Room

I seem to be rotating fiction and non-fiction, and that suits me just fine. After I read a meaty and draining non-fiction work, I like to sit back and enjoy some more comfortable fiction "stories." This one sure isn't really a happy and uplifting one (both Unbroken and Room are about prisoners), but the fiction and un-reality of the book makes it easier to read.

Room by Emma Donoghue

Genre: Fiction
Publication Date: September 2010
Setting: A room/shed in someone's backyard (mostly)

What's most notable about this book is not that for half of the work it takes place in one 11x11 room, but that it is written with a 5-year-old boy (raised in said room) as the narrator. Jack and his mother entertain themselves with a routine, including designated TV time, a modified version of physical training, nap time, reading, and screaming at the skylight for help.  His mother, kidnapped in college, is the only other person the boy has ever had interaction with and he believes that there is nothing outside of Room. Obviously this boy has some issues, including lack of depth perception because his field of vision is limited to the Room. Jack's whole world is Room and is therefore reluctant to attempt an escape, but no little boy can grow up without playing with Legos or getting kissed by a puppy.

I would be interested to read the book from the point of view of the mother - being kidnapped, being held captive, having a child and raising a child in captivity. How did she come to the decision to keep him out of the loop about the world? How does she night fight tooth and nail every time her captor delivers her supplies? How does this happen to people??

Finished reading: Thursday, June 25, 2015

DD's Rating: B-
Kudos for telling the story from the perspective of a young children, but it was annoying to read his weird language, with fake pancaked words and speaking in incomplete/grammatically incorrect sentences. I recognize that Donoghue took a risk with a different writing style, I'm just not sure it's for me.

Next read: Into the Wild by John Krakauer