Jack is five. He lives with his Ma. They live in a single, locked room. Jack doesn't know their is an outside world and every thing he sees on telly is purely fiction. That is until Ma explains theirs more to it than Room. She decides now is the time to escape.
This is probably one of the only books that I have ever walked into an (cough) expensive book shop and picked it up and brought straight away, never seen the book before or even heard of it, it already was sold. Granted it wasn't paid for by me, but I think this was definitely worth the money.
If I had to say the best book of 2010 (I read it last november) this would be it, if I was to recommend a fantastic book to read (and I have recommended it several times) this would be it. Such a good book. Plus it won the Man Booker Prize.
Room is inspired by Josef Fritzl's incarceration of a prisoner to a small room. The first half takes place entirely within the 12-foot-square room in which a young woman has spent her last seven years since being abducted aged 19. Raped repeatedly, she now has a five-year-old boy, Jack, and it is with his voice that Donoghue tells their story. This book is written so well from his perspective and that of one that has never seen the outside world. Objects are named as if they were people not things, and he only has a very simple understanding of everything that is going on. His mum does her best to nurture, and teach Jack everything she can to keep them both sane.
The second half is based on their escape and their rehabilitation into an outside world. One that is almost forgotten and having to be relearnt. Again Emma captures the learnings of a small child very well, you feel for him and you feel like your blinking into the world with him and having to relearn everything as he does.
Throughout the novel you really feel for Jack and his mum and you feel as if you are experiencing it all with them. Its defiantly a book I could not put down (and remembering being up way later than I should have been to read this) and as soon as I finished I told everyone that they had to read it. Such a beautiful story written in such a poignant and beautiful way.
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