Room: A Novel
Held captive for years in a small shed, a woman and her precocious young son finally gain their freedom, and the boy experiences the outside world for the first time. Room is a tale at once shocking, riveting, exhilarating -- a story of unconquerable love in harrowing circumstances, and of the diamond-hard bond between a mother and her child.
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Readers say *Room* is a tense, emotionally powerful novel uniquely narrated through the eyes of five-year-old Jack, which many agree brings a fresh pe...
Five-year-old Jack stands as our narrator throughout this story. Jack is a little boy who was born to a woman being held hostage by a man who kidnapped her 7 years earlier when she was 19 years old.
Jack has known nothing outside of Room (Jack thinks of everything as being alive, so the names of objects takes on more meaning for Jack, as they are the “names” of living things. They are his friends.) Room is the entire world, and as far as he knows, there is nothing in the world outside of Room, his mother, and his mother’s kidnapper (and his father) Old Nick.
I had a little difficulty adjusting to the child’s perspective of this book. It takes awhile to get the hang of having so many inanimate objects with names (Remote, Bed, Rug, Door, Wardrobe), and to get inside the mind of a child.
Jack is smart. At times he is too smart, leaving me feeling at times that I’m reading an unrealistic portrayal of a little boy. And typical of children, he can be quite self-centered and lack a certain consideration for his poor troubled mother.
His mother’s total focus is Jack. While Room is Jack’s world, Jack is his mother’s world. One can only imagine what life was like for his mother before Jack, trapped day-in and day-out in a single room all by herself, and raped and brutalized with no end in sight. Then one day Jack is born, and there is suddenly something to focus on and live for.
So in short, this book was pretty good. It kept me hanging on, wanting to know what would happen next, and how things would work out for them. However it wasn’t quite as good as I had hoped for. It just seemed a little...I don’t know...empty. There wasn’t much excitement or anything. It was more psychologically-based than I really expected. But good nonetheless, and a satisfying read in the end.
Jack has known nothing outside of Room (Jack thinks of everything as being alive, so the names of objects takes on more meaning for Jack, as they are the “names” of living things. They are his friends.) Room is the entire world, and as far as he knows, there is nothing in the world outside of Room, his mother, and his mother’s kidnapper (and his father) Old Nick.
I had a little difficulty adjusting to the child’s perspective of this book. It takes awhile to get the hang of having so many inanimate objects with names (Remote, Bed, Rug, Door, Wardrobe), and to get inside the mind of a child.
Jack is smart. At times he is too smart, leaving me feeling at times that I’m reading an unrealistic portrayal of a little boy. And typical of children, he can be quite self-centered and lack a certain consideration for his poor troubled mother.
His mother’s total focus is Jack. While Room is Jack’s world, Jack is his mother’s world. One can only imagine what life was like for his mother before Jack, trapped day-in and day-out in a single room all by herself, and raped and brutalized with no end in sight. Then one day Jack is born, and there is suddenly something to focus on and live for.
So in short, this book was pretty good. It kept me hanging on, wanting to know what would happen next, and how things would work out for them. However it wasn’t quite as good as I had hoped for. It just seemed a little...I don’t know...empty. There wasn’t much excitement or anything. It was more psychologically-based than I really expected. But good nonetheless, and a satisfying read in the end.
Extremely different novel--couldn't put it down. Really made you think. I would highly recommend this book.
Well, the third time must be the charm. I just couldn't get past the story being told from Jack's perspective. I didn't like the speech but I hung in there & kept reading. It got better or maybe I just got used to the writing. What a horrific story-could be ripped from the national headlines (3 girls in Cleveland held hostage for years ring a bell??) but we see a mother fiercely devoted to her son & wanting so very much to protect him. We take so much for granted on "the outside". How grass feels, the enormity of the sky, the brightness of the sun....on & on....Ma did everything she could to make his life in the room "normal" but she knew she needed to risk everything to escape the room & Old Nick. Such a powerful & emotional story about the intense bond between a mother & child. Loved Grandma & Steppa. Loved how they took Jack to the beach, playground & stores. Thought it was so sweet how they tried in their own way to introduce the world to Jack-all of them learning along the way. Loved Steppa playing Legos with Jack. Now I want to see the movie-hope it's as good!
The writing style was hard to read at first. But after awhile i couldn't put it down. I would like to rank it somewhere between liked it and really liked it.
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