The Book of Doors

“Cassie had promised to keep in touch with these people but never had. They were walk-on parts in her life. Although they were lost to her now, those people and those warm, sunny days across Europe were among her happiest memories.”

The idea of “walk-on parts” enhances the motifs put in place through the scene’s exploration of Izzy’s thespian background and puts Cassie’s life into a storytelling framework. This moment lays the groundwork for Cassie’s new adventure traveling the world and recapturing the experiences she thought she had lost.

“With each successive doorway, Cassie was sure that tedious reality would return and steal this fairy tale away from her, but each time she was proved wrong. The world was suddenly wondrous and full of possibility.”

In this moment, Cassie’s new tool is literally and figuratively opening doors in her life, allowing her entrance into a new, transcendent state of being. She considers her opportunities to be a “fairy tale,” again illustrating how Cassie frames her experiences through the lens of story. However, it also communicates a naïveté and oversimplification regarding the risks of her new gift.

“He didn’t mind the loneliness—he had been solitary for most of his life—but the constant need to move had become tiring. More than anything, he missed his home.”

This moment illustrates, early in the novel, the dichotomy of Drummond’s character: He is someone forced to be constantly on the move, yet he longs for the security and stability of home. Much of his journey is about reclaiming this stability by facing the demons of his past. Here, the novel sets up what he is lacking as a character and what he needs.

“For all of his adult life, ever since he had left the small town in north-eastern Canada where he had grown up, he had only stayed in one place as long as it took for him to grow bored and restless, and then he would move on. He never wanted much other than food and a bed, and he was happy with his straightforward existence.”

Conversely, this moment places Lund as a foil to Drummond. In addition to their contrasting physicality, they also have very different core needs. Because Lund is essentially content at the start of his journey, rather than navigating a lack of fulfilment of his desires, his story is one of learning to need more than basic human survival. His relationship with Izzy and with his new friends gives him a purpose he didn’t have before.

“There was that woman that one time […] he went home with a girl once, much too young for him. I think she was homeless or something. Maybe he was trying to help.”

At this point in the novel, the narrative raises questions about the nature of Mr. Webber’s relationships and private life. This becomes a moment of foreshadowing, as it is later revealed that this is a reference to Cassie’s own future. It highlights the interconnectivity of Cassie’s story and the way the layers of her journey overlap.

“Drummond had often thought about taking his own memories, forgetting all about the special books and the Woman and the Fox Library and just starting a new life. It had been tempting, but he had always resisted. He resisted again now, because he had a purpose.”

This moment draws attention to a turning point in Drummond’s story: He reaches a point at which he can choose to move either forward or back. In terms of story structure, this represents the moment in which a character shifts from being buoyed along by their experiences to taking action and making choices that move the story forward. As Drummond symbolically and literally hides from danger throughout the early parts of the novel, often retreating to the shadows, his choice to persevere highlights a hidden strength in his character.

“The Woman let herself move toward the pair as they neared, and as she did so she removed the Book of Despair from her bag and clasped it against her chest, like a woman on her way to church clutching her Bible.”

This line inverts religious imagery to illustrate the Woman’s devotion to her cause. Her effort to reduce the young girl to a despairing creature like herself is given a gospel-like quality, in which the Woman becomes a sort of missionary to misery. Her choice to target a young girl, as she was when infected by Barbary’s pain, also hints at an underlying loneliness in the Woman, who may want to create others like her in the world.

“That night she spent hours finding pictures of doorways from around the world, in places she had never been, and travelling to them, experimenting with what was possible.”

Here, Cassie begins The Pursuit of Knowledge in which she tests the limits of herself and her new tool. At this point in the novel, Cassie is at a euphoric high, as she enjoys the rewards of her discovery but hasn’t yet stopped to consider the risks. This sets her up for the fall she will encounter later on. Her naïveté is shown through these moments, but so is her inherent goodness, as she only considers more innocent possibilities like traveling to new places. This contrasts the more nefarious implicated desires of antagonists like Barbary and the Woman.

