{Review} Room by Emma Donoghue

Room by Emma Donoghue

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Published by Little, Brown and Company

ISBN13: 9780316098335

To five-year-old Jack, Room is the entire world. It is where he was born and grew up; it's where he lives with his Ma as they learn and read and eat and sleep and play. At night, his Ma shuts him safely in the wardrobe, where he is meant to be asleep when Old Nick visits.

Room is home to Jack, but to Ma, it is the prison where Old Nick has held her captive for seven years. Through determination, ingenuity, and fierce motherly love, Ma has created a life for Jack. But she knows it's not enough...not for her or for him. She devises a bold escape plan, one that relies on her young son's bravery and a lot of luck. What she does not realize is just how unprepared she is for the plan to actually work.  Told entirely in the language of the energetic, pragmatic five-year-old Jack, ROOM is a celebration of resilience and the limitless bond between parent and child, a brilliantly executed novel about what it means to journey from one world to another.



Like pretty much everything in my life, I've had this on my list of things to do for a long time.  It's not that I procrastinate, really, it's just that I ... get distracted.  Or choose to have a nap.   But mostly, I get distracted.    I can;t even tell you what I googled right now instead of writing this post.  Seriously.  

I had read some pretty mixed reviews about this book, so I wasn't sure what to expect.  The premise of the entire story being written from the POV of a child, and a very closed in child at that, seemed like it might get a little tiring.  

It didn't.  I didn't find it endearing in any way, but I did find Jack's POV is what sets this book apart from many others.  His voice is really what keeps the momentum going in this story, turning it from a slightly unenthusiastic plot to one that leaves us consistently wondering "what now"?

A slightly easy read for a book of it's type, and not for the faint of heart.  Many others have told me they couldn't/wouldn't read this book because of the nature of it, but since I'm excessively morbid, I found it a tame telling of  a horribly tragic situation.