Room

Read my review on my blog here: https://theconsultingbookworm.wordpress.com/2015/09/23/room-emma-donoghue/

Given that I have an entire shelf for adult literature with child protaganists, the concept of a child narrator was not the novel part of this book for me. But what really stood out was that Donoghue made Jack a very normal five year old. He was in no way a prodigy or wise beyond his years. Instead, we were given access to the routine-oriented rigidity of a five year old. The description of Jack's life inside of Room was interesting - with his routines and his properly named personified objects and his perceptions of events that were much darker than he could understand. However, what made the book was his perception of the world following his rescue and his adjustment to the world outside.

My only objection was the occasional detour into preachy land - Jack notes how tired adults are in the outside world and how they don't have enough time to spend with their kids and I wonder what the author's trying to imply? That women would be happier if they were locked in a room with nothing to do other than play with their kids? I don't think that's her point, but it comes uncomfortably close to reading that way.

I'd give this 2.5 stars.
The good: Interesting subject matter, I couldn't put this book down.
The bad: So much potential was skipped over in favour of keeping the plot moving. I feel like the book was overly focused on the ‘what' (events happening during the course of the book) and not the ‘why' (psychological aspects and character exploration).

I found this book challenging in a number of ways. The empathy I felt for both the narrator and his victim mother left me emotionally rung out through most of the book. As observed by others, the author often attributed to the 5 year old narrator more adult comprehension about his circumstances. I really did like the book and have recommended to many people.

re-reading a favourite can be a hit or miss, you either don't like it as much as the first time or like it just the same
but this book was 10000x times better the second time. This has always been a 5 star book to me but its been 5 years since I read it and i wanted to re-fresh myself on this story (even though this is a book I remember every detail from and ive watched the movie a couple million times)

this is the only book that had me nervous, so nervous that I had to put the book down. I knew what was going to happen but my heart still hammered in my chest.

I was hearing a lot of good things about the film Room staring the ever so beautiful Brie Larson. I saw the film and was excited to read the book. The book and film have generated a lot of buzz so I am sure every one knows what it's about. Jack and his mother are kept in a room by a gross man only known as Old Nick. Jack doesn't know anything else about the outside world. Everything in Room is his world. Even though he watches small amounts of TV, he believes everything he sees is pretend, which was told to him by Ma. The film is told from Jack's perspective and so is the book, and I think the movie is better at portraying the story that way.

Since the novel was narrated by Jack it took away something from it. It watered down what an awesome depressing book it could have been. I couldn't relate to 5 year old Jack and sometimes I couldn't stand him. I am trying not to give away too many spoilers but there is one event towards the very end of the book that really made me dislike Jack. Him and his mother are in this independent living facility and Jack is carrying around “Rug” from “Room” a dirty rug that he was born on and gives his mom a hard time about everything. I understand he's adjusting but he just irritates me.

Since everything is seen through Jacks eyes certain things that would be mind blowing were kind of dumb downed if that makes sense. All the trauma that him and his mother go through we see through Jack and how hes confused about it all. The story isn't bad and I do recommend it (I stayed up all night reading it), I just wished it was told by Ma and not Jack.

Also a side note, the book is available online for free, you just have to do some google searches.

I was expecting the entirety of this story to take place in the room, with maybe a rescue at the very end. Instead, it does a brilliant thing by having the escape less than halfway through the book and then dealing with the much more interesting implications of adapting back into society when your entire worldview up until then has consisted of a 11x11 foot shed.

It definitely kept me reading in long stretches and I always wanted to see what would happen next.

I really can't tell if this book is good or horrible. Reading it felt like watching trashy television news. After a while I lost patience with the five year old narrator's voice & just wanted to know what happened. I did like the Ma character a lot. I do not recommend it for anyone under stress or in any vulnerable state.

The subject matter made my skin crawl, but this was very, very good.

I think I need to read other books by this author.

Not sure what I think of this book. It was a good story and the fact that it was told through a child's narrative let you see some things I think you wouldn't have seen from an adult's point of view. However, the child's narrative gets a bit old, fast, even when listening. I imagine it would be that much more tiring to read. A creatively told story, but not a fav of mine.

“Room is a book to read in one sitting. When it's over you look up: the world looks the same but you are somehow different and that feeling lingers for days.”

I totally agree with this quote, which is stated on the book/author's home page. It makes you think about what we take for granted and makes you look at the world through different eyes. I loved the journey this book took me on.

Everytime we hear about teenage girls being kidnapped and having a child during that time we always hear the POV of the girl but not of the child. It was heartbreaking and at times anger was building up especially since this situation happens all the time. Now I have to see the movie.

I LOVED this book! Who knew narration of a 5 year old could be so insightful. Jack makes some very keen observations as he struggles to come to terms with the strange Outside. Read it!

I don't think I've struggled so much for a 300 page novel.
This novel could do without the final 150 pages.

Excellent read, told from the point of view of a five year old that's spent his whole life in captivity with his 26 year old mother. The story itself was very sad, but there were also several things about the story that bugged me and kept me from giving a five star rating:

1.) We never get to know Ma's real name. I think finding out her real name would've let us “know” her character more.
2.) We never find out why “Old Nick” takes Ma in the first place, only that he kidnapped her when she was nineteen. A little bit more backstory about that would've been interesting.
3.) Having some of the story told from Ma's point of view would have been interesting, too.
4.) The constant breastfeeding was annoying. “Having some” every other page got old. We got the point after the first few times: he was five and still breastfed. It was their thing. Same thing with Tooth. We got it. Tooth was kind of gross.

