Book 2 Review: Room- Emma Donoghue

"It has layers, like an onion"

Room, by Emma Donoghue, is a novel that will grab you by the feels and not let go until about 3 days after you have finished it. It is an emotionally challenging novel, but extremely rewarding. Although some might find it contains some difficult themes, it is not hard to read and you are easily drawn in by Donoghue’s incredible writing. This novel will be very tough for the rest of the 50 books out of my 52 books in 52 weeks challenge to follow.
 

Room is written from the perspective of a five year old boy, Jack, who lives in ‘Room’ with his Ma. Room is Jack’s world and only other person except his ma who is a part of his world is Old Nick. As a reader you realise that Jack and his mother are confined to Room, kept hostage by Old Nick. On Jack's birthday his world starts to rapidly expand when his mother explains that there is a whole world outside of Room and they start plotting an escape attempt.

 

Room by Emma Donoghue Book Cover

 

 

Room is a hard book to review, not simply because early on there is a big plot development that I don't want to spoil, but also because it is the type of book that people tell you "It's awesome, it's about stuff, just read it okay, read it." I now understand why. 
 

It is a cliché to talk about how great things are 'through a child's eyes'. Many books attempt to portray situations through the perspective of a child and ultimately end up sounding contrived or overly simplistic. Jack's image of the world is so unique and so beautiful that each line in 'Room' is interesting, especially when he describes everyday situations in a creative way.

 

Some of my favourite quotes from Jack :

 

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Likes the quote "People are locked up in all sorts of ways."

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“I remember manners, that's when people are scared to make other persons mad.”  

“Vitamins are medicine for not getting sick and going back to Heaven yet.”
"Is there a word for adults when they aren't parents?" Steppa laughs. "Folks with other things to do?”  

Seeing the world through the eyes of Jack made me consider when the last time was that I saw something that I had never even conceived of before. That doesn't mean seeing a new TV show that I hadn't heard of before or trying a new sport or having a turkey burger for the first time. When is the last time I saw something I never even imagined existed previously? I certainly can't think of anything, and I doubt many people with access to all the glories of the interwebs have either. Jack experiences so many ordinary things and situations that are so mundane they are almost invisible to us and his reactions on seeing them for the first time (like stairs for example) are fantastic.

 

'Room' also makes us consider how the way we perceive the world is a result of our surroundings, and our upbringing. It is incredible how different someone's understanding of the same 'reality' can vary so much from another. Although someone's understanding of 'reality' is so different it is not any less true, and is in fact, even more valuable. The novel can also be seen as a modern interpretation of Plato's Cave , and how we perceive reality. I could say a lot more on that but you didn't sign up for a philosophy degree, just a book review. Safe to say, the book has lots of layers, like an onion.

 

 

The Good Bits:
Can I just say- all of it?
 
Although the book contains implications of kidnapping and sexual assault, the book is overwhelmingly positive. The way Jack views the world, and describes his world to the reader, is  positive and optimistic.

I really enjoyed how as a reader you gradually realise other plot points as Donoghue cleverly lets out little hints, or signs that Jack misses but as a reader you pick up on.

The ending was fantastic. Leaves you with a cathartic sense of conclusion and brings the novel full circle. No need for a wishy-washy epilogue here.

The Not So Good Bits:
The Novel has implications of kidnapping and sexual assault (only implied). If this is a trigger, probably best to give this book a miss.

Rating:
Five out of Five scaredybrave boys

The Next book:
"A Season in Hell" by Robert R Fowler, a true story of the author's capture in West Africa by Al Qaeda. Am half way through at the moment.

