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ExUrbanis

Urban Leaving to Country Living

Book Review: ROOM by Emma Donoghue

August28

Genre: Fiction 4.5 star rating

Note: This review contains spoilers.

Room,Emma DonoghueRoom: A Novel is the story of five-year-old Jack and his mother and their life as prisoners in an 11×11 foot storage locker (the titular Room). Eventually, they devise a plan for escape and make it out into the world.

Jack narrates the story and, told from his point of view, the horror of the prison sinks in only slowly. Ma was kidnapped before Jack’s birth and he has known no other life. The room contains his life and his world, and he is satisfied with it. They do have a television but Jack thinks of as being ‘outer space’(outside his ‘world’) and not real.

At first, it is a little annoying that Jack speaks of the objects in Room without definite articles. But the reason for that oddity in language is that these objects are who occupy his life.

For TV, I go in Rocker but Ma sits on Bed with Kit, she’s putting the hem back up on her brown dress with pink bits. We watch the medical planet where doctors and nurses cut holes to pull the germs out. The persons are asleep not dead. The doctors don’t bite the threads like Ma, they use super sharp daggers and after, they sew the persons up like Frankenstein.

Jack is slightly precocious but we must remember that Ma has had exclusive one-on-one time with him for five years to teach him, and she has tried to provide instruction, routine and life skills.

The story of Jack & Ma’s life in the room is compelling, and their escape attempt is suspenseful. But I found the really thought-provoking issues were the ones that Jack faced once he & Ma were in the outside world.

Everything is new for Jack – the people, the noise, the sun, even having to wear shoes. As he faces these challenges, Ma struggles with her own re-entry problems.

After some months in his new world, Jack needs to see Room to tie up emotional loose ends. This is heart-wrenching.

We step through the door and it’s all wrong, Smaller than Room and emptier and it smells weird. Floor’s bare, that’s because no Rug, she’s in my wardrobe in our Independent Living, I forgot she couldn’t be here at the same time. Bed’s here but there’s no sheets or Duvet on her. Rocker’s here and Table and Sink and Bath and Cabinet but no plates or cutlery on top, and Dresser and TV and Bunny with the purple bow on him, and Shelf but nothing on her, and our chairs folded up but they’re all different. Nothing says anything to me. “I don’t think this is it.” I whisper to Ma. “Yeah, it is.” Our voices sound not like us. “Has it got shrunk?” “No, it was always like this.”

I’ve spoken to a lot of people who’ve not read Room because they feel it’s too ‘dark’. On the contrary, this is a book about the indomitability of the human spirit, the capacity to adapt, and the power of love. Recommended.

Links for my Canadian readers:

Room


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posted under Book Reviews
6 Comments to

“Book Review: ROOM by Emma Donoghue”

  1. On August 29th, 2011 at 11:12 am Barbara Says:

    I haven’t read this book although I’ve been reading about it for months. For some reason the idea just creeps me out and I don’t know if I can bear it.

  2. On August 30th, 2011 at 4:34 am Debbie Says:

    Barbara, for weeks afterward, I mentally measured out 11×11 ft spaces everywhere I went, and tried to imagine living confined therein. It is definitely ‘creepy’ and there IS horror in that element of the story. But that didn’t cover the majority of the pages, and I thought the balance of the ploy outweighed the stark beginning. In the end, we must each decide our own tolerance level.

  3. On August 29th, 2011 at 8:23 pm Leslie Says:

    I haven’t read this one either. I can read ‘dark’ stories, but this one, being told by a five year old, seemed like it would be just too sad. Coming from the point of view of a child would be disturbing to me… so I’ve continued to pass on it.

  4. On August 30th, 2011 at 4:43 am Debbie Says:

    Leslie, I agree that the child’s point of view made a world of difference to this story. It certainly adds to the tragedy of the imprisonment, and to the bewilderment of subsequent living in the ‘greater’ world. But I think it is also what epitomizes the resilience of the human spirit.

    As I reflect on the disturbing elements of the story, the reaction of the media (both well-meaning and sensation-seeking) nears the top of the list.

    Ultimately each reader’s feelings about plot elements is a very personal thing, based on personal history & experience and, although I continue to feel that the positive outweighed the negative in ROOM, I can understand that the same would not be case for everyone.

    Thanks for weighing in!

  5. On August 30th, 2011 at 10:08 pm CurlyGeek04 Says:

    I read the first chapter of this book on my Kindle and it really grabbed me. You would think a 5 year old narrator would be annoying but not the way she’s written it. I look forward to reading it.

  6. On August 31st, 2011 at 4:18 pm Debbie Says:

    I found it very well-written, Deb. Do let me know what you think after you’ve read it!

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