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    Room
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    Room
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    Room
    Ebook135 pages1 hour

    Room

    By Emma Donoghue

    4/5

    ()

    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this ebook

    ‘I wait for his boots to drop. They fall on Floor, one thump, two thumps, that’s how I know he’s going to get into Bed with Ma now and make it squeak. I count the squeaks because I’m excellent at numbers. I have to count, I can’t lose count, if I lose count I don’t know what. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10…’

    Kidnapped as a teenage girl, Ma has been locked inside a purpose built room in her captor’s garden for seven years. Her five-year-old son, Jack, has no concept of the world outside and happily exists inside Room with the help of Ma’s games and his vivid imagination where objects like Rug, Lamp and TV are his only friends. But for Ma the time has come to escape and face their biggest challenge to date: the world outside Room.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherOberon Books
    Release dateMay 7, 2017
    ISBN9781786821775
    Unavailable
    Room
    Author

    Emma Donoghue

    Born in Dublin in 1969, and now living in Canada, Emma Donoghue writes fiction (novels and short stories, contemporary and historical including The Pull of the Stars), as well as drama for screen and stage. Room, was a New York Times Best Book of 2010 and a finalist for the Man Booker, Commonwealth, and Orange Prizes, selling between two and three million copies in forty languages. Donoghue was nominated for an Academy Award for her 2015 adaptation starring Brie Larson. She co-wrote the screenplay for the film of her novel The Wonder, starring Florence Pugh and distributed by Netflix.

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    Reviews for Room

    4/5

    5,107 ratings619 reviews

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    • 3/5
      i put it down for a long time in the middle. I found it a bit irritating once the novelty wore off but it redeemed itself in the end.
    • 4/5
      Hard getting started, repetitive in middle but had to read thru the end. A look at life, family and things from a different perspective. Not the very best book but a good, certainly worth the read.
    • 5/5
      Jackie lives in the Room with his mother. The Room and its contents are his world and he had no conception of life Outside. Jack's mother was kidnapped as a college student and kept in an outdoor shed for several years by her attacker, Old Nick. Jack is his son. As Jack turns 5, she realizes she must find a way out for Jack's sake. Jack, who has never been outside or talked to a person other than his mother, becomes the key to her escape plan. I didn't think I'd like this book, but I loved it and couldn't put it down.
    • 4/5
      Strange, sad and yet delightful.
    • 5/5
      One of the best books I've read this year; I had a hard time putting it down.
    • 5/5
      Gripping story of abduction and what comes after.
    • 4/5
      This is an unusual book but I am glad I picked it. Jack is 5 years old and lives with his Mum in 1 room, she was kidnapped 7 years ago by a horrible man known as old Nick.Jack only has his Mum, toys and TV he knows nothing of the outside world. Mum hatches a plan to get Jack out and call for help. Jack has to learn how to adapt to the big bad real world. Very moving and original book,
    • 3/5
      Very poignant.

      The writing style was remarkable really. It was written through the dialect of a five year old, and not only did it sound utterly convincing, it held the same traits of small children. The constant questions, the thinking before speaking and the constant wonder.

      I was definitely astounded by the thought that went into this novel. Ma and Jack were in this truly horrendous situation, yet Donoghue thought of many different methods to help them mentally escape "Room".

      It was very slow moving, but then again, I think that is what made the storyline so convincing, and almost real.
    • 5/5
      This book is narrated by 5 year old Jack son and lone companion of a young woman held prisoner in a locked shed by her abuser for 7 years. Despite the harrowing nature of the setting Jack's innocent acceptance of the situation and Ma's unflinching determination to protect him from 'Old Nick' make this perhaps the most moving story I have ever read.
    • 5/5
      An astonishing deployment of language that is deeply moving despite its obvious artifice.
    • 5/5
      A compelling story of a young woman and her son who are captives in a single room all of the child's life. Inanimate objects become friends and toys for the boy. Eerie tale a woman who was kidnapped and forced to be a sex slave for her captor for a number of years. Finally released she and her son are expected to live in the real world as if nothing had happened to them.
    • 3/5
      I had considered rating this a 4-star book, but decided on 3 stars due to it taking until literally 50% into the book to really catch my attention. Remembering the Fritzl case, I picked this title up as I felt this would be an interesting look into the situation from the eyes of a child victim. However, the beginning was just too slow to keep me interested and I almost stopped reading on several occasions.

