The Way Through Doors by Jesse Ball (a review, this time)

A few days ago I wrote something of an homage to The Way Through Doors by Jesse Ball.  [The Jesse Ball link there is about as enigmatic as the book, so if you want more of the straight story on his career, click here.]

The book is homage-worthy.  This is one of those books where, as a reader, you pause at times to contemplate just where the story came from.  It springs seemingly from some dream-like state in which everything is possible.  Ball was not bound by the traditional narrative form.  Links between ideas and characters can seem ephemeral, yet they are beautiful.

This is not a book for everyone.  I can think of many people who would dislike it (intensely), but it is a rare gift of imagination for anyone who is willing to immerse him/herself in the gauze of Ball's creation.  I paused often while reading to try and visualise the world I had entered.  In doing so, the image that first came to mind was a map of the 'world' in some video games.  In some of them you can cut to a map that shows the levels or worlds, explored and unexplored.

In some that I have played (and it's been a very long time since I have), the map resembles ant tunnels underground.  Usually there is only one connection between the levels/worlds, like a gate or a door.  Within the levels, it feels like a self-contained and independent place in that each has an environment and characters.  To wake up in one of these worlds, it would seem like the world, but having played/worked to get there, one realises that it is only part of the puzzle.  By playing through, one sees the connections and feels a sense of completeness.

Reading The Way Through Doors feels something like that map.  The parts of the novel fit together to form a beautifully hallucinatory whole; the connections between them are delicate whimsy things that a careless reader could almost miss (just like getting lost in a level of a video game).  Reading through connects and completes the journey.

I have thought a lot about how to best appreciate The Way Through Doors (especially since I am encouraging several people to read it).  I alluded to this in my first post, but Doors should ideally be read in one sitting.  To sit down and suspend one's connection to daily life means being able to take off the leaden shoes of our expectations and let our minds float along with Ball's.  Putting the book down means having to re-enter and reorient oneself to the story.

With no pagination, no chapters, and only a fascinating system of line-numbering, that re-immersion is not as easy as with other novels.  So take my word for it - find a comfortable chair, start in the morning when your head is still a bit fuzzy and follow Selah Morse and his guess artist friend through the doors.  You might not finish until the evening, but you'll see and remember those magical doors and remember how you got from one room to another.

That is when the novel is at its most beautiful.