Books! Room

Room – Emma Donoghue

“Room” is a gripping novel narrated by five year old Jack.  Jack only knows the world of “Room” where he lives with his Ma.  On his fifth birthday, Jack begins to discover the world might be bigger than he ever imagined.

Jack has lived his whole life in Room with only Ma for company.  He knows how to read and count, identify animals and objects, and recognizes too much television is bad for your brain.  What Jack does not know about the world threatens to both destroy him and set him free.

“Room” is a truly intriguing and disturbing book to read; I rushed to read it every free moment of the day because I needed the suffering of Jack and Ma to end.  Jack’s voice may be difficult for some to get into, I found him a precocious, endearing child who offers the reader the startlingly clear observations of a child.  Each section of the book focuses on a dramatically different circumstance in Jack and Ma’s life, but Jack’s voice and world view provides a common heart wrenching thread throughout.   The power of familial love and the deepest depths of what humans can inflict on one another are both unflinchingly explored.

‘Room’ is an astounding book in the way it exposes a world of terror that is strikingly common across the world but rarely leaves the shadows.  It examines the oft-forgotten story of imprisoned women and children with a sense of humanity and sympathy, but never veers into sentimentality.  A book that will make you grateful for all that you have, ‘Room’ will additionally make you think about the way thousands of people live around the world.