      With that said, once I made it to the second half of the book, I was hooked. Unfortunately, I'm afraid that divulging more information would ruin the plot for those not aware of the outcome. Let's just say I was pleasantly surprised at the complex & psychological depth that evolved later.
    • 4/5
      For a book that takes place mostly in the confines of a small room and narrated by a small child, this book is actually much better than I would have anticipated. Like many others that I have spoken to after reading this book, I was anticipating something juvenile, boring, and incomprehensible but instead I received a startling look at the lives of a child and those around him, including his mother that has suffered so much in her life at the hands of her kidnapper and rapist.I had never actually heard about Emma Donoghue before picking up this book on my Kindle as one of my first Kindle reads, but reading her take on the life of a small child who has grown up and spent his entire life in one small room unknowing of the world outside was dramatic and even unnerving at times. Stuck inside this room, it has become his entire world, and over the course of the novel we see his evolution as he learns about the world outside and has to grow up and take charge at much too young an age.Yes, the writing did wear thin after awhile as we reached the end, but it was still a new and different approach to reading for me, especially since I am a vocal hater of first person literature. I was engaged throughout and couldn't put the book down until I had finished. With some attention issues, that's almost impossible for me. I enjoyed this book for the most part but won't give it five stars because I did find the prose to be unlikable by page 300 and the plot to be wandering off by the end, as well. Still, I would recommend Room to anyone in need of adventure and edge-of-your-seat thrills in a different package.
    • 5/5
      Room is, in my opinion, one of the best books of the year. Difficult to read, it grabs a hold of you while making contemplate almost everything you do as person who is a part of the world.The best part of this novel is the phenomenoal use of the narrator. Jack speaks to us just like any five year old would. In the very beginning, Jack explains that now he is five, next year he will be six, then seven. When he did this I heard my daughter’s voice, and I knew that Donoghue had done something amazing. She had regained childhood for all of us, and she had put us firmly inside his mind.I found the Ma character especially disturbing because of the excellent narrator. Unlike a lot of parents in fiction, Ma loves her son. She, in the beginning, does everything for Jack. But as the plot of the novel changes, I began to feel anger towards her as well. I am positive that this is a result of the narrator. Hearing the young boy’s voice in my head, made it my own. And although our lives are very different, I envisioned clearly how my daughter must feel when I can’t/won’t play, when she feels pushed aside, when grown up things take over.Fortunately the graphic elements of the book are hidden from Jack, and thus they are hidden from us. Truly the part that I felt was the most disturbing was that Ma still breast feed Jack at five. Donoghue focused on the characters in this experience, not the violence, and I was thrilled she made this choice. Ma and Jack were both wonderful, amazing characters.If you haven’t read Room yet you should. I guarantee it is not a book that you will ever forget.
    • 4/5
      Jack turns five years old in Room, the shed he's lived in with his mother since she was kidnapped and confined years before he was born. He's never known anything but Room and its contents, and he's only ever spoken with his mother.His perception is a fascinating thing to witness. As he's the protagonist, descriptions are entirely coloured by what he knows and doesn't know. For instance Outside, as far as he's concerned, exists only on TV. Despite this strangeness, some of Jack's descriptions can get dull: he plays, he tantrums, he wonders, he's a five year old boy. However, the transitions he goes through as the story moves on were compelling enough to keep me reading.The strangest thing about this book, however, and the biggest criticism I can make, is that it's an exploration of an idea... but that's all. We know this kind of thing really happens. We know children like Jack and women like his mother very likely exist. It's incredibly interesting to read about it, but since it isn't an autobiography, it felt almost like being entertained by a stranger's extended tragedy. I don't feel like I learned any more about the situation than I would have by imagining it myself. And although that's somewhat unfair for the author--after all, she did it in depth and with skill--it's just how I felt coming away from the book. It didn't teach me anything new.This is the perfect book for a book club.
    • 5/5
      Really really powerful. I read it in two days.

      Room is told from the point of view of Jack, a 5-year-old who has lived his entire life as a captive with his mother in an 11 x 11 room. Although Jack is exceptionally articulate, his diction reflects his age and social deficiencies.

