Book Review – The Door in the Wall by Marguerite de Angeli

After not really liking Adam of the Road by Elizabeth Janet Gray, I was a bit hesitant with this one as I saw similar plot areas in a similar setting. However, this was its own story and offered a few areas of enjoyment when looking over the whole scope of the story. This was a family read for us which I always have a soft spot for stories we do together as a family and it’s interesting to see how a story from 1949 can resonate with younger kids (9 and 7 year old girls) and us big kids. The style and pacing is not something you’d have today. There’s no anachronistic language or politics or behaviors. De Angeli does a great job of keeping some of the “ye ol'” language in while still allowing it to be readable and her naming of time period accurate items made the story seem a lot older than I thought it was – in a good way. 

What impressed me the most was de Angeli’s main character Robin going through the character growth arc that he did. There are small moments which the character chooses to make choices that either allows him the possibility to grow and get outside of his own head or to stay festering in self-loathing and frustration. And like any normal boy youth, he succeeds and fails and often times without even realizing it. And as the reader this was true for me too. Other than one really big set piece that shows his arc leading up to this moment these small shifts in characters ring true the meaning of the book’s title of having a simple door in the wall he’s facing to either go through or not. In fact, I really wasn’t sure I was going to be overly poisitive with the story until the ending where you got to see his more mature choices that he would have never made in the beginning. And the final chapter is really a stand out one to pause and added to the bulk of our family reading discussion.  This isn’t a story like The Three Musketeers where it’s swashbuckling and intrigue. It’s a simple story that lends to the discussion about virtue when learning, how to tackle adversity, and how youth is not an excuse for sentimental immorality. 

Brother Luke and minstrel John Go-in-the-Wynd join Robin on his journey. Brother Luke is a regular, pious friar who encourages Robin without brow beating him but pushes him where he needs to be encouraged. The minstrel also offers assitance as a friend without being condescending to Robin. There’s no liar-revealed-trop here or friends-to-enemies-to-friends-again. In fact, the only diservice that I think is done is from the cover of my copy that makes all three seem silly looking and a bungling comedy is about to take place.

I think this book for us moderns is a sleeper that might stay with you a bit longer if you let it. If your nihilism and sarcasm can be staved off for a bit, you’ll be able to enjoy this book of virtue living in the small moments that drive our big character moments.