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A review by jasonfurman
Room by Emma Donoghue
5.0
A unique, amazing book. Highly recommended. I read the beginning curious to see how an author could possibly sustain a first person narrative by a five year old boy who had spent his entire life locked in an 11x11 room together with his mother. Jack, the little boy, has been taught by his mother that this room is the entire world and that the images he sees on TV are not real (thus the lack of articles, 'room' and 'chair' are sufficient words when there is only one of each in existence) -- something she does so that he does not get upset about everything that he is missing. Up until his fifth birthday when he spots a mouse, the largest creature he has seen other than his mother is a spider.
The first half is almost like a mother-son version of The Road, as the two of them work together to survive in an unimaginably harsh environment surrounded by cruelty -- in this case in the form of their monstrous captor. Reading it at times you are jealous of their relationship and experience and lack of greater worries and a tiny part of wishes for the same experience -- but then you're reminded of the brutality of their captor who punishes them by shutting off the power, raping and beating the mother, and not providing them with needed medicine.
The book is not plot driven, but SPOILER ALERT if you are averse to knowing anything about how the story develops. The second half is set outside of Room and the challenges the mother and Jack face as they try to integrate into the world that treats her as a saint and him as a freak. The second half is in many ways a more moving and challenging story, but it also suffers from the fact that the characters that surround them on the outside are cartoonish and at times implausible (e.g., and this is a minor example of which there are several, I found it downright bizarre that on Jack's first night in a home without his mother, following 5 years in Room and one week in a clinic, his otherwise loving grandmother would be annoyed about having to sit in his room while he fell asleep).
One of the best books of the year.
The first half is almost like a mother-son version of The Road, as the two of them work together to survive in an unimaginably harsh environment surrounded by cruelty -- in this case in the form of their monstrous captor. Reading it at times you are jealous of their relationship and experience and lack of greater worries and a tiny part of wishes for the same experience -- but then you're reminded of the brutality of their captor who punishes them by shutting off the power, raping and beating the mother, and not providing them with needed medicine.
The book is not plot driven, but SPOILER ALERT if you are averse to knowing anything about how the story develops. The second half is set outside of Room and the challenges the mother and Jack face as they try to integrate into the world that treats her as a saint and him as a freak. The second half is in many ways a more moving and challenging story, but it also suffers from the fact that the characters that surround them on the outside are cartoonish and at times implausible (e.g., and this is a minor example of which there are several, I found it downright bizarre that on Jack's first night in a home without his mother, following 5 years in Room and one week in a clinic, his otherwise loving grandmother would be annoyed about having to sit in his room while he fell asleep).
One of the best books of the year.