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Kemper's Reviews > Room
Room
by
by
“Hey, there Nick.�
“Uh, hello.�
“Nice day for working in the yard, isn’t it?�
“Uh, yeah. Real nice.�
“Say, that is a helluva shed you’re building there.�
“It's nothing special.�
“Oh, don’t be modest, Nick. It’s a real corker. It’s even got a skylight for some natural light. What are you going to be doing in there? A little artwork?�
“Just, you know, projects�. and stuff.�
“You got a central AC unit for it? Plus, I see you put some furniture and a fridge in there. If you were married, I’d think you were building a man cave to get away from the old-ball-and-chain, but since you’re single, I guess you’re just planning on spending a lot of time in that shed.�
“Uh, yeah. Gonna be out here all the time. Doing…stuff.�
“And just look at that steel door with the alarm pad. You’re aren’t going to have to worry about any kids breaking into that.�
“Uh, yeah. I was worried about kids stealing my�.stuff.�
“Yep. No way, they’re getting in there. Didn’t I see you sheeting it in some kind of metal under the siding? Hell, Nick, you could probably lock someone in there like a prison cell. Ha ha!�
“Uh, right. That’s a …funny idea.�
“Well, see ya later, Nick. Swing by for a beer sometime.�
7 Years Later
“Well, officer, he was kind of quiet. Always kept to himself. Still can’t believe what he did in that shed. Who could have known that’s what he was doing out there?�
****
This seriously disturbing story is narrated by Jack and starts on his fifth birthday. Jack and his Ma share Room. He thinks of every object in Room like Rug or Plant or Meltdy Spoon as a friend to be treasured, and he and Ma spend every day doing their chores and playing games like Scream where they yell as loudly as they can. Jack loves his Ma and Room, but he’s scared of Old Nick who comes some nights and stays with Ma in Bed while Jack sleeps in Wardrobe.
Jack’s Ma blows his mind by telling him that she used to live Outside, and that Old Nick stole her and brought her to Room seven years ago. She has a plan for them to get out of Room, but Jack can’t believe that the things he’s seen on the fuzzy TV screen for years are real. How can there be anything but him and Ma and Room?
The premise for this book sounds like something that a Stephen King or Dean Koontz would have come up with, and it certainly works as a kind of horror novel as Jack’s innocent depiction of life inside Room shows Ma to be the victim of a horrible crime that she is trying to shield her son from. What makes this so chilling and heartbreaking is Jack’s view of the Room as the entire world, and he has so adapted to it that the very idea of real people existing outside of it is something akin to blasphemy to him.
The writing here is exceptional, and Emma Donoghue makes what could be an over-the-top plot into a character based and all too plausible story. It’s creepy and chilling and terrible and intriguing and kind of sweet. Mostly, it's all kinds of messed up.
Perhaps the most horrible thing about Room is that Old Nick doesn’t believe in providing books because there’s plenty of TV to watch, and poor Ma is stuck rereading a few paperbacks like Twilight and The DaVinci Code over and over.
It’s a fate worse than death�.
“Uh, hello.�
“Nice day for working in the yard, isn’t it?�
“Uh, yeah. Real nice.�
“Say, that is a helluva shed you’re building there.�
“It's nothing special.�
“Oh, don’t be modest, Nick. It’s a real corker. It’s even got a skylight for some natural light. What are you going to be doing in there? A little artwork?�
“Just, you know, projects�. and stuff.�
“You got a central AC unit for it? Plus, I see you put some furniture and a fridge in there. If you were married, I’d think you were building a man cave to get away from the old-ball-and-chain, but since you’re single, I guess you’re just planning on spending a lot of time in that shed.�
“Uh, yeah. Gonna be out here all the time. Doing…stuff.�
“And just look at that steel door with the alarm pad. You’re aren’t going to have to worry about any kids breaking into that.�
“Uh, yeah. I was worried about kids stealing my�.stuff.�
“Yep. No way, they’re getting in there. Didn’t I see you sheeting it in some kind of metal under the siding? Hell, Nick, you could probably lock someone in there like a prison cell. Ha ha!�
“Uh, right. That’s a …funny idea.�
“Well, see ya later, Nick. Swing by for a beer sometime.�
7 Years Later
“Well, officer, he was kind of quiet. Always kept to himself. Still can’t believe what he did in that shed. Who could have known that’s what he was doing out there?�
****
This seriously disturbing story is narrated by Jack and starts on his fifth birthday. Jack and his Ma share Room. He thinks of every object in Room like Rug or Plant or Meltdy Spoon as a friend to be treasured, and he and Ma spend every day doing their chores and playing games like Scream where they yell as loudly as they can. Jack loves his Ma and Room, but he’s scared of Old Nick who comes some nights and stays with Ma in Bed while Jack sleeps in Wardrobe.
