Room by Emma Donoghue

Room is the story of Jack, five, and his mother who have been living in a single room for as long as Jack can remember (and in fact he was born in Room, and his mother has been imprisoned there for seven years.) Although Jack and his mother are confined in an 11×11 room, Jack is actually pretty happy. He knows nothing else and his mother has gone to a lot of trouble to make his life as fulfilling as possible under the circumstances.

The novel is told from Jack’s point of view and that took some getting used to. However, that was one of the best parts of the book, for me. Once I got used to the five-year old narrator, I thought the book had great potential. I was was really enjoying it. But at some point it just came unglued. I was expecting a lot from this book because of it’s being included on the short list for the Man Booker prize, and I just didn’t feel like it delivered.

But first, let me say what I did like about the book. I thought it was well written and the story was engaging, the characters were likable and realistic. The story had the potential to be depressing but it wasn’t. It was really quite amazing to read about how hard Jack’s mother had worked to make his life as normal as she possibly could.

What I didn’t like about the book was the second half. It ruined the whole book for me. I can’t really say why without spoilers so I’ll just say that the tone of the book changed. Instead of being a literary piece is became more main stream. It became just another “issue” book, just another book written about the bad things that happen to people without really saying anything worthwhile. It was just really disappointing.

I know lots of people have enjoyed this book and didn’t find anything lacking in the second half so I’m probably just being picky. And, that being said, I did still enjoy the book – I’m just not sure it deserved that Booker nomination.