Room by Emma Donague

"A truly disturbing novel that makes you appreciate your freedom but it also left a sick feeling in my stomach at the end."

2 Stars

Pros: The juxtaposition between how Jack sees Room and how Ma does is interesting in its simplicity and horror. 

Cons: The premise is extremely disturbing, so much so that I almost stopped reading/A story told from the point of view of a 5 year old can get really annoying, really fast, language wise. 

Full Review: 

All Jack knows is Room. He knows Bed, Tub, Sink, Table, Chair and Wardrobe, where he sleeps. He knows all the words to all the books that he owns and he loves playing with his Ma. She is the only thing he knows and understands. She and Room make up his entire world. 

But there's a much more sinister side to it all. Jack also knows that by 9 pm he has to be in Wardrobe or Old Nick will see him when the door goes "beep beep" and he comes into Room. Jack always stays in Wardrobe because that's what Ma tells him to do. He can hear Ma and Old Nick talking and then Jack counts how many times the bed squeaks and then everything goes quiet. 

It quickly becomes obvious that something is incredibly wrong here. And realization of the horrible truth is not all that long in coming. Ma is a prisoner, kidnapped by Old Nick and is being kept in a shed in his backyard. Even though she and Jack play Scream every day, where they yell and shout as loud as they possibly can in hopes that someone will hear, no one ever does. Jack doesn't know what Scream is for, he just knows it's a fun game where he can be as loud as he wants. But to Ma, it's a desperate measure in a horrible situation. 

The situation does end up changing, not too surprisingly, but that leads to a whole new slew of problems that Ma and Jack have to face. It's all extremely overwhelming for Jack, Ma and for the reader as well. 

I think I had such a hard time with this book because it was just too horrifying and creepy a scenario to wrap my mind around. Being a prisoner to a man, but then having his baby and loving that baby...I understand it's not the child's fault, but it just...it was too difficult of a pill for me to swallow. And I may sound heartless in saying that but it's how I felt. 

The premise was intriguing enough for me to keep reading but it was sickening all at once. This was a hard book to read simply because of the mere idea of something like this happening but the most horrible part of it all is that stuff like this DOES happen, and that's what makes the book so unsettling. I would be hard pressed to recommend this book to anyone as it was just far too disturbing and yes, it'll stay with me for a long, long time, but not in a good way.