From the Bookshelf of Basically Books!…

Room

Emma Donoghue

Start date: December 1, 2011

Finish date: January 1, 2012

Discussion: Former Group Reads

Find A Copy At

Group Discussions About This Book

Showing 2 of 68 topics — 2,678 comments total

Former Group Reads

* Reckless by Amanda Quick (September 2013 Group Read)
By Rea , Ghost · 9 posts · 20 views

last updated Oct 26, 2013 12:24PM

* Beauty and the Bounty Hunter by Lori Austin (September 2013 Group Read)
By Rea , Ghost · 2 posts · 8 views

last updated Sep 01, 2013 07:24AM

showing 5 of 5 topics view all »

What Members Thought

Sep 30, 2011 Dierdra McGill rated it did not like it · review of another edition

I listened to this on audio and when I started I it I thought oh wow it really sounds like a child is talking! Then they had three people narrating this book so I also thought that was nice. The child like voice got old fast tho....
I REALLY wanted to like this book and was POSITIVE I would! It had such amazing reviews and the story seemed like a really good story, but I just did not like it. Towards the end I found myself looking at the time left and being like UGH I have this much time left?
Th I listened to this on audio and when I started I it I thought oh wow it really sounds like a child is talking! Then they had three people narrating this book so I also thought that was nice. The child like voice got old fast tho....
I REALLY wanted to like this book and was POSITIVE I would! It had such amazing reviews and the story seemed like a really good story, but I just did not like it. Towards the end I found myself looking at the time left and being like UGH I have this much time left?
The story was all told from a 5 year old's point of view and I don't really care what this is based on true story or not this is NOT believable for instance, a 5 year old can read words that most older kids can't read but still talks like a baby? If he is supposed to be smart then make him talk a smarter then "why he do that?" type things. He is also a BRAT! He got his way on EVERYTHING! My son is 5 and yes he trows fits etc but he does NOT tell me what to do etc.. ok yes we are not in one room and I am not locked up trying to raise him granted but even after his mom gave into EVERYTHING he wanted including going back to the house after they got out when she clearly did not want to and made her throw up. Ok, make the argument that she was trying to help him get past what they lived through. You never see any of that part in the book tho because it is all from Jack's point of view and when it actually came to anything that MAY be interesting he would say "my ears got tired so I stopped listening" so you never really got to hear how any of them really got over the abuse and being locked up etc..
I hear many people say I wanted to put this book down it was disturbing and at first I thought yeah this book is going to be like that because of what it is about but it really was not.. all you heard all through the book was about "rug", "spoon", "table" etc there was no gore or explicit scenes etc.. there are many other books written about very similar things that are SO much better then ROOM!
I don't really know why this bothered me so badly but the whole breastfeeding thing really irked me so badly! He was always saying "I want some" or "I got some" or "I got lots" etc.. at 5! I had someone tell me well maybe it was just easier to give him what he wanted... while I can't imagine being in his situation or hers at all I do not understand the point of breast feeding until he was 5 at all ! He would say "I am thirsty, I want some" and "I like the left one best it is more creamy" and he would pull her shirt up in public after they got out. Yes I get he was not used to being out in public but the whole thing was gross and disturbing to me! NOT saying that breastfeeding is at all, however when the child is old enough to say I like the left one because it is more creamy and he wonders if "old nick" is getting some well then it is time to stop!
I guess another poster was correct in saying you either love or hate this book and I hated it. ...more

4 likes · Like · see review

May 14, 2011 Debra Anastasia rated it it was amazing

This book was fearlessly written. I'm glad I spent the time to read it. ...more

3 likes · Like · see review

May 17, 2011 Ruth Dugdall rated it it was amazing

This was an amazing book, and I loved the whole concept.
For me, Jack’s voice was believable and I liked the tensions within the Room, although my credibility was stretched when Jack escaped. I would have preferred for the whole novel to have stayed in Room, and wondered if the author didn’t feel brave enough to try this? Having said that, it was interesting to see how Ma coped with being back in the world she had been stolen from as a girl, and her struggle to re-gain the self she had lost.
An o ...more

1 like · Like · see review

Jul 05, 2014 Rea rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: contemporary

It recently occurred to me that my reading pattern was developing certain tendencies that I wasn’t entirely happy with. Foremost, I was allowing myself to get caught up in particular styles of stories rather than expanding my reading horizons. I felt that I needed more diversity, needed to step out of that little reading comfort zone more often, and that’s how I ended up reading Room.

I had, of course, heard a lot about this novel over the past few years. The book has been waiting patiently on my It recently occurred to me that my reading pattern was developing certain tendencies that I wasn’t entirely happy with. Foremost, I was allowing myself to get caught up in particular styles of stories rather than expanding my reading horizons. I felt that I needed more diversity, needed to step out of that little reading comfort zone more often, and that’s how I ended up reading Room.

I had, of course, heard a lot about this novel over the past few years. The book has been waiting patiently on my shelves for a couple of years; I just never felt that it was the right time to crack it open before now.

I was a bit apprehensive going into the novel, not because of the subject matter but because the whole thing is narrated by a five-year-old. It wasn’t long before I realised that my fears were founded, and yet also unfounded. Founded because Jack is five years old, so he tells the reader about his world as a five year old would – including a lot of details that are of utmost importance to him but of little interest to others. Unfounded because this is a completely unique experience: Jack repeats everything he hears for the readers’ benefit, even if he doesn’t fully understand it, so the reader still gets a second-hand adult experience of the events taking place.

Apparently I needed to be in the right mood for it as well, as I put the book to one side for a couple of days when I was about 70 pages in and found myself much more open to Jack’s random chatter when I picked up the book again.

The plot revolves around the difficulties faced by Ma and Jack, both inside their prison and when confronted with the unfamiliar Outside. Jack especially is not prepared for Outside. Until Ma “unlies” he didn’t even know it existed! Room is the whole world to him and he believes everything else (like what he sees on the TV) exists on another planet (medical planet, fitness planet). Ma is utterly devoted to him and has devised a number of games and activities to keep Jack healthy, to give him the basics of an education, to keep him distracted all day every day. Ma is a fabulous woman with endless amounts of patience.

I used to think of myself as a patient person but this story has made me realise that if I was confronted with a child like Jack I’d probably snap in next to no time (his grandmother’s reactions were very close to how I’d imagine my own being).

Room is a unique story that deals with uncomfortable subject matter from the point of view of someone not yet old enough to understand it. The book both tore at my heart strings and inspired hope in me. ...more

Like · see review

Jan 12, 2012 Gemma rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Excellent book. I loved how it was told through the eyes of the little boy, 5 year old Jack - sometimes words used we're a bit too advanced for a 5 year old - however I interpreted this to be that his vocabulary would be more advanced, given that he has only ever spoken to another adult, never mixed with other children.
I loved the relationship between the Ma and Jack the bond they shared. I went through a lot of emotions reading this shock, nerves, sadness, happiness! I really wish I could say ...more

1 like · Like · see review

Aug 16, 2011 Suzie Grogan rated it it was ok

This had been recommended to me three times in as many weeks so I had to take the hint. However, I only really began to enjoy it in the last few pages - perhaps because I knew I would not have to drag my way through it any longer. I thought the voice of the 5 year old was inconsistent and not authentic - veering between baby talk and a sophisticated vocab learnt from nature programmes on the TV and the rescue scenes were so far fetched - I found myself skipping over paragraphs.

I suppose I found ...more

Like · see review