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Loading... Room: A Novel (original 2010; edition 2011)by Emma Donoghue
Work detailsRoom by Emma Donoghue (2010)
I avoided starting this one for a while even though the book club meeting that I'm reading it for is approaching...and then I read it all in one sitting today. I think I even forgot to eat dinner. Go figure. The subject matter is depressing as hell, but still manages to be touching and even funny at times. I especially appreciated that it was told from a kid's point of view, but completely avoided being oh-so-precious and precocious (I'm looking at you, Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, and I admit I only saw the movie version but will never, ever read it even if threatened at gunpoint). (  ) BrookeAshley | May 23, 2013 |  I didn't see how this novel could be pulled off. I couldn't imagine what would be interesting, beyond the stereotypical horror at an inhuman act. I was so wrong! Wonderful book. I can't shake the simple, straight-forward bravery of the characters out of my mind. ( ) arlongworth | May 22, 2013 | Audio - and I'm kind of wishing the main character didn't sound so much like Lisa Simpson. I wish I'd read this one with my eyes instead of with my ears. I think it might have been good to be able to slow down in some parts and pick up speed in others. In all, it was pretty terrific, but I was about one description of Swiper Swiping stuff on a Dora episode before turning the whole thing off. In a lot of ways, the character of the mother defied traditional captive-narrative mores. I was also struck by the creepiness of the before/after descriptions of the characters in the media. ( ) usefuljack | May 17, 2013 | Audio - and I'm kind of wishing the main character didn't sound so much like Lisa Simpson. I wish I'd read this one with my eyes instead of with my ears. I think it might have been good to be able to slow down in some parts and pick up speed in others. In all, it was pretty terrific, but I was about one description of Swiper Swiping stuff on a Dora episode before turning the whole thing off. In a lot of ways, the character of the mother defied traditional captive-narrative mores. I was also struck by the creepiness of the before/after descriptions of the characters in the media. ( ) usefuljack | May 17, 2013 | While I stayed engaged through the entire novel, I closed the back cover feeling cheated--and maybe even violated. The first half hooked me because the main characters are prisoners of a sadistic man, and I had to keep reading because I cared about their well-being even if I didn't at all care for the story. During the second half I read to learn how they recover, but I felt very much like the paparazzi the book disparages. In the end, the love between mother and son triumphs despite severe abuse. Okay, that's fine. But, really, I'd like something more from a book. (  )1  ElizabethAndrew | May 13, 2013 |
Room is disturbing, thrilling, and emotionally compelling. Emma Donoghue has produced a novel that is sure to stay in the minds of readers for years to come. This is a truly memorable novel, one that can be read through myriad lenses — psychological, sociological, political. It presents an utterly unique way to talk about love, all the while giving us a fresh, expansive eye on the world in which we live. the book’s second half is less effective than its first. Perhaps this is inevitable given the changed circumstances of the protagonists. The walls that enclosed them also intensified their drama.  Wrenching, as befits the grim subject matter, but also tender, touching and at times unexpectedly funny. Donoghue's great strength -- apart from her storytelling gift -- is her emotional intelligence. We get just enough information to feel uncomfortable -- and therefore, to question our assumptions about how family life ought to be; and to know that life will always be an unequal struggle.
Amazon.com Amazon.com Review (ISBN 0316098337, Hardcover)Amazon Best of the Month, September 2010: In many ways, Jack is a typical 5-year-old. He likes to read books, watch TV, and play games with his Ma. But Jack is different in a big way--he has lived his entire life in a single room, sharing the tiny space with only his mother and an unnerving nighttime visitor known as Old Nick. For Jack, Room is the only world he knows, but for Ma, it is a prison in which she has tried to craft a normal life for her son. When their insular world suddenly expands beyond the confines of their four walls, the consequences are piercing and extraordinary. Despite its profoundly disturbing premise, Emma Donoghue's Room is rife with moments of hope and beauty, and the dogged determination to live, even in the most desolate circumstances. A stunning and original novel of survival in captivity, readers who enter Room will leave staggered, as though, like Jack, they are seeing the world for the very first time. --Lynette Mong(retrieved from Amazon Thu, 14 Feb 2013 13:36:52 -0500) A five-year-old narrates a story about his life growing up in a single room where his mother aims to protect him from the man who has held her prisoner for seven years since she was a teenager. (summary from another edition) |
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