Wednesday, October 20, 2010

ROOM

Author: Emma Donoghue
Genre: Fiction
Publication Date: September 13, 2010
Age Range: Adult
Pages:  321
Date Scoot Read: October 2010
Source
: Hardcover

Scoot's Rating:
9-  Great read! Couldn’t put it down.

Synopsis (via Goodreads)
:
To five-year-old Jack, Room is the entire world. It is where he was born and grew up; it's where he lives with his Ma as they learn and read and eat and sleep and play. 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 is the prison where Old Nick has held her captive for seven years. Through determination, ingenuity, and fierce motherly love, Ma has created a life for Jack. But she knows it's not enough...not for her or for him. She devises a bold escape plan, one that relies on her young son's bravery and a lot of luck. What she does not realize is just how unprepared she is for the plan to actually work.

Told entirely in the language of the energetic, pragmatic five-year-old Jack, ROOM is a celebration of resilience and the limitless bond between parent and child, a brilliantly executed novel about what it means to journey from one world to another.

Scoot’s Review:
From an extremely unique perspective, ROOM is a story told entirely from a five-year old boy’s point of view.  Jack has only ever known ROOM, where he was literally born on the floor two years after his mother was kidnapped as a teenager.  I found this book intensely interesting.  It was captivating trying to first solve the mystery of what in the world was going on with the limited perspective, and second trying to find a solution to the obvious problem of Ma and Jack being trapped in ROOM.  Jack is very intelligent, but has such a limited understanding of the world because his entire life revolves around an 11x11 space.  Fast-paced sequences from Jack’s perspective were intriguing to follow as you attempt to interpret what he was witnessing.  I have never read story quite like this, and highly recommend it.  ROOM is all at once heartbreaking, and full of hope.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

I so need to read this! My boss (and other people at work who've read it) all rave about this book. Hmm...

Rebecca Chapman said...

Wow, that sounds absolutely fascinating from a psychologic perspective and unique from a narrative perspective (the young boys perspective to be precise). I am definitely keen to prioritise this book now

redhead said...

great review! I've been hearing nothing but good things about ROOM, can't wait to read it!

Liz said...

Great review! I just got this book for my mother for her birthday, so I can't wait to read it once she's done with it.

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