Room by Emma Donoghue

Room (London: Picador; Toronto: HarperCollins Canada; New York: Little Brown, 2010), Emma Donoghue's Man-Booker-shortlisted seventh novel, is the story of a five-year-old called Jack, who lives in a single room with his Ma and has never been outside. When he turns five, he starts to ask questions, and his mother reveals to him that there is a world beyond the walls. Told entirely in Jack’s voice, Room is no horror story or tearjerker, but a celebration of resilience and the love between parent and child.

An international bestseller as soon as it was published in August 2010, Room has now sold well over two million copies. It won the Hughes & Hughes Irish Novel of the Year, the Rogers Writers’ Trust Fiction Prize (for best Canadian novel), the Commonwealth Prize (Canada & Carribbean Region), the Canadian Booksellers’ Association Libris Awards (Fiction Book and Author of the Year), the Forest of Reading Evergreen Award, the W. H. Smith Paperback of the Year Award and the University of Canberra Book of the Year. It was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize, the Orange Prize, the Kerry Group Irish Fiction Award, International Author of the Year (Galaxy National Book Awards), the Governor General’s Award and the Trillium English Book Award. The American Library Association gave it an Alex Award (for an adult book with special appeal to readers 12-18) and the Indie Choice Award for Adult Fiction. The Canadian Library Association named it as an Honour Book in their Canadian Young Adult Book Award. The four-voiced audiobook version won one of three Publishers Weekly Listen Up Awards and an Earphones Award. The New York Times named it as one of their six best fiction titles of 2010 and the Washington Post included it in their Editors’ Top Ten. Room was also winner of a Salon Book Award for Fiction, an NPR Best Book of 2010, a New Yorker Reviewers’ Favorite, Bloomberg’s 2010 Top Novel, The Week Magazine’s Top Book 2010, and featured on many ‘best of the year’ lists including those of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch and the Christian Science Monitor. Room was Amazon.ca and Indigo’s Best Book (as well as a Heather’s Pick) of 2010, fiction winner of the Goodreads Choice Awards, Top Pick of the Channel 4 TV Book Club, and also chosen by the Richard & Judy Book Club. Room was chosen as one of twenty-five titles to be given away by tens of thousands on World Book Night UK 2012. ([source][1]) [1]: https://www.emmadonoghue.com/books/novels/room-the-novel.html

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.

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.