Room

Room

By Emma Donoghue

This is the story of five-year-old Jack and his mom. They play together, they eat together, they read together, they do everything together… everything. There is no privacy. There is no personal time. There is nothing but Jack, his mom, and the room that they live in.

Yes, I said “the room that they live in.” Singular.

Jack’s whole life has been spent with his mother in one room with no windows, no telephone, no outside, no visitors other than the mysterious man who visits late at night, has sex with the mom, is never allowed to see or speak to Jack, and then is gone by morning.

Here is a bit from a review from Amazon.com: “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.”

Even though I already knew that Room was not what Jack thought it was, I was surprised by the tension of the plot and the insight into how a child born in such a situation would view his existence.

I was afraid for them, angry for them, compassionate for them… I didn’t know what was going to happen and had never really considered what it must be like, not only for real women held in captivity who bear the children of their prisoner, but also for the children who know nothing different.

Were there moments that were melodramatic? Yes. I can’t give details as I don’t want to spoil the plot. Were there aspects that seemed unnecessary? YES. Every time Jack went to breast feed, I felt immensely uncomfortable and wanted to take a shower. Were there details that were unrealistic? Oh yes. Several, but, again for the sake of not spoiling the plot, I was annoyed at all of the world knowledge that this mother has and it able to teach her son. She was kidnapped at 19 and seemed to have a knowledge-set far beyond her years.

But maybe I’m just being picky. But when has that ever happened before?

I enjoyed this book quite a bit, it was a new narrative from a new perspective. I found myself feeling a bit jealous that Donoghue thought of it first, which seems like a good sign to me.

Read it but know that breastfeeding of five-year-old children is going to happen and it will make you want to clean yourself immediately.