      The early chapters of the book, as Jack describes daily life in the room (They eat, they bathe, they do "phys. ed," they watch just a little bit of TV, they have school), were creepy to me, but because of Jack's unique voice, they aren't as harrowing as they could be.

      Jack doesn't know what he's missing out there in the real world, and when he finds out, he still thinks he'd prefer life in Room with Ma.

      The premise is horrifying, but the story is hopeful.

    • 4/5
      Really interesting premise of a young child being raised by a girl/woman who had been kept in captivity for many years. The boy's character was really well developed, as was the world of "Room". The other characters left me wanting more, but overall a very enjoyable, if short read.
    • 4/5
      A read I highly recommend. Inspired by a true story that came out of Austria, and mirroring J.C. Duggard, this story will provide a unique point of view that is unexpected and powerful. Told through the eyes of Jack, a 5 year old child, it will be a book that will stay with you for a long time after finishing.
    • 4/5
      Amazing book with an incredibly disturbing setting. The middle of the book was unsettling and difficult to read, because I just felt so much for Jack, and at the same time impossible to put down, because I had to find out if and how Jack was going to overcome the horrible ordeal he had to go through. The second part of the book was beautiful and full of tender moments and the ending was veritably uplifting. Deserves every bit of praise it got.
    • 4/5
      An engaging and moving book with a unique narrative voice. Also, intensely claustrophobic.
    • 5/5
      Loved every minute about it. Fascinating writing and plot. Couldn't put it down. -Story about a captive young woman and her son. Told through the eyes of the 5 year old son. Wish the ending was a little more eventful though.
    • 5/5
      I am not sure how to go about reviewing this book that has not been done before. I would just be repeating almost every other review out there. This book was hauntingly good. It made me stop to think about how much we really take for granted, and I see how this happens everyday. I will be passing this book on, and without a doubt recommend it to everyone.
    • 4/5
      I dragged this book for several months, and yet I never progressed beyond first 20 pages. All I gathered was a five year old's voice, but I couldn't fathom use of inanimate objects are proper noun. All that child talk with incorrect verbs. It was irritating - so much that I often kept moving to new books. My breakthrough came when I made it past first 50 pages - and Ma shares about her parents with her kid and mystery of Old Nick was uncovered. After that, I finished the book in breakneck speed in mere one sitting.

      Till that breakthrough, in my mind, based on Jack's narrative, I kept revisiting possibilities. First 10 pages, I thought - he was a distant father, then 20 pages later I thought that perhaps he was a client and Ma was a sex worker who loved Jack etc etc..yet I wasn't prepared for the conclusion it came to (I do not read reviews before checking books I've set my mind to- in this case, I am particularly glad I didn't), and it was pretty quick. In hindsight, I understand all about inanimate things being proper noun and 'brung's. ;)

