Review: Room
Tags: bisexual, Emma Donoghue, gay, gay women, lesbian, lesbian television, Room, Transgender, transsexual 
Every once in a while a book comes along that leaves you breathless. You want everyone you know to read it just so you can talk about it, assess it, hunt out hidden meanings and recall what moved you most. Emma Donoghue’s latest, Room, is an absolute must. If ever there is such a thing as “essential reading”, this is it.
I wasn’t looking forward to reading this book, I must admit. A story about a child born to an abducted woman, living as a prisoner in the shed of a madman named Old Nick – not exactly up-lifting. How wrong I was. Uplifting is exactly what this is, poetic, profound and deeply moving.
Room is told through the wide eyes of Jack, an adorable five year-old who lives in Room, a 12-by-12 shed, with his Ma. He knows nothing of the outside world, believing Outside to be a fictional place only seen on television.
In some ways Jack is unlike any other child, locked away from the world; but he is also completely typical. He loves Dora The Explorer, Dylan the Digger and playing games with Ma in his own world.
If Jack is the innocent who needs saving and Old Nick is the dragon which needs to be slain, Ma is the hero. Abducted when she was 21, and locked away for seven years to be used as he wished, she never loses herself. She protects Jack from any threat or exposure to the reality of their situation. 
She teaches him schoolwork, she plays with him tirelessly and rares him to be strong and proud. So, when the time comes for him to be the hero, he knows what to do. Heroism in his DNA. JackerJack will do whatever it takes to save Ma.
I want to write more about the story but to do so would spoil what is, without a doubt, the best book I have read in many many years. I read it over two days, and when I put it down it never left me. It never will. Jack is a unique creation, a warm, often hilarious young boy with a huge heart.
Read this book. Please, I’m dying to talk about it.
- Emma Donoghue, “Room” (Picador, 30th July 2010) is out now
Popularity: 1% [?]
No related posts.
Loading ...
Oooh I’ve been wanting to read this. Glad to hear it’s better than it sounds!
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Bosca, gaelick. gaelick said: Published a new post: Review: Room http://www.gaelick.com/?p=10856 [...]
[...] was a review of Emma Donoghue’s Booker-nominated Room. I cannot wait to get my paws on it for [...]
I’m not a reader but I was catching a flight a few weeks ago so I picked this up. It is simply the best book I have ever read. I have never careed so much for characters before. I had to stop reading it for a week as I was afraid something would happen them
Can’t recommend it enough
[...] Donoghue, “Room” (Picador, 30th July 2010). [...]
Really hoping ti get around to reading this sson, bought it a few weeks ago. Something that really annoyed me this weekend though was that i went into, firstly easons, and today chapters in the hope of finding some of her short story collections…..not a one on any of the shelves anywhere, despite the fact that Room is currently displayed all over the place because it is now out in paperback. I’m not usually mad on short stories, but in heavy painkillers atm so finding concentration difficult, i left the shops with a Sarah waters novel and a roald dahl and Joanne harris collection, but still, seriously fuming over the lqck of a single other Donoghue book in the place, i should probably know better though, i usually leave Easons as a last resort for book shopping!