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Room

by Emma Donoghue

a shallow reader review

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Please avert your eyes and ears if you can’t bear to see a grown woman sob…

I just finished this book after a number of starts (picked it up, put it down, picked it up, put it down) because I knew it would be a devastating read.

Emma Donoghue, wow wow wow!!

I read through the story with a constant dread, aware of the pain and horror both in the concept of Room and the freedom from Room.

She has created an exceptional  book with the construct of the story emotive and concise. The characters of Room are very real to me in the pacing and the voices of each. There is a liveliness and happiness despite the horror scenario.

Ms Donoghue’s characters inhabit a world where her characters  react and speak in a manner they have developed for themselves – their constructs of language; imagination; reality.

I am simply in awe of everyone inhabiting the novel:

Jack – a boy who knows nothing other than Ma, Room, television and Old Nick (shudder) but who is loving, joyful , smart and inquisitive, Jack is simply a delight

Ma – her depiction was delicate and respectful. The author didn’t make her a superhero, just someone who found strength to cope in a unbelievable nightmare scenario. For her to survive her ordeal but still have the capacity to love and nurture is beyond incredible, for real for real.

Extras – the rest of the characters seem to react in an honest way, unsure, awkward, ultimately normal.

I don’t want to reveal too much, for despite it’s emotional depth and complexity the story is written simply but I will say that the “ending” was very impressive – 3/4 of the way through the book I worried how she would finish (as we have all read books where the story seems to overwhelm the author) – and was really anxious but nope she kept it consistent and honest.

I simply loved this book and think it’s one of those stories that will resonate with me for a very long time.