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Emma's Reviews > Room
Room
by Emma Donoghue (Goodreads Author)
by Emma Donoghue (Goodreads Author)
I was so convinced that I'd like this book that I broke a cardinal rule of book buying and did not wait for the paperback but alas, I am left minus £12.99 and disappointed, though almost alone in that view...
The book starts well on Jack's 5th birthday with the narration of his special day complete with a tantrum over a cake without candles. It very quickly becomes clear that Jack and his mother are trapped in a tiny room by a man imaginatively named Old Nick who comes in at night and rapes his mother while he sleeps in the wardrobe. Eventually after many painful pages of tedious detail trying to set the scene in a 5 year old's narrative (making a ruler out of a cereal box to measure the room for example!) they eventually escape in the most ridiculous way. The story slows down as they recover in a clinic and try to rebuild their lives.
The main problem with this book is the insistence of the author to plow on using the narrative voice of a 5 year old. I'm childless and thus find children charmless and irritating at the best of times but I found Jack impossible to either like or have any sympathy with despite the horrific situation he was born into. Why the author persisted with it in the second part of the book is anyone's guess, the narrative went downhill quickly as the minutiae of day to day life outside of Room is told, and rather predictably the musings of a child are dull and annoying.
I had no idea how she was going to end (and must confess I didn't much care) the book and I was surprised when Jack insisted on returning to Room with his mother, I was more surprised still when she agreed, yet the ending still manages to be saccharine and sickly - the farewell to their prison was not at all touching.
This could have been a great book, ideally one written in many narrative voices (imagine a book from the PoV of the mother, the child and the kidnapper) and with a more believable plot. Alas what we have is a half baked idea lifted straight out of the papers with thought given only to the child's reactions and not those of the reader.
The book starts well on Jack's 5th birthday with the narration of his special day complete with a tantrum over a cake without candles. It very quickly becomes clear that Jack and his mother are trapped in a tiny room by a man imaginatively named Old Nick who comes in at night and rapes his mother while he sleeps in the wardrobe. Eventually after many painful pages of tedious detail trying to set the scene in a 5 year old's narrative (making a ruler out of a cereal box to measure the room for example!) they eventually escape in the most ridiculous way. The story slows down as they recover in a clinic and try to rebuild their lives.
The main problem with this book is the insistence of the author to plow on using the narrative voice of a 5 year old. I'm childless and thus find children charmless and irritating at the best of times but I found Jack impossible to either like or have any sympathy with despite the horrific situation he was born into. Why the author persisted with it in the second part of the book is anyone's guess, the narrative went downhill quickly as the minutiae of day to day life outside of Room is told, and rather predictably the musings of a child are dull and annoying.
I had no idea how she was going to end (and must confess I didn't much care) the book and I was surprised when Jack insisted on returning to Room with his mother, I was more surprised still when she agreed, yet the ending still manages to be saccharine and sickly - the farewell to their prison was not at all touching.
This could have been a great book, ideally one written in many narrative voices (imagine a book from the PoV of the mother, the child and the kidnapper) and with a more believable plot. Alas what we have is a half baked idea lifted straight out of the papers with thought given only to the child's reactions and not those of the reader.
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Laura
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rated it 2 stars
Dec 30, 2010 01:23pm
I completely agree with you and I'm glad you felt that the ending was far fetched. After the mother attempted to commit suicide after her ordeal, surely she would not have been allowed by her therapists to return to the place, particularly if she was not ready. I was also surprised that although 'Room' was still cornered off as a crime scene, they allowed Jack to touch things or them to even enter in the first place. If anything, the end merely left me feeling pity for the mother being forced to return and anger at Jack for not being able to understand her reluctance to.
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I was absolutely convinced I'd like this book, too--am so glad I didn't get to actually buy it. What a disappointment.
I'm with you on the opinion about kids *shudder* I prefer them when they can start to hold semi-intelligent conversations - around 11 or so. And only in small doses... :-)
