and give you insight into her mind. I know this won't be the last time I read this powerful book either, which speaks volumes about how highly I rate it.

[A. Mary · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the companion to The Woman Who Walked into Doors. Paula is on her own, a mother of four, a drunk. Doyle once more takes his reader into an unvarnished, unromantic world, where a woman might be so desperate for drink that she crawls around in the dark scrabbling for the key to unlock a door. It's a grueling read, but it's worth every page. Paula is not charming. She's real.

[Catriona · Rating 5 out of 5]

A sequel to The Woman Who Walked into Doors. An excellent read. It came out probably 10 years after the first one so I went back and read the first one again and enjoyed it just as much the second time around and I've gone back and read them both back to back a couple more times. Roddy Doyle never disappoints but these two are my favourites of his.

[Hollie · Rating 2 out of 5]

Like most of Doyle's work this makes for a very quick and easy read. Not my favourite of his works, would only really recommend it if you've read 'The Woman Who Walked into Doors' and are still curious about how Paula's life has turned out.

[Laura · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is another great book by Roddy Doyle. It is a follow up to The Woman Who Walked into Doors and a vivid description of the recovery process. roddy is a master at creating characters and describing family dynamics.

[Corey · Rating 5 out of 5]

Poor Paula Spencer. Doyle is the poet of the struggling class. The music of his sentences, the cadence of his dialog--he's masterful--and this is one of his best.