Customer Reviews

Other Voices, Other Doors

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I love this book. At first when I heard we had to read an assigned book I thought oh great another boring book report, but I really enjoyed reading this one. The book, The Gift, was published in 1997 by the author Patrick O'Leary. It's very complicated and hard to summarize. It takes you through many different times and places, bringing an unruly team of an orphan, a king, and a Waterman (magical frog) together to triumph over an evil wizard and his accomplice at impossible odds. It is a network of many stories being told by the characters in other stories, interwoven to make one awesome novel.
The review I choose to respond to was written and published by Kate Nepveu on February 21, 1999. She named this book "an astonishing novel of and about stories." Her opinions of the book were all positive, but she thought it was "a book that neither summarizes well nor a book that should be spoiled." She claimed it was a science fantasy for mixing magic with technology, but with the two often confused. In summary, she said "The Gift is an elegant and interesting meditation on story, power, women, and the price one pays with regard to all of them."
I agree with most of the review. While at times it can be hard to follow, The Gift is the kind of book that can take your mind to places your body may never be able to get to. I agree with her (the author's) comment that the book carries some importance of female characters in it. The triumphing hero in the end was female; even the reason the antagonist became the antagonist was because of women. I agree totally with the review's comment on how the importance of women wasn't preached upon but was a natural undertone throughout the plot. After all, the book begins and ends with women with untold stories that cross other stories surrounding them, leaving much to the imagination.
One of the parts I liked in the book that this review touches on is the fact that you can't sum it up in just one story. Kate Nepveu said it the best with her comment that "This is a book about stories." There is the story of the Teller telling the sailors and their Captain another story, the story of Tim. Tim and Simon and Marty encounter many different people, who each have their own background stories and more to tell. It's kind of hard to follow until the last chapter and epilogue, where everything is explained. The review I chose labeled The Gift's many overlapping stories as having "an intricately nested effect that illuminates the world and its characters in a concise, elegant fashion." I agree wholeheartedly with that statement because though there are many things going on. The one story that contains all the others is explained by its contents. The little stories make the big picture, and that in turn made it a very interesting and good book to read.
I would definitely recommend this book to anyone looking for a book that will make them think. It's not the kind of book you can read in bits and pieces; once you start it you won't want to stop. It's a modernized fairy tale full of dragons, wizards, people who can fly, frogmen, and anything your imagination can fathom. I guarantee it'll keep any reader enthralled till the very last word.

"Other Voices, Other Doors" will introduce you to the work of Patrick O'Leary. The book is chock full of charm, wit, compassion, style, and voice. A wonderful collection. But what else should we expect from the author of the marvelously inventive novels, "Door Number Three" and "The Gift"?