2023 Booker Longlist: House of Doors by Tan Twan Eng

Next up for our panel, we travel to Malaysia with Tan Tan Eng’s The House of Doors

Tan Twan Eng is probably one of the more well known authors on the list. He was born in Penang, Malaysia, and worked as an advocate in one of Kuala Lumpur’s leading law firms before becoming a full-time writer. His prior two novels were also listed as candidates for the Booker Prize. His second novel, The Garden of Evening Mists was shortlisted for the 2012 Booker prize and was named one of the 1001 books to read before you die (a list that brought several of our panelists together).

Synopsis from Booker Prize website: It is 1921 and at Cassowary House in the Straits Settlements of Penang, Robert Hamlyn is a well-to-do lawyer, his steely wife Lesley a society hostess. Their lives are invigorated when Willie, an old friend of Robert’s, comes to stay.

Willie Somerset Maugham is one of the greatest writers of his day. But he is beleaguered by an unhappy marriage, ill-health and business interests that have gone badly awry. He is also struggling to write. The more Lesley’s friendship with Willie grows, the more clearly she see him as he is – a man who has no choice but to mask his true self.

As Willie prepares to face his demons, Lesley confides secrets of her own, including her connection to the case of an Englishwoman charged with murder in the Kuala Lumpur courts – a tragedy drawn from fact, and worthy of fiction.

The novel will be released in the US on October 17th, 2023 and you can pre-order your copy here

Keep reading to find out how our panelists rated this book.

Five of our panelists reviewed this book including Jen, Book Worm, Nicole, Tracy, and Lisa. Here are our reviews…

Jen’s Thoughts:  Well, this is by far my favorite book of the booker candidates that I’ve read to date. Beautifully written, wonderful character development, meticulously researched, and with an engaging plot, this book reeled me in from the first page. There were a few moments that I found a bit too flowery in terms of writing style but those moments were relatively few. I think this is the sort of book that would have been a strong contender for the Booker 10+ years ago. Booker winners are often historical fiction novels with similar structural frameworks as this novel. But, I’m not convinced that this will be a contender for the final prize (although I’ve only read 5 so far and this has been my favorite). I like to think that the Booker prize go to books that are not only beautifully written but also creative and push the boundaries of traditional fiction. This book doesn’t do that. It’s a beautiful historical fiction novel and it reads like a book that may become a classic but it doesn’t feel particularly innovative or out of the ordinary. I loved it, it made me cry and reflect on relationships and the ways in which love can be constrained, but I’m not convinced that will be enough to push it on to the shortlist.

Writing quality: 4.5/5
Originality: 3/5
Character development: 4/4
Plot development: 4/4
Overall enjoyment: 2/2
Total: 16.5/20

Nicole’s Thoughts:  This was a slow burner for me. I love when a place feels like a character in the story as well as the people, and I definitely got a sense of Penang in the era. I knew nothing of Maugham and have never read his works, but that didn’t diminish from the story being told and in all I thought it was an interesting way to frame the story.

There were some really creative ideas – and there was a degree of complexity in bringing the inspirations of the story together which I appreciated. I didn’t know the gender of the author while reading, and actually assumed it was a woman. I thought he did a pretty remarkable job with Lesley, the main character, and the strongest in the book by far.

The ending came together beautifully for me, and I would be remiss if I didn’t mention how much I enjoyed learning where the title of the book came from. A solid book all around … not mind blowing in any way.

Writing quality: 4/5
Originality: 4/5
Character development: 3/4
Plot development: 3/4
Overall enjoyment: 2/2
Total: 16/20

BookWorm’s Ratings : Regular readers may remember I reviewed this a while ago and my advice to everyone was to read this, my advice has not changed. If you haven’t read this yet what are you waiting for?

This is the strongest Booker I have read so far this year.

Writing quality: 4/5
Originality: 4/5
Character development: 4/4
Plot development: 3/4
Overall enjoyment: 2/2
Total: 17/20

Tracy’s review: Wow, Tan can craft a story. His writing flows so beautifully, his descriptions are lush, and history is real in his hands. This was a nice escape from some heavier reading on this year’s list. 

W. Somerset Maugham wrote some great books- The Painted Veil is one of my favorites. I feel like he was well respected by Tan, too. Almost too much, maybe: the characters were so treated with kid gloves that they felt a bit flat.

But the location, the story, the research that must have been done- this isn’t going to need a prize to be a big book.

Writing quality: 4.5/5
Originality: 4/ 5
Character development: 2/4
Plot: 4/4
Enjoyment: 1.5/2
Total: 16/20

Lisa’s review:  I really enjoyed reading The House of Doors. The writing flowed and pulled me right along. I wanted to learn more about the history of Penang and its multi-ethnic residents, and I found myself looking up and reading about some of the clothing items that Lesley wears. I’m also curious about the real life author Somerset Maugham, and I wonder if reading one of his books would add further texture to this one. In addition to transporting the reader to this place and time, Tan Twain Eng also explores the various meanings and forms of heterosexual marriage — none of which (of course)are happy, although some are worse than others. A mild criticism is that a huge topic — revolution in China — is lightly touched on but not explored in any deep way. Although, that may reflect the biases and attention of the main characters — Leslie is much more focused on interpersonal relationships than large-scale politics, and Willie (Somerset Maugham) is focused on what story will form the basis of his next book. 

Writing quality: 5/5
Originality: 4/5
Character development: 3/4
Plot development: 3/4
Overall enjoyment: 2/2
Total: 17/20

Have you read this one? Let us know what you thought.

Our panel’s Rankings

1. TheHouse of Doors: 16.5
2. A spell of Good things: 15.38
3. If I survive you: 15.2
4. Old God’s Time: 13.20