My Rating: 5/5 stars
Emma Donoghue’s Room tells the story of a 5-year-old named Jack and his beloved Ma. When she was 19, Ma was kidnapped, and since then her captor, whom Jack refers to as Old Nick, has kept her locked in a small shed in his backyard. Jack was born in this shed, and has spent every minute of his life since within its four walls. Ma, in an attempt to keep Jack from being upset over everything he’s missing out on, has instead chosen to tell Jack that Room is the entire universe, and what they see on television isn’t actually real.
First and foremost, I was absolutely astounded by this book. When I picked it up I wasn’t planning on actually reading it right away, as my stack of unread books is easily taller than myself. I went to scan the first page, however, and then next thing I knew it was 1:30 in the morning and I was 150 pages in. When I woke up the next day I immediately went back to reading and was finished by noon.
I think, for me, what makes Room so incredible and captivating is the fact that it has Jack as its narrator. A 5-year-old narrator could easily be irritating and tedious, and, admittedly, there were points in Room when that was the case. In fact, from the other reviews I’ve read, Jack still was overly grating to some people, and that turned them off to the book completely. I, however, really enjoyed it. There were times when Jack’s description of Room and their daily activities were fairly repetitive and boring, but if anything I felt that only worked to help me understand just a little bit of what Room must feel like for Ma. Most of the time, however, I felt Jack served as an incredibly unique perspective on some very dark themes.
Its hard to express most of my feelings about Room without getting into spoiler territory, but overall, I found Room to be sweet and sad and stressful and every other emotion in between. It’s been a long time since I’ve been so enamored with a book that I’ve needed to read it straight through, and that in itself is the reason I gave it 5 stars. Getting that hooked on a book is the best experience in the world, and I’m so grateful for Room letting me feel that way.
My Bookish Brain 