All in all though, it was a good, quick read.

As I read the first sections of the book I was obsessive! There was an evening when to my shock I checked the time due to my persistent yawning and discovered it was 4 AM. The author was able to draw a perfect picture of the surroundings, circumstance and the characters within the novel. Not only could I imagine these people but I understood their feelings and thoughts. I loved that this book was about the people and not their traumatic events. There were however a few downfalls which lowered my rating to 3 stars. Throughout the novel there Jack adopts a “baby talk” way of labelling items that I found incongruent with his other verbal skills as highlighted within the story. Unfortunately somewhere along the line the page turning slowed and my interest wavered. I cannot put my finger on why the pace of the novel declined. I wish that I could have remained as engaged with the last third of the story as I was with the beginning. I had the luxury of watching the film this evening as well. Much like the book I truly applauded some elements and disliked some choices that were made. The habit of labelling items that I found so annoying on the written page translated beautifully in the screen version and made perfect sense. Perhaps Emma Donoghue envisioned it that way all along. Definitely a book worth investigating and an author I will look for again.

3.5

i watched the movie LONG before i even bought the book (something like 3+ years) but the book gave me just as many chills as the movie did. i didn't realize it would be completely through jack's pov and that was one of my favorite things about it. the super intense scenes had my heart racing even though i knew what was going to happen. AHHHHHHHHH

I read “Room” based on a recommendation from a friend. I wasn't expecting to like it, based on reviews I had seen. To my pleased surprise, it was one of the best books I've read in years.
The plot is simple: a young woman is abducted, locked in a room where she is repeatedly raped, gives birth, and tries to escape. But the story is told from the viewpoint of her 5 year old son. And that is where the beauty of the story develops; what seems totally illogical and unbelievable to an adult is accepted without question by a 5 year old. The parenting choices the mother makes would seem, at best, odd, in the normal world. But in the confines of a 10 by 10 room which is their whole world, they are understandable and in the best interests of the child.
The book illustrates the boundless love of a mother for her child, and yet she commits an act of unalloyed selfishness. The little boy is a typical child who doesn't question anything told him by an adult, who starts to question everything.
The book left me wondering what happens to these characters in the future.

I gave this book 3 stars, but I'm not really sure it's worth that many. The beginning was AWFUL to me. I understand that the kid is 5, but the choice of words was annoying the f out of me. I was ready to drop it.

I must admit that it gets better though. I'm not sure if it's because I got used to the way he talks, but the narration wasn't as PAINFUL.

I feel like there are a lot of things left unfinished. I really think it would've been better if we'd read this from the mother's perspective.

I guess I can see why it was acclaimed by the critics, but idk. For me it wasn't that well done.

I think that it's kind of ironic that at some point the mother says : “You think we should sell ourselves before someone else does?” (referencing to writing a book) when it's EXACTLY what the author did. This book was based on a similar case (Fritzl) that happened in Australia. It kinda bothered me. idk why.

The ending is rushed. The mother's recovery is unrealistic. and I feel like the reaction/attitude of the mother's family is WRONG WRONG WRONG. Nobody would be this “passive”.

Moving. Absolutely moving. Correctly described as “devastatingly uplifting”.

My heart ached and jumped for little hero, Jack. Ma's strength, faith and determination are beyond comprehension and I love her so dearly for it all.

I absolutely love the choice that this came from Jacks point of view. I'm so moved and glad I finally came to read this book almost 5 years after I first heard about it.

I'd recommend this book to anyone willing to read, however, Donoghue has done herself so much justice, I'd only recommend reading if you can be as scave as Jack can.

Room is my favourite book!! It makes you feel every emotion and you get to dive into how two individuals experience trauma differently yet they still understand what has happened to them and get to share that experience with each other, which not many who experience trauma get to do. As this a story about a mother and her son, the reader learns how a mother's love and desperation to give her child the childhood he deserves can sometimes be the only way to survive.

The author has mastered the voice of Jack brilliantly in the sense that his character thinks and acts like any child would if they had experienced trauma of that extent.

Written from a 5 year old's point of view, this could have been really terrible. However, I think it just about works. What let it down for me was the overall pace. Given that it was told from the young boy's point of view, there was a lack of detail, which felt right for the narrative but as a result, the book seemed over-long. This would have made a great short story. By stretching to a full novel, I felt that it became somewhat diluted and lost some of the powerful punch that it could have wielded.

This book wasn't perfect. Some elements of jacks character wasn't utterly convincing of a 5 year old child whether imprisoned his whole life or not. However Emma Donoghue created a world in which you embraced and succumbed to the story and jacks journey regardless of accuracy. You followed jack along the entire story (it was all written from jacks point of view) and you wanted to believe in him. Believe in ma. Believe in hope and a brighter future for them both. I won't spoil the plot for you but I will say I found it refreshing that Donoghue didn't focus her plot entirely on the imprisonment of jack and her ma. She managed to give us a more complete story. A more realistic journey to freedom. It was also very fast paced and easy to read so I raced through this book. I reiterate it wasn't a perfect polished kind of book but it was a damn enjoyable read and I loved its imperfections and the characters of ma and jack. Although truth be told I am beyond relieved that ma finally stopped ‘giving him some' and he managed to lose that manky tooth?! Aren't you?!!

I only marked it as dnf because I watched the movie and I can't read a book once I've watched the movie 😅