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A review by theeditorreads
Room by Emma Donoghue
5.0
Synopsis:
Jack lives with his Ma in the Room, where the Outside is visible only through Skylight. And there’s only Room, Wardrobe, Wall, Bed, Sink, Plant, etc with Ma and Jack. Imagine not seeing the world till you’re five and suddenly it bursts upon you in full technicolour. The bees sting, the clouds float, the dog poops. Imagine knowing about no one except your Ma in your whole life, missing out on the experience of living. Of existing. Why is this mother-son duo in the Room? Do they ever get out of there?
Review:
This one should come with a host of trigger warnings! And reading this could go either way, you like it or you don’t.
Divided into five parts and narrated by a five-year-old, Room opens with Jack turning five and expecting a present from his twenty-seven-year-old mother. The five parts are Presents, Unlying, Dying, After, and Living. And his mother does give him a present, it’s just that Jack wanted something else, something which her Ma knew only Old Nick could get. And she wanted to give something that she could get herself.
Old Nick is the name Jack gives to the man who sometimes appears at night when he has to stay in Wardrobe and then he hears the bed creak before he’s let out of the Wardrobe. And that is all I am going to say about the story now. At first, it was surreal to read a story which was being told by a five-year-old. But it gradually grew on me as I saw the World through Jack’s eyes. He may mix up his grammar but he sure was an advanced learner.
The author has beautifully described the world from a five-year-old’s perspective, as and when he experienced it, what he experienced of it. I also wondered what was the thought behind keeping the child in the book a five-year-old. As aware as Jack is about here and now, I don’t remember being that aware when I was five. Maybe I was, maybe I wasn’t. And since the story wraps up in a couple of months, I would never know. Having not seen anyplace else than the interiors of a room, it was equally cute and terrifying to see Jack name everything as if they were a person. And in all that cuteness, there has to be something equally sinister.
It’s not long before the story becomes the stuff of nightmares. There’s this scary concept of reality and for a five-year-old to question his sense of being and his surroundings is trippy. The narrative proceeds in a suspenseful manner. Many things in the story are just plain gross and it broke my heart to see that for Jack, it was nothing more than what was familiar to him.
At one point, I was plenty angry at the paparazzi for the media craze that followed Jack and his Ma, especially when they were trying to heal, but then I realised a perversely funny thing. Aren’t most of us like that? Wanting to know everything about what happened, just like in this story. It gave me closure, but only when I accepted that you have to let things go, to just let things be, at some point.
This left me with quite some thoughts which I will gradually share on this blog. It sent a shiver down my spine to think about all the bad that is there in this world. This story itself was inspired by real events, which are much more gruesome than what was there in this book. And by the way, there’s something very eerie about [b:Alice's Adventures in Wonderland & Through the Looking-Glass|24213|Alice's Adventures in Wonderland & Through the Looking-Glass|Lewis Carroll|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1327872220l/24213._SY75_.jpg|2375385]. It seems more like Alice in Badland (like the game, I don’t know why my brain made that connection). Whether it be in the recently concluded Season One of Batwoman or this book.
Special Mention:
The way Jack’s grandmother is accepting of him while his grandfather’s not, it struck a feminist chord. How is it that even after so much suffering, a woman finds joy in the same innocence which a man is repulsed by.
P.S. Not related at all, but reading Jack and Ma together is so weird. Because of the famous person who has that name, maybe.
If you like reading True Crime, then you might want to read [b:Secrets in the Cellar|6185412|Secrets in the Cellar|John Glatt|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1317064020l/6185412._SY75_.jpg|6365669] by John Glatt or [b:I'm No Monster: The Horrifying True Story of Josef Fritzl|6483092|I'm No Monster The Horrifying True Story of Josef Fritzl|Stefanie Marsh|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1347228014l/6483092._SY75_.jpg|6674401] by Stefanie Marsh.
P.S. I got a copy issued from the Sahitya Akademi Library.
