Room

Jack is rather smart for his age, he has a curious mind and always wants to know the answers to everything; but Jack doesn’t know much about what is in the world, since he was born in captivity. Room tells the story of a 5 year old and his mother who was kidnapped 7 years ago and locked in a room 11x11feet. Emma Donoghue got the idea for this book after reading about five-year-old Felix in the Fritzl case and this is an attempt to understand what the child’s views of the world. There is a lot of interesting aspects in this book, including the fact they call their captor Old Nick; which in old Christianity was a name used when referring to the devil.

While I was expecting this book to be dark and disturbing, this is really accessible to all readers (granted I would prefer darker) and doesn’t go into great details about the imprisonment. This is simply because the point of view is from the 5 year old, which is a good way to avoid getting into the disturbing aspects of living in captivity and can also make the book hard to get used to. The POV of Jack took a while to get use to and could almost be its downfall; but once you do get past that, you will realise this is more a book of discovering the world for the first time. Emma Donoghue really has writing a great book in Room, and while I’ve think this isn’t a perfect book, it is highly recommended.

It took me a short while to get used to Jack's narrative style but once I was, I loved the story.

SpoilerI thought the best part of the book was while Jack and Ma were still in Room but I think that may be because Jack felt secure there. I think his insecurity and confusion made his telling the tale more difficult.

The way the author used Jack's voice to describe what the world appeared to be to him, an outsider, was fantastic. A great way to use the Sociological Eye, I thought.

I was reduced to tears several times - either for happy or sad or just by the powerful emotions the words pulled from me. I think part of it was that I'm a very emotional person but part of it was that I kept imagining my young son in Jack's place.

Room was a great, and at times difficult, read. I highly recommend it.

When I first heard about Room I thought it would be a tough harrowing read. However that was not the case. I finished it in a day and I never really got a sense that something horrible had taken place (even though it obviously had) and I suppose this was partly because the story was narrated by a five year old who didn't realise that this bad thing had happened.

I felt that a lot of the characterization was off in places and that some of the story was a bit unbelievable. Jack seemed way too mature in his thoughts and actions for a five year old particularly one that had been living in seclusion his whole life. And I honestly couldn't see Old Nick taking Jack away from the property, no matter what he told Ma. That to me would have presented too much of a risk for him.

I think the author did a good job of showing us how Ma's family reacted to Jack and Jack's naivety of Outside. But ultimately I just felt that the story being in Jack's voice made it seem a little glossed over, and that somewhat contributed to a lack of emotion that you would normally attach to a story like Ma's.