Georges Simenon is most famous, and justly so, for his detective, Maigret. But Simenon also wrote many other novels, which he called his romans durs, hard novels.
The Door is typical of these short, sensitive stories with characters who do a good deal of thinking but not a lot of acting. The main focus in this story is on Bernard Foy, a 40-something man who lost both hands to a mine early in World War II. He lives quietly on his military pension with his wife, who works as a clerk, and paints lamp shades to keep himself busy. But his entire life focuses on his wife, his every thought is of her.
Bernard has become increasingly jealous after 20 years of marriage and finally one day he tells his wife that he imagines her in love with another man in the building where they live. This man had polio and lives in a wheelchair three floors below the Foys. His wife reassures him convincingly that she loves only him. But he can't shake his distress and the dizziness he feels when he thinks about his wife, and the sleeping pills and tranquilizers his doctor gives him do not help.
A very thoughtful and subtle novel.
2012 No 54