Room (Emma Donoghue)

Welcome back everyone and welcome to November – did anyone else find that the month of October flew by extremely quickly? I blinked and suddenly it was Halloween, leaving me concerned that I didn’t really read any books at all last month! But, I’m glad to see others have been reading because in just 2 weeks, we’ve already gained 100 page views! I am so incredibly grateful for all of the support and I’m glad you take the time to read what I have to say. Now on with another review!

Back in September I read a book called Room by Emma Donoghue which is a book I’m struggling to categorize since I personally found it to be a bit “out of the box” genre-wise. It was a lifestyle genre with an element of mystery and suspense. The book looks through the eyes of three year old Jack and his mother, raising him almost on her own. The small family is far from normal since the two of them only ever see the same four walls of the same one room. They don’t see outside. They don’t smell fresh air. They don’t see any other people except this one guy: Nick. Nick kidnapped the boy’s mother and locked her in his shed where the boy was eventually born. For the mother, she is constantly trying to think of ways to get back home, but for the boy this is home because he doesn’t know any better. Will the two escape the shed of which they’ve been forced to call home? If escaped, how does an isolated child react to the world and a single mother forget the horrors of that room?

The book sounds pretty interesting right? That’s what I thought too until I started reading the book. Though the plot line is unique and intriguing, the writing style is less than ideal: it’s written from the boy’s perspective with the vocabulary and mannerisms of a boy. Inanimate objects are suddenly capitalized and described as real beings; this got old very quickly! I also found the execution of the plot line to be slow and at times quite boring. There was no true build of the story, but instead stayed at very much the same level of intensity throughout the entirety of the novel. The characters within the novel left me feeling disconnected because there wasn’t necessarily any personality traits that stood out that would allow me to “build a bond” with them; I like characters that leave me picturing them clearly and relating them back to people I know in my own life. I just felt that a lot of elements were missed with this one.

Upon doing some research, I discovered that Room is now a movie recently released to theatres on November 6. I personally have no intention of seeing this movie, but I would find it interesting to know if the adaption to film adds the missing elements from the book. If you go see the movie, comment your thoughts on how it was. If you’ve read the book and go see the movie, comment about whether or not they kept the view point and vocabulary of Jack.

Overall I would rate Room 0.5/5 because the vocabulary of Jack’s view point made the book excruciating to read. The story also only had a singular level of intensity with poorly developed characters. As always, my poor rating could be reflective of a personal preference so please feel free to try the novel despite my thoughts and certainly let me know yours!

Until next time,

Happy Reading Fellow Bookworms :)

Leave a comment with your thoughts on this story or with a suggestion of another book I should read & review!

If you would like updates for when a new review is posted, check out the Tumblr page! 

If you would like behind the scenes updates, check out the Facebook page!