Summary
The narrator is Jack, a 5 year old boy who only knows the 11' x 11' Room that he and his Ma have lived in. Emma Donoghue came up with the premise of the book from the horrifying real story of the Austrian woman who was held for 24 years by her father.
Source
I heard about this book from Q107 in the morning and subsequently Lainey also reviewed it.
My thoughts
I was rather apprehensive about reading this book because of the gruesome premise. As I read about Jack and his Ma, I thought it was innovative how we get to understand their everyday life in Room, but at the same time kept looking at how thick the book was, worried that I wouldn't be able to read that much of their live in one room. I hope I'm not ruining the book for anyone, but I did feel an immense sense of relief that there is an "after" section.
One of the issues that I had with the book was with Jack being the narrator. Reading a 5 year old voice, you have to accept the lack of language skills but at the same time he would use really big words. I was glad to read that Lainey observed the same thing. I could say the same thing about Jack's thoughts; sometimes it was really hard to believe that a 5 year old would have such deep and observant thoughts. I kept wondering how realistic it was? Would a 5 year old in the same situation think, feel, say the same? They didn't seem like fair questions but the thoughts persisted in my mind.
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