“She existed, and she searched for books. She had an insatiable hunger for the books, a hole inside her that could only be filled by acquiring more of them.”

This moment neatly compartmentalizes the Woman’s character and highlights her guiding force throughout the novel. It raises questions about the true nature of the magical books, what function they are serving to their collector, and how she became connected to them to begin with. Additionally, it alludes to broader exploration of what books can mean to people. They can represent knowledge, entertainment, or power to some, like the Woman; however, they can also satisfy an emotional void, as shown here.

“The Woman—or perhaps some residual remnant of the girl, in those early years—had buried her mother next to her father, as if thinking they could keep each other company in the afterlife.”

This moment suggests a complexity and nuance to the Woman that was previously underplayed. Rather than being a two-dimensional nightmare creature, she is given a past and another hidden layer. This enhances the idea that the Woman may be suffering from a suppressed loneliness that ultimately guides her actions.

“In some ways, Drummond’s house reminded Cassie of Kellner Books. Just like the store, the house was full of books—no shelf was bare, no book alone and seeking company—but it was more than that. The house was full of warm corners and quiet places, pleasantly creaking floorboards and droughts of air coming from unseen gaps.”

This moment establishes a new setting by placing it next to the emotional resonance of one that is more familiar. It foreshadows Cassie’s future relationship with the Fox Library by drawing a parallel to her life in New York, which began with Kellner Books. Each place functions as the setting of a turning point from one state of being to another. It also alludes to a more metatextual affection for books and the places that home them, as the novel centers on a nostalgic affection for literature.

“Happiness is not something you sit and wait for. You have to choose it and pursue it in spite of everything else. It’s not going to be given to you.”

The act of living wholly and completely is a recurring theme throughout the novel. Cassie is reminded on several occasions, particularly from the guiding parental figures in her life, to exist in the here and now. In this moment, she reconnects with her grandfather and learns to embrace happiness where she can. This is impactful for her character as she had exhibited clear guilt about how her grandfather raising her limited him from pursuing his goals. His acceptance of his circumstances and refusal to see this as bad thing helps her learn to embrace life and live with fewer emotional burdens.

“Cassie had been through difficult times in her life. Her grandfather’s illness and his death, and the dark weeks that followed, when she had been truly alone in the world for the first time. But even in those days she had never felt as alone as she did now, as helpless.”

These early scenes in which Cassie has been pushed back into the past represent one of the low points of her journey. She has been thrown into what is essentially a new, secondary world for which she is completely unprepared. However, this also creates a space from which Cassie can undergo a rebirth, emerging from her challenge renewed and changed.

“You are young, and the worst that is going to happen is you travel to the future by living it.”

Mr. Webber steps into a role in Cassie’s life that was previously occupied by her grandfather: that of an encouraging, empathetic paternal voice. At this moment, Cassie begins to look at her situation differently, seeing it as an opportunity rather than a cage. She comes to value her time with Mr. Webber, savoring time she wasn’t able to have with her grandfather, and focuses on the joys of life while waiting to catch up with the present and save her friends.

“This was what Drummond enjoyed most about their meetings—it wasn’t that answers were always found, it was that questions were asked and considered and enjoyed.”

Here, Drummond luxuriates in The Pursuit of Knowledge rather than its material rewards. He sees the journey as more enjoyable and rewarding than seeing it to its completion—which would often lead to frustration, as there would not always be a satisfying completion to arrive at. Instead, he finds value in the camaraderie and discussion surrounding their quest. This aligns with the lesson Cassie’s guardians keep trying to teach her; Drummond simply savors the pleasure of friendship and exploration.

“She wondered what the successful bidder would do with the book. Would they inflict that experience on others? Could she take millions of dollars from someone who might use the book in the way it had been used on her?”

