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A review by mrsbooknerd
Room by Emma Donoghue
3.0
I haven't read a book like this for a very long time. A book that is wholly unique. Not just your 'standard' police procedural, thriller or romance... something entirely different that makes you respect the novel and the author even if your aren't enraptured by the content.
While I have utter respect for the crafting of this novel, I would say that the narration and the repetition began to wear thin by the halfway point and, while I was compelled to finish, I didn't particularly enjoy the experience.
Ultimately I felt that there was too little going on after the initial couple of 'books' with many themes and events being repeated throughout. While I understand that this was necessary in the first 'book' to establish the routine and cycle of Room, I wanted the outside to bring changes. Essentially it just became a padded list of events, places and objects that were new experiences for Jack. I guess this was the only real conclusion that could really follow Room.
One of my favourite aspects of ‘Room’ was the brilliance of the emotion in the novel. As a reader I was drawn into the emotion of the characters from the start. I felt as drained by Room as Ma in the beginning, with mounting desperation for Jack to be mentally ready for an escape. When this happens, and Jack is face to face with rescue but cannot talk or explain himself, I was so frustrated! I was so worried that Old Nick would get to Ma first, or that they wouldn’t find her even if Nick was caught. That is a sign of great writing.
This emotion however turned to frustration throughout the remainder of the novel, as Ma sought to return to as much a normal life as she could but was held back by Jack who needed longer to adjust. His constant need for her presence and ‘some’, his inability to compromise and to explore the world was so natural for any child in this situation but was a frustrating read.
Initially I liked seeing the story through Jack's eyes, and I couldn't fault the way that Donoghue crafted his voice. He was the perfect five-year old narrator. A real five-year old and not a fiction five-year old. Kids at this age are only ever aware of the world in relation to themselves and how they are affected and I think this was clear throughout 'Room'. Unfortunately it did grow tiresome. I wanted Jack to be a better character, to be more understanding of his mother, but he couldn't be. Not due to poor writing but because of the limitations of his age. To make him more adult in regard to emotion would have been to make an unrealistic narrator, and this would have been more annoying.
Five year old children throw temper tantrums and scream when they don't get their way, and they can't see past the end of their noses. It was just that I didn't want to read about this. I wanted to read about 'Ma'. The unnamed young mother who had suffered atrocities and come out the other side, only to be held back by her young son during recovery. While I think the earlier chapters gave us a fantastic insight into Ma through Jack, I felt that this all became lost in the last third of the novel. Again, we spent more time listening to Jack discover new places and things, and Ma was lost to us. Yet she was the one that I could relate to more readily.
If asked whether I would recommend this novel, I would say that yes, I would tell people to read it because it really is well crafted and unique. However, as I made that recommendation I would probably pull a face that sort of says, “But you may not like it…”
While I have utter respect for the crafting of this novel, I would say that the narration and the repetition began to wear thin by the halfway point and, while I was compelled to finish, I didn't particularly enjoy the experience.
Ultimately I felt that there was too little going on after the initial couple of 'books' with many themes and events being repeated throughout. While I understand that this was necessary in the first 'book' to establish the routine and cycle of Room, I wanted the outside to bring changes. Essentially it just became a padded list of events, places and objects that were new experiences for Jack. I guess this was the only real conclusion that could really follow Room.
One of my favourite aspects of ‘Room’ was the brilliance of the emotion in the novel. As a reader I was drawn into the emotion of the characters from the start. I felt as drained by Room as Ma in the beginning, with mounting desperation for Jack to be mentally ready for an escape. When this happens, and Jack is face to face with rescue but cannot talk or explain himself, I was so frustrated! I was so worried that Old Nick would get to Ma first, or that they wouldn’t find her even if Nick was caught. That is a sign of great writing.
This emotion however turned to frustration throughout the remainder of the novel, as Ma sought to return to as much a normal life as she could but was held back by Jack who needed longer to adjust. His constant need for her presence and ‘some’, his inability to compromise and to explore the world was so natural for any child in this situation but was a frustrating read.
Initially I liked seeing the story through Jack's eyes, and I couldn't fault the way that Donoghue crafted his voice. He was the perfect five-year old narrator. A real five-year old and not a fiction five-year old. Kids at this age are only ever aware of the world in relation to themselves and how they are affected and I think this was clear throughout 'Room'. Unfortunately it did grow tiresome. I wanted Jack to be a better character, to be more understanding of his mother, but he couldn't be. Not due to poor writing but because of the limitations of his age. To make him more adult in regard to emotion would have been to make an unrealistic narrator, and this would have been more annoying.
Five year old children throw temper tantrums and scream when they don't get their way, and they can't see past the end of their noses. It was just that I didn't want to read about this. I wanted to read about 'Ma'. The unnamed young mother who had suffered atrocities and come out the other side, only to be held back by her young son during recovery. While I think the earlier chapters gave us a fantastic insight into Ma through Jack, I felt that this all became lost in the last third of the novel. Again, we spent more time listening to Jack discover new places and things, and Ma was lost to us. Yet she was the one that I could relate to more readily.
If asked whether I would recommend this novel, I would say that yes, I would tell people to read it because it really is well crafted and unique. However, as I made that recommendation I would probably pull a face that sort of says, “But you may not like it…”