Watch the Doors as They Close by Karen Lillis
published by Spuyten Duyvil (novella series), 2012
Karen Lillis’s novella, written as diary entries from December 12th through the 30th of 2003, begins, “This is the story of Anselm as told to me,” and right away I worried for this poor young woman. Anselm, a bi-polar, world-travelling undergraduate from a poverty-stricken Appalachian town used to date the unnamed narrator, but they broke up one week prior to her journaling. We learn nearly nothing about her (although she does mention that Anselm read the book she wrote and was jealous of some passages).
The narrator feels she knows nothing about Anselm, yet the story is stacked with details about his family, of what he hates, and the neurosis of his many ex-girlfriends and lovers. On my first experience with the novella I got through 40 pages and had to put the book aside to complete other projects. Three days later, when I returned, I found myself zoning out, lost, maybe a bit bored, but I couldn’t figure out why (I had loved the first 40 pages). I read the novella a second time (two sittings in one day) and loved it. The many details of Anselm, it turns out, are vital to understanding the beauty of the situation between the two characters, and I had forgotten brief moments from those first 40 pages. For instance, on page 6 the narrator claims Anselm hates being tickled (who cares?), but it isn’t until page 61 that we learn “there was a not-really-told story about [Anselm’s mother] sadistically tickling him….as if her instinct to beat him started with tickling instead.” If you don’t pay attention to this narrator, she will have no effect on you, and you’ll be missing out on a great deal of excellent storytelling.
The anecdotes of cruel Anselm are sparse, as if she is protecting him from a reader’s scorn. What she reveals and hides says more about her personality than her own words. When the narrator does express herself, it is through claims, causing the novella to blur into lyricism. One of the woman’s claims: “One time I was dreaming that everywhere [Anselm’s and my body] touched each other turned to a blanket of green stamps, like fish scales on our skin. My challenge in the dream was to figure out if the green was the color of green of love and growth, or if they were merely food stamps.”
Lillis’s book reads like listening to a friend (another good reason to read it in one sitting). I wanted to shake this friend, but I gained insights into young adulthood from her. When Anselm shows trepidation upon arriving at a party of the narrator’s friend, he wants to stay outside and talk and drink, giving her much personal attention. Ultimately, the narrator realizes, “I also had the foreboding sense that Anselm and I were always going to be only an intangible, fleeting entity, if we never dared to enter real life together.” To her, real life is exposed and worth living, but Anselm’s world is hidden and confusing. Such a short beautiful read, especially for those caught in the crossfire of young adulthood and developing adult relationships that change a person’s identity.
This review was originally published at JMWW.
Grab the Lapels 
I often find reading about young adults (and teens) can be frustrating, but not always – and this one sounds good. I like that it’s told through diary entries. I’ll keep this in mind for novellas in November (depending on how hard/easy it is to get my hands on)!
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The publisher has reasonably priced books at their site, but I’m not sure if they ship to the U.K.
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This sounds really interesting! It’s tricky to write about people in this age group, but it can work well, and it looks as though it really did here.
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Definitely. Like Naomi said, I often get frustrated reading about this group, but Lillis does it well.
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I’m glad you’re giving Lillis’s book a second life here! It’s an underrated gem.
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Thanks, Jen! I have a few old reviews from JMWW scheduled for the future.
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I tend to find diary entries, and sometimes letters, as a lazy way to write a story. As though the author wasn’t clever enough to make it into a coherent account.
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I find diaries an important firm of writing, and I also think it’s a clever way to ensure that the audience is one reader–it, at least, the reader feels like he/she is the only reader being told something intimate by one other person.
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I think novellas often tend to work better if you can read them in one sitting, and that’s a thing I love about them. It always takes me a while to get back into a story after I’ve put a book aside and I have a terribly unretentive memory for details, so being able to read an entire story in one or two sessions is great. This sounds like an interesting one – that YA period of life is so difficult to get right.
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I remember you and I talked before about having trouble memories, even for books. It’s a burden…and yet a remember so many stupid little things that don’t matter!
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I used to be jealous of the way my professor brother in law could recall details from books, but I find now I’m writing about books it is much easier to remember what was in them.
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I have to really study the inner workings, in a much deeper and more time consuming way, of a book to remember it well.
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How long did the couple date?
If the narrator felt she knew nothing of Anselm I assume not for long? But then she goes on to provide many details about him and his life? I’m not sure if that’s a plot hole or not.
Anyway, I’m glad you were able to enjoy this book on the second read. I am definitely a mood reader and have learned to put books down if I’ feeling bored or uninspired to read. That’s unfair to the books!
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I agree it’s unfair to the books. The whole story was about him that you start to understand how deeply she lost herself in this relationship. Some people can do that very fast (we’ve all seen it with high school pals) and some lose themselves over the course of years.
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Sometimes it’s hard to connect with a book in which you learn so little about a narrator, but it sounds like the more you read about Anselm, the more you learn about the narrator. Interesting sounding novella. I don’t read many novellas!
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I don’t think many people read novellas. My favorite is called Drought & Say What You Like by Debra DiBlasi.
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This sounds fabulous. I love the idea of having a short, intense insight into a relationship, and the novella seems like a good fit for capturing young adulthood which (from memory) felt like it occurred in a series of brief but extremely intense bursts.
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Each year at school felt like a new life to me, so definitely short.
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