Emma Donoghue’s novel Room seems to be everywhere, and—though I wasn’t initially sure that it was my kind of book—I decided that I better give it a try. Good call!
The book is narrated by Jack, a five-year-old boy held captive with his mother in a very small (11′ x 11′) room. Jack has spent his entire life within the walls of this room, which holds only a bed, a wardrobe, a table, a stove, a sink, and a toilet. When Jack’s mother (who is known to the reader only as “Ma”) was a nineteen-year-old college student, she was abducted by the man Jack calls ”Old Nick,” the man who fathered him. Shortly after Jack turns five, Ma decides that she can no longer shield her son from the reality of their existence—and that she can no longer endure that existence. (I’ll stop there. I don’t want to reveal too much about the plot!)
When I first started the novel, I wasn’t sure how the author could sustain her premise. An entire novel set in one room? Told by a five-year-old narrator? Told by a narrator with extremely limited knowledge of his past and his world? But she definitely succeeds! Room is by turns an interesting character study, a riveting suspense story, and an intensely emotional journey.