Here, Izzy considers The Ethical Use of Power as she plays a role in delivering The Book of Pain to a new user. She acknowledges her complicity in whatever choices are made once that power is attained. This raises questions about the extent of her responsibility and the nature of personal choice. Ultimately, the book is never sold, and she never needs to come to terms with her decision.

“She could feel his physical trauma, the ache in his bones and his left leg, in the old bullet wounds that riddled his body. But below and beyond that, deeper in the pool of Hugo Barbary’s consciousness, she could feel the other pain, the spiritual and psychological pain that made him what he was.”

This tangible pain that exists within Hugo Barbary plays a pivotal role in the events of the plot. This moment suggests that the man is a tragic figure and a victim of his own internal turmoil. Once it is removed, it gives him a chance at rebirth; conversely, however, it creates a near-sentient negative force that later goes on to infect the Woman, leading to much of the story’s destructive conflict.

“Where else would she put all these things but in books? Where else could she lock away all of her emotion but in the place where all life’s joy and delight was to be found?”

In this moment, Cassie has been stripped of much of her humanity and individuality. However, what’s left of her turns immediately to books as a refuge and source of strength. The obvious irony here is that the narrator describes books as a place of “joy and delight,” but they’re equally places of unspeakable hardship and struggle. This duality present within all of literature is what creates the spectrum of magical books.

“Because if you stop, you admit the bad stuff has won, don’t you? All you can do is keep going. Refuse to be beaten, even when you are beaten. The bad stuff only wins if you let it.”

This moment illustrates the ongoing themes of resilience and living, even when faced with obstacles and challenges. Cassie’s grandfather doesn’t pretend that the world is free of “bad stuff”; instead, he emphasizes that moving forward is more important. In this way, he acknowledges the realities of the world while also offering hope within it.

“[S]he spoke until she had finished her drink, telling her grandfather a tale about a magical book that could open doors to anywhere, and her grandfather listened with the wide eyes of a child listening to a story at bedtime.”

In this moment, storytelling serves as a binding act that brings Cassie and her grandfather closer together. The narrator uses a metaphor to compare Cassie’s grandfather to a childlike figure, placing Cassie in the parental role. This inversion brings their relationship full circle as Cassie’s grandfather nears the end of his life. Recounting the story of The Book of Doors to him also emphasizes the motif of the cyclical nature of books and storytelling. The Book of Doors was, unbeknown to her until recently, created by Cassie, and it initiates the events and the novel and is then retold to her grandfather. As a book can be read over and over again, the story becomes like an old, repeated tale.

“It had seemed like an ordeal at the start, a punishment maybe, but now she remembered those days fondly. She would always carry them with her as a time when she had felt safe and protected, when she had been able to enjoy the simple things.”

This moment parallels Cassie’s earlier reflection about her days traveling through Europe prior to the events of the novel. Previously, her closest-held memory was one of exploration and adventure. Here, this memory is one of safety, stability, and self-care. This shows how she has matured and learned to appreciate smaller and more intimate pleasures.

“Lund was a comfortable companion, like a quiet, peaceful room where you could relax. Izzy, in contrast, was the best party you’d ever been to—vivacious and funny and beautiful—and he loved being around her.”

This moment offers a stark juxtaposition between Lund and Izzy, leaning into the premise of “opposites attract.” Their romance is one of situational proximity, and yet this acknowledgement of their contrasting, interlocking personalities offers hope for their future. Both elements—peace and excitement—communicate different types of strength in each character.

“The pain was alive and trying to recapture Hugo, but he did not want that. The part of him that had once been a boy, that had been innocent before injury, resisted.”

This moment supports and augments the concept of Hugo’s pain being a semi-sentient malevolent force with agency and power. However, it also shines a new light on Hugo’s potential for goodness, which was previously repressed by trauma and self-loathing. This offers him the opportunity for a rebirth as this innocent self he had once lost.