Jack’s Ma blows his mind by telling him that she used to live Outside, and that Old Nick stole her and brought her to Room seven years ago. She has a plan for them to get out of Room, but Jack can’t believe that the things he’s seen on the fuzzy TV screen for years are real. How can there be anything but him and Ma and Room?
The premise for this book sounds like something that a Stephen King or Dean Koontz would have come up with, and it certainly works as a kind of horror novel as Jack’s innocent depiction of life inside Room shows Ma to be the victim of a horrible crime that she is trying to shield her son from. What makes this so chilling and heartbreaking is Jack’s view of the Room as the entire world, and he has so adapted to it that the very idea of real people existing outside of it is something akin to blasphemy to him.
The writing here is exceptional, and Emma Donoghue makes what could be an over-the-top plot into a character based and all too plausible story. It’s creepy and chilling and terrible and intriguing and kind of sweet. Mostly, it's all kinds of messed up.
Perhaps the most horrible thing about Room is that Old Nick doesn’t believe in providing books because there’s plenty of TV to watch, and poor Ma is stuck rereading a few paperbacks like Twilight and The DaVinci Code over and over.
It’s a fate worse than death�.
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Reading Progress
January 6, 2011
– Shelved
Started Reading
May 25, 2011
–
Finished Reading
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by
James
(new)
May 27, 2011 07:38AM
Another one that's waiting on the shelf...
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James wrote: "Another one that's waiting on the shelf..."Be sure you've got something cheerful to read afterwards.
poor Ma is stuck rereading a few paperbacks like Twilight and The DaVinci Code over and over. I would open a vein with a rusty nail.
Amanda wrote: " I would open a vein with a rusty nail."Or run head first into a wall over and over again.
Amanda wrote: " poor Ma is stuck rereading a few paperbacks like Twilight and The DaVinci Code over and over. I would open a vein with a rusty nail."
Would rip up the pages and make a lovely collage out of it. Less violent.
Ahh Twilight-the death of a thousand paper cuts.
I was right with you until you said "The writing here is exceptional": I think that weak and inconsistent writing was what let a potentially good book slip into a poor one. Oh well, each to their own.
I haven't read this book yet but am considering reading it in a book club. I love your synopsis of this book, especially your last comment about reading Twilight and The DaVinci Code being a fate worse than death. So true!
hahahahs true wtf were the neighbours thinking? I was expecting the kid to run out and nothing much in sight, but they were in a populated neighborhood??!!
I actually liked the film more than I liked the book, which is a rarity for me. I've watched it twice and read the book once. It was a surprise since I've been consistently disappointed in film these days.
Don't mean to cross you, Kemper but at the end of the book it is mentioned that there are tall, like several-feet-tall hedges around Old Nick's backyard which would have stopped the neighbours from peeking in, and he had the door and AC unit well hidden - Door was against the wall and the AC was hidden by a bush. But again, this was a point I had been wondering about when I started on the book :)
Ajinkya wrote: "Don't mean to cross you, Kemper but at the end of the book it is mentioned that there are tall, like several-feet-tall hedges around Old Nick's backyard which would have stopped the neighbours from..."I'm not nitpicking the book. It's a joke based on how often bizarre crimes happen in ordinary neighborhoods and no one notices. Like this:
Oh my goodness! A fate worse than death, INDEED!
i think this is the best review i have read about this book. i was trying to find a good one to comment back to for my grade 11 English class. I saw the little talking part at the start and i was instantly hooked. i thought it was a really good little start to a really well written review. i thought the start was so good because it would honestly be something that really would happen in a situation like this. No one looks at the person living next door to them as a kidnapper, you would see them make small talk and maybe invite them over for a drink. then one day the cops are next door asking what they were like? if you noticed anything different about them? it would be so weird to think that you've been living next to someone so awful doing something so cruel. i would question if thee was anything i could have done or little things that i thought were weird but just let slip under the rug. its so weird to think that someone who would treat a human so awful can just blend into society so well.
