TITLE: THE HOUSE OF DOORS
AUTHOR: Tan Twan Eng
PUBLISHER: Bloomsbury Publishing
DATE: 2023
ABOUT THE STORY
THE HOUSE OF DOORS is an historical fiction that opens and closes in the dry heat of South Africa, but spends the bulk of the story in the humid tropics of Malaysia. The book-ends (opening and closing) in South Africa is in the 1940’s; and the visit in Malaysia—Penang specifically—in 1921, with a story within the story set in Penang 1910.
The prominent story focuses on a two week visit by the famous author, W. Somerset Maugham, better known as Willie, to his old friend Robert Hamlyn in Penang, Federated States of Malaysia, in 1921. Willie is accompanied by his handsome young companion secretary Gerald Haxton. Robert’s wife, Lesley, narrates, and it is through her eyes that we follow the trail of story breadcrumbs.
Lesley and her brother were born and raised in the Straits Settlements, British colonial ports throughout the Southern Seas of East Asia. She speaks Hokkien and understands Malay language. Her talents lie in music, where she worked as a teacher of young girls at the Convent school, and first met Robert at a recital where she filled in as pianist. We learn of their courtship, Robert’s law practice, their two boys, and the web of social life in colonial Penang, with the Europeans and natives and other Asians mingling, intermingling, and dancing side by side to their separate cultural drumbeats.
Willie is a world-traveler who listens. His talent isn’t so much writing as it is capturing the stories that float in the cultural streams around him. His own pressures and worries ebb and flow around him like the ocean that surrounds Penang island. The need to keep his homosexuality from the public conversation. His financial collapse with an unwise investment. The fissures in his marriage to Syrie Wellcome. Each edge of the sword cuts into another—that without money he can’t keep the interest of Gerald and can’t satisfy his wife and daughter’s home needs. That he would be lonely without Gerald. That he would be publicly humiliated and possibly criminalized without his wife.
He writes because he loves to write, but also because he needs the money. We see him steady, persistent, industrious with a strict writing schedule of four hours every morning. And we see Lesley, a wife and mother, gracious and buttoned up until she tells her story to Willie.
It is Lesley’s story that fills most of the novel. The bait is Sun Yat Sen, then known as Sun Wen, and the Chinese revolution. And more essentially, it is a story of wife, lover, musician, intelligent female in a stilted, constrained world where masculinity sets the norms of life.
MY THOUGHTS AND ANALYSIS
EQUALITY OF THE SEXES
Lesley points out many times throughout the novel how the masculine perspective dominates women. She propounds the importance of equality to the fundamental of justice. Her observations contrast to her lawyer husband’s cautions. They stand in contrast to Sun Wen, a revolutionary fighting for justice of his people. She challenges Willie about the hypocrisy of gay men marrying women. Willie’s thought s evoke deep sadness (what other option does a homosexual man have in the given culture?) but Lesley’s response is equally compelling in pointing out the injustice of it (we’re wives, not martyrs).
The story of Ethel Proudlock also colors the waters of sexual equality. The power of men over women appears on the page as both bleak and inevitable. Yet, Lesley finds her way to inner calm and satisfaction, gleaning happiness in nature and small pleasures.
This theme, familiar to all women everywhere, acts as a touchstone throughout the novel. A way back to familiar territory, to the shared human experience that is essential for all stories.
PENANG
I loved the descriptions. The colors, the smells, the sounds all waft from the pages of the novel into reality. The Penang of 1910 with the Chinese skepticism about Sun Wen’s revolution sets up nicely the surprise of 1921’s news with Sun Wen as President of the new China republic.
I love the ever-present ocean outside Cassowary House where the Hemlyns live. The morning walks on the beach, the ocean swims, the various watercraft (junks, steamers, dhaos, sampans) and digging for horseshoe crabs.
In the home and main shopping and housing districts, we experience the smell of joss sticks (sandalwood incense), belacan (dried shrimp) cooking, frangipani (plumeria) blossoms, and camphor (used for stored items).
Penang comes alive with rickshaw drivers smoking kretecs (clove cigarettes), a separate cemetery for Europeans, and the local words for various trees and plants and birds.
This is the strength of the novel, in my opinion. The weave of cultures is blended so smoothly that you can hear the voices and realize the English walking amid the natives send ripples of discontent or disturbance or even beauty at times.
STORY RESOLUTION
Here I am at a loss. I found the novel boring at times. I skipped over the trial of Ethel Proudlock. (I’m a lawyer. Perhaps I should have been fascinated, but I didn’t want to read the description of witness testimony.) I had trouble deciphering what was the story problem. Was it Lesley’s relationship with Robert? That seems the most likely—that’s where the story starts. Willie’s presence provides some insight into the marital issues and permits Lesley to air her secrets. And we end with Lesley back in South Africa, drinking alone and missing Robert. But I am not sure I ever really understood. I am like Lesley’s brother, who tells her in a moment where she surprises him that he wonders if he ever knew her.
Overall, I found the language of the novel beautiful. I loved the writing, the setting, and the theme. But I can’t say I loved the story. It left me feeling only half-full, not truly satisfied. No real climax. No real resolution. Perhaps too much like life.
BOOK COVER
The colors of the book cover are tropical. The overlays capture the sense of double-exposure that the novel emits. The hats and clothes of the man and woman on the cover reek of 1920’s. It is lovely. A perfect book cover!
RATING
Four and one-half stars.