This was one of my most riveting reads yet. When I picked up this book from my local library bookstore, I wasn’t all that excited by the fading and cracking cover of this book. I was peeking through the shelves looking for my newest read when I saw the book. It was all white except for the word ROOM plastered in bright scribbly letters. I was intrigued by this and picked it up to read the short excerpt on the back.

I was pleasantly surprised as I sat down and began reading this. The short wording in the beginning of the novel made it hard to understand but it was interesting as the plot thickens in the very beginning. We find out that the narrator is a five year old boy trapped in a “prison” with his mother who he calls Ma. The narration is sometimes hard to understand as we learn very early on that this boy was born in the room and has known nothing of the outside world, except bits and parts from the TV. His mother was kidnapped at a young age and help captive in this shed that has become their home. There are various household objects strewn throughout the home and the boy loving refers to them as their names. He lives in the wardrobe, that is his bedroom ever since he was little. The man who kept them there is named Old Nick. Old Nick comes every Sunday hoisting groceries and the occasional “sunday treat”. Old Nick is not permitted by Ma to touch or even look at the boy. Jack (the boy) is very malnourished, and under stimulated as we learn to find out. But with his childlike innocence, his description of the room is to be comforting and just like home. He hasn’t known anything else other than this room to be his home. He watches the television with his mom, runs around the room, jumps on the bed, takes a bath, brushes his teeth, and does everything a normal kid would. Except its in a dimly lit room, with only the skylight and lamp as light. The room is stale smelling with little room to manoeuvre in.

So far in the novel, the plot seems a bit mundane but I really loved how the author used various names for common objects to really emphasize how the boy had no friends, and this was the only life that he knew. His mom was also a really well-developed character as I sympathised with her a lot and sometimes I really couldn’t figure out how she didn’t explode with anger. Jack was not always the best behaved kid and his screaming always sent his mother over the edge.

Towards the middle of the book, I was expecting the escape from the room to be towards the end of the book, however, the escape from the room was a little bit underwhelming and the buildup was for almost nothing. It didn’t really give me any emotion that I thought I would’ve felt. The aftermath of the escape was also a bit boring as the last half of the book was the rehabilitation of Jack and his mom. I did think that it was going to be more interesting but it was mostly just repetitive. We didn’t really get to see many interactions like Jack going to school and it mainly just slowed the plot down.

I wasn’t that happy with the ending as they went back to the Room to say goodbye and really see how they lived in there for so many years. It was very anti climatic as the ending was just saying their goodbyes. I did wanted to see more raw emotion and I didn’t get that much from this book. I would recommend this book to people though because I did really like the plot and all the thought the author put into the book. The wording was really different and I liked how the narrator was Jack instead of his mom. It really gives us another perspective as to how a child would acknowledge the situation at hand. All in all, Room by Emma Donoghue is a solid 7/10 for me with great characters, but a meh plot.

Room by Emma Donoghue is available to check out from the Mission Viejo Library. It is also available to download for free from Libby.