From the Bookshelf of Book Riot's Read Harder Challenge…

Room

Emma Donoghue

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2016 Read Harder Challenge

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What Members Thought

Jun 25, 2012 Dana Berglund rated it really liked it

Shelves: books-for-grown-ups

I think Emma Donoghue is a very talented author. Her books span such a wide variety of time periods, situations, styles, and categories, that I can't help but let that color my view of the current book I am reading. She doesn't write formulaic books that allow her to be easily pigeon-holed; each Emma Donoghue book is a new experience.
I have had Room sitting on my shelf since I bought it as a holiday gift to myself in December 2010. I knew the basic premise, but I wouldn't read too far into a rev I think Emma Donoghue is a very talented author. Her books span such a wide variety of time periods, situations, styles, and categories, that I can't help but let that color my view of the current book I am reading. She doesn't write formulaic books that allow her to be easily pigeon-holed; each Emma Donoghue book is a new experience.
I have had Room sitting on my shelf since I bought it as a holiday gift to myself in December 2010. I knew the basic premise, but I wouldn't read too far into a review or summary. Each time I picked it up, though, I put it back down, thinking it would be too dark and depressing. Summer vacation provides the perfect time to delve into something I can't handle during the school year.
Room is told from the perspective of an unreliable 5 year old narrator. His mother was snatched from her college campus at 19 years old by a monster who deserves to rot, mirroring some cases around the United States that have shocked communities. (MILD SPOILER ALERT, but you can handle it) He set her up in a Fort-Knox-like 12x12 garden shed in his backyard, surrounded by a high hedge. Several years later, our narrator, Jack, is born and grows up (slowly) in Room, the only world he knows. He has never been Outside, and divides the world into 3 categories: things that are real (in Room), things that are Outside (not much--just Sky), and things that are TV (like birthday parties, schools, cats...).
Some reviewers have commented that the book felt flat to them, that Jack's egocentric detachment from the horror of the crime made them, the readers, feel removed and cold to it as well. I disagree. Jack's fairly well-depicted 5-year-old-ness was what allowed me to read this story. I would not have been able to handle the raw emotion of a book written on this topic from the perspective of the woman who had been kidnapped, or her friend, or anyone else with an adult perspective on the world and the evil within it. (Maybe I would be able to to handle it, but would choose not to.) Listening to it from Jack-- for whom Room is home -- allowed me to access the content of the story without being overwhelmed by the emotion. Jack doesn't understand his mother's struggles because he is 5 and she has protected him to the very best of her abilities. We can look past him and see how much pain must have been involved for her, even if Jack can't see that yet. I think that's okay. I think that's what makes this a compelling and readable book.
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Apr 03, 2011 Brenda rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction

This book is not my normal type of read by any stretch of the imagination. My BFF insisted I read it and I'm so glad I did! Once you get past the book being told by Jack's point of view, you can't turn the pages fast enough. The only tiny complaint I have is that the book ended a bit to abruptly for me, but other than that it was flawless! ...more

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Dec 02, 2010 Janine rated it liked it

After seeing lots of people pick this book up and ask about it I decided I needed to see what it was all about. So the beginning starts off confusing, because you are thrown into the mind of this little kid who has a skewed view of the world because he has been living in a room for all of his life and has never ever been outside of the room. Once you start to realize what is really going on the book gets a lot better. What happens to the main characters of this book is the type of thing you don' ...more

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Jul 09, 2011 Joanne rated it really liked it

Shelves: generalfiction

Such a different kind of book. It takes a little while to get used to the writing in the beginning. But, such an interesting concept. Written very well and pyschologically intriguing.

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Oct 13, 2010 MacDuff rated it it was amazing

Shelves: 2010

I read this on the plane from Miami, so it's not one you linger over for months. It's haunting and dramatic and beautiful, but it left me with many questions. ...more

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Aug 24, 2011 Jess rated it liked it

Shelves: fiction, family, fairy-tales, horror

Creeptacular!

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Oct 31, 2010 Jenny rated it it was amazing

This book is amazing! Told from the point of view of a young boy who--but wait, I don't want to ruin the moment of figuring out what's going on. This is a fairly quick read, in part because it's so hard to put down! ...more

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