Originally posted on:
Shaina's Musings
Jack lives with his Ma in the Room, where the Outside is visible only through Skylight. And there’s only Room, Wardrobe, Wall, Bed, Sink, Plant, etc with Ma and Jack. Imagine not seeing the world till you’re five and suddenly it bursts upon you in full technicolour. The bees sting, the clouds float, the dog poops. Imagine knowing about no one except your Ma in your whole life, missing out on the experience of living. Of existing. Why is this mother-son duo in the Room? Do they ever get out of there?
Review:
This one should come with a host of trigger warnings! And reading this could go either way, you like it or you don’t.
Divided into five parts and narrated by a five-year-old, Room opens with Jack turning five and expecting a present from his twenty-seven-year-old mother. The five parts are Presents, Unlying, Dying, After, and Living. And his mother does give him a present, it’s just that Jack wanted something else, something which her Ma knew only Old Nick could get. And she wanted to give something that she could get herself.
Old Nick is the name Jack gives to the man who sometimes appears at night when he has to stay in Wardrobe and then he hears the bed creak before he’s let out of the Wardrobe. And that is all I am going to say about the story now. At first, it was surreal to read a story which was being told by a five-year-old. But it gradually grew on me as I saw the World through Jack’s eyes. He may mix up his grammar but he sure was an advanced learner.
When I was a little kid I thought like a little kid, but now I’m five I know everything.
The author has beautifully described the world from a five-year-old’s perspective, as and when he experienced it, what he experienced of it. I also wondered what was the thought behind keeping the child in the book a five-year-old. As aware as Jack is about here and now, I don’t remember being that aware when I was five. Maybe I was, maybe I wasn’t. And since the story wraps up in a couple of months, I would never know. Having not seen anyplace else than the interiors of a room, it was equally cute and terrifying to see Jack name everything as if they were a person. And in all that cuteness, there has to be something equally sinister.
It’s not long before the story becomes the stuff of nightmares. There’s this scary concept of reality and for a five-year-old to question his sense of being and his surroundings is trippy. The narrative proceeds in a suspenseful manner. Many things in the story are just plain gross and it broke my heart to see that for Jack, it was nothing more than what was familiar to him.
Lots of the world seems to be a repeat.
At one point, I was plenty angry at the paparazzi for the media craze that followed Jack and his Ma, especially when they were trying to heal, but then I realised a perversely funny thing. Aren’t most of us like that? Wanting to know everything about what happened, just like in this story. It gave me closure, but only when I accepted that you have to let things go, to just let things be, at some point.
This left me with quite some thoughts which I will gradually share on this blog. It sent a shiver down my spine to think about all the bad that is there in this world. This story itself was inspired by real events, which are much more gruesome than what was there in this book. And by the way, there’s something very eerie about [b:Alice's Adventures in Wonderland & Through the Looking-Glass|24213|Alice's Adventures in Wonderland & Through the Looking-Glass|Lewis Carroll|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1327872220l/24213._SY75_.jpg|2375385]. It seems more like Alice in Badland (like the game, I don’t know why my brain made that connection). Whether it be in the recently concluded Season One of Batwoman or this book.
Special Mention:
The way Jack’s grandmother is accepting of him while his grandfather’s not, it struck a feminist chord. How is it that even after so much suffering, a woman finds joy in the same innocence which a man is repulsed by.
P.S. Not related at all, but reading Jack and Ma together is so weird. Because of the famous person who has that name, maybe.
If you like reading True Crime, then you might want to read [b:Secrets in the Cellar|6185412|Secrets in the Cellar|John Glatt|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1317064020l/6185412._SY75_.jpg|6365669] by John Glatt or [b:I'm No Monster: The Horrifying True Story of Josef Fritzl|6483092|I'm No Monster The Horrifying True Story of Josef Fritzl|Stefanie Marsh|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1347228014l/6483092._SY75_.jpg|6674401] by Stefanie Marsh.
P.S. I got a copy issued from the Sahitya Akademi Library.
Originally posted on:
Shaina's Musings