Never too Late to Read Classics discussion

The Door in the Wall by H.G. Wells can be found in the collection The Door in the Wall and Other Stories. The title story (GR:) is the story of a promising public figure used up by his job and obsessed by a vision of an enchanted garden he had known as a child. It is a tale all of us know, the attempt to recover a period when our lives were simpler and complications lay far in the future.

Sounds like a story many of us could find relatable.

I've read this more than once and will be reading it again.

Project Gutenburg's edition of The Door in the Wall and Other Stories:

https://www.gutenberg.org/files/456/4...

This is a great story. It is a simple concept, but it taps into the universal yearning for lost youth and innocence. As an adult, I cannot conceive of West Kensington just vanishing and being replaced by a paradise garden, but I'm sure that as a child I would have just accepted it.

I’ll definitely be joining you for this one, hopefully in the next week or so.

I'll be reading this one.

I read the collection a year or two ago. It was a good story but not my favorite in the book.

I just found a secondhand copy so hopefully I'll be reading this early next week!

I've just finished a reread and appreciated it even more this time around. He sees the door at certain intervals and not necessarily when he's looking for it.
Sometimes we have opportunities that we pass by-and there is no next time.

As for the ending, I think he found what he was looking for.

While I liked the ending, I personally wasn't particularly taken by the story. The book I found had two other stories, The Sea Raiders and The Moth. I enjoyed The Sea Raiders a bit more as it mostly takes place near a cliff path between Sidmouth and Ladram Bay in Devon, England - a cliff path I know well! When my wife and I were first married we often camped in Ladram Bay and walked that very path to Sidmouth a fair few times.

That's cool, Mike. I like visiting places I've read about in books, and vice versa-reading a book about a place I know.

Mike wrote: "While I liked the ending, I personally wasn't particularly taken by the story. The book I found had two other stories, The Sea Raiders and The Moth. I enjoyed The Sea Raiders a bit ..."

Thanks for the recommendations Mike.

I liked the story and found it very interesting. Was the garden real or imagined? I felt it was real and that the boy went through a portal to another dimension or realm, a parallel universe. I do believe in the unseen world so this was not too hard for me to believe. What I found more interesting was why was he thrown out and why he kept seeing the door throughout his life. Were these opportunities given to him or just his increased sensitivity on his part that made him aware of this unseen world at certain emotional times of his life?

I think that he may have been more aware as he began to be less satisfied with his life/career.

I think the door was offering him an escape.

In an ideal world, all opportunities would be presented to us when we are able to seize them. Unfortunately this is not generally so.

Bernard wrote: "In an ideal world, all opportunities would be presented to us when we are able to seize them. Unfortunately this is not generally so."

I find the older I get the more I see turnings in the road or opportunities I should have taken. But it is no good mourning lost things and so I focus on today and taking the right turn tomorrow. The man in the story couldn't do this and thus his loss haunted him and spoiled the beauty of each new day. It is as you say, not an ideal world.

Samantha wrote: "The Door in the Wall by H.G. Wells can be found in the collection The Door in the Wall and Other Stories. The title story (GR:) is the story of a promising public fig..."

I am really enjoying these short story selections and have checked with my library to see if I can get future ones. Happily most I can. I look forward to everyone's thoughts on this month's reading.

Tracey, I'm glad you're enjoying the short story selections. When I made the schedule for the year, I do believe I found an online version of every title. Whether you can find a copy within your public library or not, you should have no trouble keeping up with our short story reads this year.

Samantha wrote: "Tracey, I'm glad you're enjoying the short story selections. When I made the schedule for the year, I do believe I found an online version of every title. Whether you can find a copy within your pu..."

Thanks, Samantha. I have never been much of a short story reader but I have discovered that there is much to enjoy about them. I will be interested as I read along this year to see how different authors vary in their styles and which I like the most.

Tracey said (in part): I liked the story and found it very interesting. Was the garden real or imagined? I felt it was real and that the boy went through a portal to another dimension or realm, a parallel universe.

For my part, I suppose I think of the garden as somehow “real”, but I suspect that for H. G. Wells the door and the garden behind it represents something less concrete than a parallel dimension and more metaphysical, if that distinction makes any sense. Wallace is able to see the door while others are not, but I think Wells means for us to understand that the door is a physical manifestation of the sorts of choice points that all of us make through the course of our lives. I think the really interesting question the author poses, and the one he pointedly leaves unanswered, is whether Wallace is able reach his Edenic goal at story’s end when he falls to his death. Just my hurried thoughts on a really excellent story.

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Good thoughts Canavan! Although the answering of all questions appeals to my orderly nature, leaving some unanswered does give more food for thought.

Bernard said: Although the answering of all questions appeals to my orderly nature, leaving some unanswered does give more food for thought.

Yes, I would agree.

Canavan and Bernard - I usually like all questions answered in a book or story, but I have to agree that leaving some air of mystery is nice sometimes. That gives the reader a chance to consider what they think fit as the answers.

Note: I say that without having time to read this story at the moment, but as a thought on open endings in general.