      Book is touching, Ma and Jack's bond endearing - so much that most of book you find yourself rooting for them. Despite the touching premise of the book, I didn't find the book depressing and sympathy-mongering - it was rather hopeful. Jack is endearing, his narration is clear enough to indicate that though he is lovely, innocent child and victim of circumstances - his care-takers (for example, his uncle and grand ma) often find themselves at wit's end while taking care of him. And that it is survival in real world that is most harder than actual ordeal.I loved it when Jack would instinctively know what to do when Ma is gone. Most of all, I loved the presentation of story - way story unfolds layer by layer, full of love of Ma and Jack. A very good read.
    • 5/5
      Room was fascinating to read. Told entirely from young Jack's perspective, the reader must infer a lot of the story line, but is therefore protected from the true horrors of the situation. I felt very connected to this story and often had to remind myself that it was fictional.
    • 5/5
      I read this book in November 2010 after seeing some good reviews. It's not my usual type of book, I generally read paranormal romance and Young Adult fiction but this sounded like an interesting read to break up the steady stream of vampires, werewolves and faeries.The Blurb:It’s Jack’s birthday, and he’s excited about turning five.Jack lives with his Ma in Room, which has a locked door and a skylight, and measures 11 feet by 11 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 . . .Told in Jack's voice, Room is the story of a mother and son whose love lets them survive the impossible. Unsentimental and sometimes funny, devastating yet uplifting, Room is a novel like no other.The book is written from Jack's perspective and Jack is an incredibly bright and funny five year old. He describes the things in Room as though they are old friends such as Rug and Meltedy Spoon.I enjoyed reading the story from this perspective and found it incredibly moving in some places, and funny in others. I can't imagine the story being funny at all if it were told from Ma's perspective.I found it really easy to get into Jack's narrative and shared his uncertainty and trepidation at suddenly being in the world outside Room. It's big and noisy and hard to understand after the comforting routines he followed in Room.The horror of Ma's story is both softened yet magnified by having the story told in Jack's voice. We find out piece by piece through Jacks eyes and ears, and it is this that makes it all the more powerful. Most of it is never spelled out, but rather implied by things Ma says, or things Jack hears others saying to Ma and sometimes by events watched by Jack through the gaps in the Wardrobe in Room.This is a book that has stayed with me after putting it down, I borrowed it from the library and fully intend to buy my own copy I loved it that much. No doubt a few of my friends and family may find it under their tree this year too.....
    • 4/5
      I found this book difficult to read especially the first part when they were living in the Room. i kept putting myself in her position and feeling very uncomfortable. It is an interesting concept for a book and gives us a totally different view of childraising and the importance of a mother in a child's life.
    • 5/5
      I very much enjoyed this book, especially reading it from Jack's perspective. It gave me interesting insights into child development, which I did not expect. It was harrowing to see a kidnapped women and child's perspective and literally place myself in their shows through the story. The plot also had a bit of action and suspense, which worked out well. The climax of the story seemed to happen much earlier than I thought it would and I wondered how the author would keep the story going for the rest of the book; she accomplished this very well. A thoroughly enjoyable read.
    • 5/5
      This was a very good, moving, intense read that reminded me of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time in its narrative style. And, yes, reminded me a bit of The Lovely Bones, as I have seen. The novel was evidently inspired by the Josef Fritzl abuse case in Austria. I read an advance reader's copy of this title.The narrator is Jack, who has just turned five and lives with his ma in Room, which is Jack's whole world. We gradually learn that Room is always locked and Jack and his ma are prisoners of a man they call Old Nick, who kidnapped Jack's ma seven years ago. We see through Jack's eyes how his mother protected him, lavished love on him, and taught him to excel at math and reading, using everything in the very small room to teach and entertain him. The novel also explored what might happen after such a mother and child gain access to the world again; what sort of effect that might have on them.The book has been long listed for the Booker, and I can't quite see it winning because it isn't a very complicated tale - on the other hand the emotional intensity is very powerful.
    • 4/5
      Writing this novel has to be considered an achievement, or possibly a feat. The inspired choice of five year old Jack as the narrator presents innumerable challenges that Donoghue meets valiantly. It also has advantages. It allows her to treat of a situation so horrible that one rather wishes it were not even imaginable let alone possible. Through Jack’s naïve eyes we persevere, if only for his sake. But it is hard going, claustrophobic, and emotionally stifling. The second half of the novel opens up new possibilities. Here things begin to lose direction, to meander, to go this way and that without a clear purpose. Maybe that is to be expected, but it may also have something to do with the downside of Jack’s narrative voice. Once his world expands the voice becomes much less persuasive, either too knowing, fey, or twee. It’s a risk for any writer, I think, though Donoghue does manage to present at least a few brilliant moments. I especially liked the utter incomprehension of what has occurred found in the voice of a woman commiserating with Jack’s grandmother: ‘”Well, I don’t know. I spent a week in a monastery in Scotland once…[and]…it was so peaceful.” I also liked Jack’s step-grandfather or ‘Steppa’ who seems to have a natural connection with Jack. The ending is something of a disappointment, if only because the emotional and narrative closure it brings seems antithetical to the psychological scars the atrocities committed would have induced. Of course if closure is what you are looking for—the tidy settling of our exfoliated emotional skin like dust in an unused room—then Donoghue’s otherwise intriguing tale will fully satisfy. I just wish the focus of such a narrative feat truly were unimaginable.
    • 4/5
      This book was really hard for me when I started it, having to read from a 5yr old perspective. It was tough. I almost didn't continue but I did. At the 2nd section I couldn't put it down. I was very impressed but then after that I thought it gradually petered out.I would still recommend.