Have you ever picked up a book without knowing what it was about it? Have you ever had a friend recommend something, and trusted them so completely that you don’t ask questions?
Have you ever picked up a book and held no expectations about what that book will contain, only to have it totally and completely blow your mind?
I have. This is that book.
—
Room / Emma Donoghue
(Picador, 2010)
Jack is five, and excited about his birthday. He lives with his Ma in Room, which has a locked door and a skylight, and measures eleven feet by eleven feet. He loves watching TV, and the cartoon characters he calls friends, but he knows that nothing he sees on screen is truly real – only him, Ma and the things in Room. Until the day Ma admits that there’s a world outside…
A friend sent me a list of books that she thought I should read, and I’m slowly working my way through them. Three weeks ago, I started Elizabeth Gilbert’s The Signature of All Things, and ten days later I finished it. It was a good read, with truly brilliant moments in it, but I have to admit that overall I found it a bit of a slog.
The morning I put the book down for the last time, I picked up Room. I’d finished it by lunchtime.
Room is a conundrum. I thought the five-year-old narration of Jack would grate on me by the midpoint of the book, but it never did. Jack’s inner monologue throughout the book allows the events to unfold before your eyes. It removes the third person newsreader feeling. It removes the over-the-top emotive descriptions we get from older narrators penned by other writers.
It delivers blunt, childlike thoughts that are no less beautiful for their bluntness. We simultaneously feel innocent like Jack and dismayed by his innocence as events unfold. We want to wrap him up in cottonwool and shake him out of his naivety.
Forgive the ‘book review’ that doesn’t actually say anything. I don’t do spoilers, and this is a tough book to review without giving spoilers. So I’ll dive straight into the standout lines.
- I was four last night going to sleep in Wardrobe, but when I wake up in Bed in the dark I’m changed to five, abracadabra.
- Ma knows everything except the things she doesn’t remember right, or sometimes she says I’m too young for her to explain a thing.
- Today is one of the days when Ma is Gone. She won’t wake up properly. She’s here but not really. She stays in Bed with the pillows on her head.
- How can TV be pictures of real things? I think about them all floating around in Outside Space outside the walls, the couch and the necklaces and the bread and the killers and the airplanes and all the shes and hes, the boxers and the man with one leg and the puffy-hair woman, they’re floating past Skylight.
- Ma twists her mouth. “He thinks we’re things that belong to him, because Room does.”
- Near the start, there’s two words I never saw before, Ma says they’re her names like TV persons have, what everybody in Outside used to call her, it’s only me who says Ma.
These are the standout lines from early in the book. Like I said, no spoilers. But you can read plenty more standout lines when you read the book. Because you should read this book.
Thank you (and congratulations) for sending this book out into the world, Emma Donoghue. Highly recommended for anyone and everyone. You can purchase this book from Booktopia here (where it’s 37% off at the time of publishing), or from Book Depository here (where it’s 41% off at the time of publishing).
Have you read Room? What did you think?
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Sounds very, very interesting. It brings to mind a film called Bad Boy Bubby, though…. Which isn’t a bad thing at all. Interesting!
It is actually eerily similar in many ways to the Jaycee Dugard story. This was one of those books that actually haunted me. I couldn’t stop thinking about it once I was finished.
Me neither. So tempted to point out a few things I’m still thinking over but that would be spoilerific. Might shoot you an email!
It is SO SO interesting. I’m still thinking through it!
I’ve had a lot of those moments recently. The last three books I’ve read were given to me and I had no clue, no expectations and no idea the journeys I was about to go on. LOVED ALL OF THEM!
Ooh, I want to know what they are!
I didn’t love room, but we did it for book club and the group had a few that did like it. We’d just done The Collector so I think that overshadowed it. (I loved the Magus so was a little disappointed in the Collector – picky, picky me!) LOVED The Magus. (But people really hated that)
I didn’t love room, but we did it for book club and the group had a few that did like it. We’d just done The Collector so I think that overshadowed it. (I loved the Magus so was a little disappointed in the Collector – picky, picky me!) LOVED The Magus. (But people really hated that)
And just like that, The Collector is on my list! And The Magus. Thanks Lydia!
I LOVED this book. I rarely see movies based on books I’ve read but will probably see this one. I just hope they nail the casting cos that’s all-important in this case.
This is one of my fave books of all time. I reviewed it on my blog a couple of years ago and likened last year’s release by Aussie author Brooke Davis (Lost & Found) to it. Brooke really nails the voice of the young girl in L&F.
Deb
It’s a movie?! I am DEFINITELY going to see that! I hope they don’t change too much. It will be interesting to see how they maintain the five-year-old narration, or if they just tell it straight.
I loved the writing in L&F but didn’t extend that love to the actual story. But yes, Davis absolutely nailed the voice. Thanks for the comparison – it hadn’t occurred to me.
This definitely sounds like something I’d like to read – I have put it on the suggestion list for my book club!
It’d be a great book club book! So much to discuss.
Oh wow. It sounds awesome. I’ll add it to my list. I’ve just started The Girl on the Train so I’m kinda busy right now:-)
How are you finding it? I wasn’t that impressed. But it’d been built up so hugely that maybe it was a case of expectations being too high.
No but it’s on my yellow note of books to read list now! x
Hooray! Will be keen to hear what you think.
I loved this book too and it had a big impact on me. While I loved hearing from Jack, my heart broke for his young Mum. I thought the confusion and complexity of everything was captured beautifully. x
Thanks Vanessa, and thanks so much for sharing the link. Totally agree – again trying not to do spoilers, but there were moments your heart broke for both of them at the same time but for very different reasons.
I loved this book Em. When I heard about it I didn’t think I would be able to read it. I think Emma Donahue did an incredible job of describing this hideous situation and also the repercussions of it once it was “resolved”. Bron
I agree. One of my favourite moments (as in, it was horrible but was so important in the book) which I won’t elaborate on because of the spoileriness involved fuzzy hair. Is that clear as mud for you? Hopefully you know what I mean!
Thanks for reminding me this has been sitting on my shelf for like, a year, and i haven’t picked it up yet! Thanks for no spoilers too haha xx
Oh wow, I hope you’ve now read it! Would be super keen to hear your thoughts.
I love those sentences that you’ve picked. I definitely need to read them now. Thank you. xx
Thanks for reading the review! Glad you liked it, and can’t wait to hear what you think of the book. x