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Room: A Novel Paperback – September 29, 2015
To five-year-old-Jack, Room is the world. . . . It's where he was born, it's where he and his Ma eat and sleep and play and learn. 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's the prison where she has been held for seven years. Through her fierce love for her son, she has created a life for him in this eleven-by-eleven-foot space. But with Jack's curiosity building alongside her own desperation, she knows that Room cannot contain either much longer.
Room is a tale at once shocking, riveting, exhilarating -- a story of unconquerable love in harrowing circumstances, and of the diamond-hard bond between a mother and her child.
- Print length384 pages
- LanguageEnglish
- PublisherLittle, Brown and Company
- Publication dateSeptember 29, 2015
- Dimensions4 x 1 x 6 inches
- ISBN-100316268356
- ISBN-13978-0316268356
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Editorial Reviews
About the Author
She is best known for her novels, which range from the historical (Frog Music, Slammerkin, Life Mask, Landing, The Sealed Letter) to the contemporary (Akin, Stir-Fry, Hood, Landing). Her international bestseller Room was a New York Times Best Book of 2010 and was a finalist for the Man Booker, Commonwealth, and Orange Prizes.
Product details
- Publisher : Little, Brown and Company; Media tie-in edition (September 29, 2015)
- Language : English
- Paperback : 384 pages
- ISBN-10 : 0316268356
- ISBN-13 : 978-0316268356
- Item Weight : 1 pounds
- Dimensions : 4 x 1 x 6 inches
- Best Sellers Rank: #304,187 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #7,577 in Psychological Thrillers (Books)
- #17,444 in Literary Fiction (Books)
- #20,397 in Suspense Thrillers
- Customer Reviews:
About the author
Born in Dublin in 1969, Emma Donoghue is a writer of contemporary and historical fiction whose novels include the international bestseller "Room" (her screen adaptation was nominated for four Oscars), "Frog Music", "Slammerkin," "The Sealed Letter," "Landing," "Life Mask," "Hood," and "Stirfry." Her story collections are "Astray", "The Woman Who Gave Birth to Rabbits," "Kissing the Witch," and "Touchy Subjects." She also writes literary history, and plays for stage and radio. She lives in London, Ontario, with her partner and their two children.
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We meet Jack on his fifth birthday and through his eyes we watch how he and Ma survive - by playing, singing, reading, talking, and most of all, from keeping Old Nick, their captor, from getting angry. Jack and Ma live in a tiny world with routines and habits, and for Jack, it is how the world is suppose to be. But when a series of events occur that changes everything, Jack and Ma must adjust and learn a new way to cope. So few books have created such a powerful character we can completely and utterly engage with, yet who provides us with a brilliant study in dichotomies. Given a different set of circumstances, Jack would be just a boy who, readers would abandon soon enough, but Jack's story, horrifying and uplifting, simple and complex, made it near impossible to turn away and put the book down.
Despite the potential pitfalls of such a young narrator, Donoghue makes it work brilliantly. Donoghue manages to balance the voice with keeping the story moving, preventing the reading from become bored with the perspective of a young child. Because Jack is safely inside the wardrobe when Old Nick comes at night, the focus is rarely on the kidnapper. Instead, the reader comes to understand the intensity of the relationship between Jack and Ma - they depend on one another for their survival – and see the effects of long term isolation - physical, mental, and emotional, on both of them. Perhaps most interestingly, we come to understand Ma's choices through his descriptions because we can understand the emotions and implications of the events even if the narrator cannot. There is an underlying horror at the conditions they face and the reality of the situation Ma is in, but it is softened because Jack has no frame of reference for it and does not comprehend all that happens around him. That he can cope is something of a miracle and a testament to our capacity to adapt.
Room is emotionally powerful and pushes us to rethink how we might respond to such circumstances. There is a moment that Donoghue could have left us with a simpler, happy-ever-after story, but she pushes past that to really explore how experience shapes us, defines us, and ultimately the world around us. The simple language that belies the complexity of the topics - isolation, media, consumerism, family, celebrity status and so many others - is a testament to the brilliant writing of Donoghue and her determination to tell the stories of those normally dismissed because they are different.
This novel is the best I've read this year, deserves multiple rereads, and is now among my favorites. A brilliant work of literary art that defies its premise.
I think the author truly captured the perspective of a 5-year-old and how they would take in their world. Currently having a 5-year-old myself, I completely find the character believable.
The storyline is gripping being both heart warming and wrenching, along with bittersweet, traumatizing, beautiful, hopeful and cathartic.
Some people had difficulty with the language and I think one actually said "do five-year-olds really talk that way?" The answer: some do, especially if they have a mother who's been through an incredible emotional trauma as Jack's mother had. I think the language used was appropriate and added to the overall feel the book was trying to portray.
Another comment was that Jack went from being very simple to having deep, profound thoughts. Guess what? Kids have a tendency to be that way. I can remember a time when my nephew, all of 4-years-old, came right up to me and asked if I believed in God. I broke my answer down in very simple terms so that he could understand it, but the things he said back to me, which I could tell had not been spoon fed to him, were just amazing and I could not believe that we were having the conversation we had.
And yet another comment went on to say that the book didn't delve into the happenings enough (i.e. the abduction, Old Nick, etc.). How many 5-year-olds do you know that fully grasp the gravity of everything that goes on around them? That's part of the point. Jack doesn't realize everything. His world is Room and Ma and all the things they use to occupy their time. His mother is doing the best she can to establish a "normal" for him and explain the "good" even though they are in a truly bad - very bad - situation. The fact that Jack never really fully grasped that is amazing.
A very interesting thing I realized was that, halfway through the book, the only character's name I knew was Jack's. There are only a couple characters whose names we really learn, showing how a kid may think of the people around them (my 5-year-old just put two and two together that my first name really isn't "mom", but that's just what he calls me).
The mother in the book is an incredible character. The things she endures, the way she teaches her child to "handle" it, and the breakdowns she has along the way just make your heart hurt for her. What people have to remember is that this woman was really just a child when she was taken, and virtually a child when she had him. I think that considering the circumstances, she showed incredible strength and endurance.
I really loved the interaction Jack had with his grandmother and Steppa, especially Steppa since he's really the first positive male influence he's had. Bronwyn sounds like she needs a few more time outs, though, and Jack himself appears to need some socialization therapy. Again, mentioned in the book but not fully discussed, but who would discuss that with a child his age?
The one issue I had with the book was that the language was more in "British" English than "American" English even though the story took place in America. I understand that the author is Irish and this is probably a big reason why. I can't say I would do any better writing about something happening in Ireland. Not a huge deal - still beautifully written - just something that kind of kept me from giving it 5 stars. That, and the ending seemed a bit flat for me (however, not sure what I really expected). It definitely gave the reader closure, though, which I truly appreciate.
Top reviews from other countries
I wrote to Emma Donoghue to convey my absolute fascination with the book. And she replied!
Then I said I had to have my own copy of the book. Have been dipping into it as and when I have time. I open the book on any page and continue.
I have started translating it in my mother tongue. It is difficult to translate it but very absorbing.
Buy a copy before it goes out of print.