I believe this book falls under the category of "Don't pick it up unless you have the time to not put it down". Which I generally don't have. Time, that is. But somehow this week I found a way to plow through this heart-stopping tale. Having a five-ish-year-old boy in my life made it difficult, nay, impossible, to make my way to the end without shedding tears, as the narrator in this story is a five-year-old little guy named Jack. The brilliance in Ms. Donoghue's writing of this tale is in telling it from Jack's perspective.
"Home" to Jack and his ma is Room. In Room we are introduced, among others, to Wardrobe, where Jack goes to sleep each night, Rug upon which Jack was born, Rocker in which Jack and his mom spend time reading the five books that are in their possession, and T.V. whose images Jack takes to be fantasy rather than a picture of the real world outside. Because you see, Room and the items in it, are Jack's world. For five years this has been his life and for seven it has been the prison of Jack's mom, abducted from her college campus when she was 19 years old.
The first half of the tale chronicles Jack's days with his mother in their closely confining quarters, and we are shown a portrayal of the unconquerable bond of love between mother and son as well as the fierce protection of parent over child. The second half of this gripping book follows Jack and Ma as they recover and reacclimate to the outside world after their daring escape from their captor.
The at-times difficult subject is tinged with the innocence of a child and through this perspective we as adults are also able to take a hard look at the media sensationalism surrounding stories such as these to which we so often succumb.
BOTTOM LINE: This book will stick with me for a long time.
