The Book: Room, by Emma Donoghue
The Story: Jack was born in a 12×12 room. He’s 5 now and has lived in that room his whole life, never leaving. His mom is there to keep him company and keep him healthy, but other than that he has never had any contact with the outside world. One day, he starts asking the right questions and his mom starts answering them… and Jack wants to leave.
I’m not going to tell you anymore because I don’t want to spoil it! I went into this book pretty blind and I want you to too!
What I Thought: Julie at Book Hooked read this about 100 years ago and I was way, way intrigued. Then it got really popular and I was, you know, still intrigued. When Shaun got me my very own copy for my birthday I was thrilled out of my mind.
Then I started reading and I was like, “uh, what?” because let’s be honest: this is not a literary masterpiece. The voice is (intentionally) annoying. The pacing is kind of eh. You know. Nothing amazing.
Then I kept reading… and here’s what got me: this is a totally unique story. This is a totally unique voice. The idea of having been in a 12×12 room for your whole life and having your whole idea of the world come from your mom and from limited TV time? That’s so frigging intriguing! Then telling that story through the eyes of a 5 year old? Genius.
Books only come along every so often that I think about long after I’m done reading them. This one did that for sure. I am not really all the way sure how the author put herself in that place, but oh she did it. It was just so dang CONVINCING.
I thought that it slowed down towards the end, but to be honest it didn’t bother me too too much. I really felt invested in the characters and really wanted to see what was going to happen.
Hollywood, if you don’t have a movie in the works yet, you are stupid. This would make an awesome movie. Awesome. There ya go.
Conclusion: Read this. It isn’t the best written book ever but it will make you think like very few other books that are being written right now.
4 Comments
I am still on the fence for this one but the way you feel is how I thought of it but maybe without feeling that invested. I am intrigued though.
I too loved this book. The idea and story was so original, and reading through the innocence of a child was so breathtaking. I didn’t think it was so annoying as it was, intriguing. It reminded me of listening to my nieces telling me stories. I was hooked the whole time.
I read this book earlier this year, and posted a review on my blog last month. I loved this book. I agree, at first reading through Jack’s voice was a little strange, but I came to love him, and this book because of it. While the story was slow in patches, I found myself still unable to put it down, because the story was so original, I just had to find out what was going to happen. If you have a chance, feel free to check out my blog. Thanks for reviewing Room
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Alisa @ the Novel Nook
I loved Room too. I actually thought it was well written, no as in literary greatness but Jack’s voice was very convincing