To five-year-old Jack, Room is the entire world. It is where he was born and grew up; it's where he lives with his Ma as they learn and read and eat and sleep and play. At night, his Ma shuts him safely in the wardrobe, where he is meant to be asleep when Old Nick visits.
Room is home to Jack, but to Ma, it is the prison where Old Nick has held her captive for seven years. Through determination, ingenuity, and fierce motherly love, Ma has created a life for Jack. But she knows it's not enough...not for her or for him. She devises a bold escape plan, one that relies on her young son's bravery and a lot of luck. What she does not realize is just how unprepared she is for the plan to actually work.
Told entirely in the language of the energetic, pragmatic five-year-old Jack, ROOM is a celebration of resilience and the limitless bond between parent and child, a brilliantly executed novel about what it means to journey from one world to another.
Room is home to Jack, but to Ma, it is the prison where Old Nick has held her captive for seven years. Through determination, ingenuity, and fierce motherly love, Ma has created a life for Jack. But she knows it's not enough...not for her or for him. She devises a bold escape plan, one that relies on her young son's bravery and a lot of luck. What she does not realize is just how unprepared she is for the plan to actually work.
Told entirely in the language of the energetic, pragmatic five-year-old Jack, ROOM is a celebration of resilience and the limitless bond between parent and child, a brilliantly executed novel about what it means to journey from one world to another.
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5
maryshirley (Grade: A–) This book honestly haunts me. I read it about a year ago and I still think about it all the time. It's vey cleverly written from the point of view of the 5 year old boy, and through his innocent perspective the world unravels.
(Rated on Sep 4, 2013)
4
bennettgavrish
(Grade: B) Donoghue took a big risk in making a five-year old boy the narrator and chief character in an adult novel, and it pays off tremendously as long as you, the reader, go into the book with a certain level of patience.
(Grade: B) Donoghue took a big risk in making a five-year old boy the narrator and chief character in an adult novel, and it pays off tremendously as long as you, the reader, go into the book with a certain level of patience.(Rated on Feb 24, 2015)
4
Bug
(Grade: B) Told in the voice of a 5 year old, this story had me caught from the beginning. Jack's whole world is the room he lives in with his mother. He doesn't understand everything that is going on, even though the reader does, which makes this tale even more awful at times. A very adult book despite the young narrator.
(Grade: B) Told in the voice of a 5 year old, this story had me caught from the beginning. Jack's whole world is the room he lives in with his mother. He doesn't understand everything that is going on, even though the reader does, which makes this tale even more awful at times. A very adult book despite the young narrator.(Rated on May 2, 2015)
3
RemusLupin (Grade: B–) Heavy-handed observations about society disguised in cutesy narration by a 5-year old. For the first 1/3 of the book I was wishing for them to get out of Room so something would happen, and for the rest of the book I wishing for the tension of being back in Room. It's certainly interesting to see how Jack develops, both in and then outside of Room, but overall this story did not overly impress me.
(Grade: B–) Heavy-handed observations about society disguised in cutesy narration by a 5-year old. For the first 1/3 of the book I was wishing for them to get out of Room so something would happen, and for the rest of the book I wishing for the tension of being back in Room. It's certainly interesting to see how Jack develops, both in and then outside of Room, but overall this story did not overly impress me.(Rated on Mar 17, 2016)
3
Booknester (Grade: D) The point-of-view of this book made a for a challenging and difficult read, and at times distracted from the story too much for me to focus on the horror these two characters went through. I would have liked it better if the the chapters moved from the little boys point of view to the mother's.
(Rated on Mar 28, 2016)
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