Open the Door!
by Catherine Carswell
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Description
Joanna Bannerman, capricious, selfish and warm-hearted, passionately seeks life and 'loveliness'. Certainly the bustling streets of Glasgow at the turn of the century promise much greater excitement than the solid evangelical background she has known hitherto. Her studies in the School of Art open up new horizons - of independence and love - and Joanna reaches for them all. First published in 1920, this novel powerfully evokes the image of a young woman ensnared yet ultimately released by show more her capacity for emotion. It contains a strong autobiographical element and is also a powerful evocation of the life and industry of the Second City of the Empire. show lessTags
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Member Reviews
I really wanted to like Open the Door and there were sections that I enjoyed reading about the adventures and escapades of Joanna Bannerman from Glasgow to Italy to London but Carswell puzzled me sometimes with the intellectual powers that she conveyed on her heroine. Sometimes Joanna sounded like a philosopher and from her other personality characteristics that ability didn't jibe with the ordinary human being that she was.
There were many trite descriptions and passages in the book and too many staged coincidences but for all that I'm not sorry I read it as I believe that it was a fairly accurate autobiographical account of Carswell's own life and she certainly lived an adventurous and unconventional life for a woman whose work was show more published in 1920. Hats off to her! show less
There were many trite descriptions and passages in the book and too many staged coincidences but for all that I'm not sorry I read it as I believe that it was a fairly accurate autobiographical account of Carswell's own life and she certainly lived an adventurous and unconventional life for a woman whose work was show more published in 1920. Hats off to her! show less
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Author Information
7+ Works 353 Members
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Awards
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Series
Belongs to Publisher Series
Virago Modern Classics (201)
Common Knowledge
- Canonical title
- Open the Door!
- Original publication date
- 1920
- People/Characters
- Joanna Bannerman
- Important places
- Glasgow, Scotland, UK; Florence, Tuscany, Italy; London, England, UK
- First words
- For Juley Bannerman to leave home was in any case a heavy undertaking.
Although the latter part of Open The Door! is mainly set in London, and the clue of the book is an episode in Italy, the roots of the book are in, and belong to, Glasgow. (Introduction) - Last words
- (Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)"She looks fulfilled . . . like a web of ripe seeds that has this moment been scattered."
(Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)That was Joanna speaking. (Introduction)
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Statistics
- Members
- 150
- Popularity
- 217,693
- Reviews
- 1
- Rating
- (3.31)
- Languages
- English
- Media
- Paper, Ebook
- ISBNs
- 14
- ASINs
- 3
