Title: Closed Doors
Author: Lisa O’Donnell
ISBN: 978006227189
No. of Pages: 256
Genre: Fiction
Origins: Harper Books
Release Date: 20 May 2014
Bottom Line: Cute and well-written
Synopsis:
“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.”
Thoughts: Closed Doors is one of those books in which readers see the horrors of life through the innocent eyes of a child. Under someone else’s pen, this plot device could easily become gimmicky and overly childish. While Michael is indeed young and unfamiliar with life’s harshness, Ms. O’Donnell excels at balancing his innocence with his increasing understanding of the world that comes naturally with growing older.
As the story unfolds through Michael’s growing awareness of the seriousness of his parents’ situation, readers waffle between a sense of horror and amusement at the honesty which only a kid can truly speak. His struggles with Dirty Alice and his grandmother’s bad cooking offset the drama of his love for his father, devotion to his mother, and confusion over the emotional trauma the entire family faces. Michael’s voice rings true, with an authenticity well-known to parents. There is the right balance between adult understanding and lingering childhood obliviousness that Ms. O’Donnell exploits to speak her mind about the main issue at hand. She uses his lack of knowledge about adult relationships to drive to the heart of various situations, pushing aside all of gray static of adulthood to show that sometimes things really are as black and white as they should be.
Closed Doors is as much about watching Michael grow up as it is about the secrets one fails to hide behind them. The bruises on his mother’s face and the town gossip about the origins of those bruises takes their toll on Michael, but he maintains an impressive air of dignity and faith that his parents will sort everything out in the end. Ms. O’Donnell does not make Michael too young or too old but keeps his voice natural for his age and the era. The lessons both reader and Michael learn are powerful but Michael’s love fills readers with hope that good will out in the end. It is an impressive novel about an always controversial topic that perfectly executes the plot device of a child narrator.
