ROOM by Emma Donoghue

By Annie on Aug 30, 2010 | Add a Comment

You read it, you love it so you write about it.  I am beginning to really like the sound of that.  So here is a peek review of an amazing novel that comes out on September 13, 2010.

ROOM by Emma Donoghue is precise and exquisite. Layer by layer, in single sentences interspersed throughout the brilliant novel, ROOM tells you the story of 5 year old Jack whose only world is an 11 x 11 sealed and locked room where he lives with his mother, Ma.  Abducted when she was 19 and held hostage by Old Nick, Ma raises Jack as best she can under circumstances that are horrific to the outside world.  Yet, Jack knows no difference.  His world is this one room and to him it is very safe.  Dora the Explorer on the TV is a real person to him, by Ma doesn't allow them to watch too much TV in fear that their brains will turn to mush.  Jack has never been outside this room.  His mother's love is real and embracing and he does not feel the fear that she does each time Old Nick comes to visit in the nighttime and Jack has to hide in the wardrobe: "I always have to count till he makes that gaspy sound and stops."

Donoghue captures the voice of 5 year old Jack with perfection from the very first paragraph and continues flawlessly thoughout the entire book even when there are alternating voices towards to end.  With this powerful voice, Donoghue places the reader in the private world of Ma and Jack where the horror of their existence is ameliorated by Ma's love and protection.  As Nicola Barr writes in The Observer in London:  "In the hands of this audacious novelist, Jack's tale is more than a victim-and-survivor story: it works as a study of child development, shows the power of language and story telling, and is a kind of sustained poem in praise of motherhood and parental love."

I loved this book!  It is powerful, emotional with its ordinary story that is actually a mother's worst nightmare.  You will not be able to put ROOM down. This is a story that will stay with you for a long time.