Room in Ultimate Popsugar Reading Challenge

Apr 27, 2016 Piepie | The Napping Bibliophile rated it it was ok

Shelves: read-in-2016, page-and-screen

2 1/2 stars??

I had never read anything like this before... child narrator... personifying common, everyday objects like Lamp and Rug... it was a quick, easy read for me, and though I didn't love it, I didn't hate it either.

Jack annoyed me, though, I think because I'm a "childfree by choice" person. I'm not a kid person, and I would have become really impatient really quick with all of Jack's questions and observations. He seemed really precocious for being 5 years old... maybe it was all the tv ...more

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Sep 09, 2014 Krissy rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: audiobook, pgs-300-399, abuse, cover-color-white, read-before-2015, cover-text-only

This was told in the first person POV of a five year old and I had a difficult time fully enjoying the story when most of the time I was annoyed with said five year old. Jack tended to be a little bratty, whiney, and annoying. I know I was supposed to feel sympathy towards him for how he had to live his life up until that point. And that he just didn't know any better but I couldn't stir up any sympathy. He was just too irritating. Maybe I would have looked at him differently if the story wasn't ...more

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Aug 04, 2011 Larissa rated it really liked it

Wow - this was a very intriguing book and I read through it very fast as I wanted to know what was gong to happen! Very well done story. It was a great one to do on audio as the story is told by 5 year old Jack and a kids voice tells the story on audio book. Jack and his "Ma" live in Room and are held captive there. Most of the things in the room have their noun for their names. For example, the chair is Chair and the bed is Bed. In Room there is Wardrobe where Jack sleeps when "Old Nick" (their ...more

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May 07, 2011 Courtney rated it it was amazing

Shelves: crime-and-mystery

Love love loved this book could not put it down!!!

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Jan 31, 2011 Christine rated it really liked it

I have very mixed feelings about this book. Let me start by saying that I usually don't like books that are narrated by a child, but Jack's character was very well thought out and actually the author did a very job of keeping the story honest by having him narrate. The other aspect that I liked by having the story told through Jack's point of view is that it helped keep the disturbing parts of the story at bay. It's easier to deal with the horrific things that were happening when you hear them d ...more

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Feb 15, 2011 Dana rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: listened-to

I've wanted to read this book for awhile but my book club didn't pick it because we were worried that as mothers we'd be too upset by the subject matter. When book club picked a book I had no interest in reading, I decided it was time. At first I regretted the decision to listen to it via Audible because it's narrated by the son. The voice bugged me in the beginning and it was also wrenching to hear the story in the child's voice. But I got used to it. As I'd been told, while the time of the mot ...more

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Mar 15, 2011 jess rated it liked it

Shelves: audiobook-d, fiction, 2011

The first half of this book was a four star read. It was so emotionally gripping that there were times I literally couldn't breathe while I was reading it. The second half of the book was maybe a 2 star read. So I'm averaging it to three. The totally "ripped from the headlines" storyline and "unique" narrator landed this book on several of the top 2010 book lists (which is how it ended up in my To Read pile) but I'm not convinced that position was well-deserved.

The narrator of the book is five- The first half of this book was a four star read. It was so emotionally gripping that there were times I literally couldn't breathe while I was reading it. The second half of the book was maybe a 2 star read. So I'm averaging it to three. The totally "ripped from the headlines" storyline and "unique" narrator landed this book on several of the top 2010 book lists (which is how it ended up in my To Read pile) but I'm not convinced that position was well-deserved.

The narrator of the book is five-year-old Jack. He lives in Room with his mother. He's never been anywhere else because he & Ma are locked in Room. Jack doesn't realize they live there against their will. He's just five and his world is very small. Room & the world on TV are all that he knows. His mother was kidnapped seven years ago and imprisoned in the soundproofed shed in the backyard by "Old Nick" (not his real name).

In the beginning, the precocious voice of the narrator seems like an interesting perspective. Jack's scope is so narrow and his world is so limited that his voice is believable in this context. I spent a lot of time thinking about how Emma Donoghue built that character, and how real-life people who have lived through that experience might cope/feel/think. It was the kind of character that really hooks into your brain.

In the second half of the book, the perspective is widened and the gimmick falls apart. Jack's voice becomes contaminated and unrealistic. The character knows things that he couldn't really know, and not in a precocious, "oh that kid is so smart" way. His emotions and perspective seem inauthentic. It reads so much like a grownup trying to tell a story in the voice of a kid that it became grating. In the second half of the book, the story would have benefited from other voices. The voice of Ma, especially, would have fleshed out the telling in a more believable way.

So, I liked this book but apparently not as much as everyone else. I was compelled to keep reading it, and the story dragged me along even when my hands were over my eyes and I didn't really want to know. There is a lot of darkness in this story, and the incredible capacity of humans to be giant pieces of shit. There is also a lot of resiliency and hope in the face of truly difficult circumstances, and it was impossible not to cheer Jack on. Gads, it is hard to talk about this book without being all spoileriffic. ...more

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Apr 08, 2011 Beth rated it it was amazing

I loved this! That little five year old boy felt so real to me, I missed him when the story was over. The plot is different and intriguing and very well done.

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