 



Also, Emma Donoghue did a Q and A session on 'Room' for Goodreads. Once you have read the novel head over there and see how she describes some of her decisions as a writer- its really interesting

 

Book 1 Review: The Husband's Secret- Liane Moriarty

"Not just a bunch of middle aged women talking
about their husbands"

My first book of my 52 books in 52 weeks challenge is The Husband's Secret By Liane Moriarty. The novel tracks the impact of one tragic instant through the lives of three families irrevocably tied together from that moment on. In the novel, the protagonist Celia Fitzpatrick’s understanding of her comfortable and structured world is thrown into turmoil when she discovers a letter written from her husband to be opened upon his death. The letter unearths a horrible secret from his past which not only affects Celia’s family, but two other families from their small Sydney Catholic school community. It has been an easy novel to start my book reviews with and was overall an enjoyable, but not overly challenging read.

At the beginning of this novel I wasn’t glued to every word and wasn't desperate to read on. However Moriarty’s storytelling has a way of drawing you in. I was unimpressed and skeptical even after the big reveal of the letter (I called it a holiday read in my last post)
yet by the end I was easily caught up as the pace of the novel sped towards a much anticipated climax.

At the beginning, the novel mostly felt like a bunch of middle aged women sitting around talking about their husbands and children.

(Yep, this is what I imagined)

However I soon realised this novel is about much more. It raises serious questions of whether justice for past crimes can ever be achieved. The novel makes you question if one person’s life can be equal to that of another and whether a lifetime of good deeds ever absolve one from the crimes of the past. It shows how hard it is to truly know those you are closest to and how easily the sense of stability and normality in our lives can disintegrate. 

On a less serious note, this novel was set in Sydney’s North, my hometown. It is quite a refreshing change to read about a character rushing down a street that I drive down daily.

(This one to be precise)

Great novels can transport you anywhere in the world with a few carefully selected adjectives. It is a different experience entirely being transported by Moriarty, only ten minutes up the road.

This made me think. I realised that novels don’t have to be placed in historically significant times or exotic locations to make an impact. In fact I would contend it is harder to impress an audience when your novel is centered on the everyday and the mundane; the picking up and dropping off of children, the amount of butter left in your fridge, the Easter Hat Parade at the local school. Moriarty does an excellent job of showing how emotional turmoil and life changing revelations occur in everyday life, in the least glamorous of places and that people have to cope with these changes all while trying to maintain a semblance of normality.  

Good bits

It was a good reminder that I should read more Australian literature. I’ll be making sure to include more Australian books in my reading list this year.

The plot is interesting and unexpected. As it progresses Moriarty builds a palpable sense of foreboding as the plot progresses as you feel that sooner or later past crimes must be paid for.

It had an epilogue! Not many serious novels have epilogues, perhaps because its not cool among writer folk. It was nice to have a more solid sense of conclusion that is often missing from novels what leave you guessing at the end.

Not so good bits
I felt like I would have enjoyed this more if I was a mother, or perhaps a Catholic. Some of the biggest themes in the novel centre on children and the concept of ‘sin’. Having neither children nor ever sinned I couldn’t possibly relate.

Thanks Clueless

Joking aside it did feel like the book was tailored to a specific audience that I wasn't a part of and although this feeling abated as the novel progressed, it never quite went away.

The novel was not life changing for me. It didn’t force me to open my eyes to anything new or unexpected. I did end up liking the novel more than I expected to but overall it felt a bit ‘soft’ for me.
 

It had an epilogue. Yeah I did say it was one of the good bits but it did again leave me feeling the ending was a bit ‘soft’, as if the author wanted to give us all a happy ending rather than a kick in the guts to finish. Perhaps a kick in the guts is what all the cool writers are doing these days.

Quotes that made me think

"What can you say or do to make up for a horrible incident? The words ‘I’m sorry’ felt like an insult. You said ‘I’m sorry’ when you bumped against someone’s supermarket trolley. There needed to be bigger words."

Rating

Three and a Half out of Five well-buttered hot cross buns 

The next book
Book number two will be 'Room' by Emma Donoghue as suggested by Cat. It has been sitting ignored halfway down the list of books on my Kindle for about a year now so time to get reading! 

Like the sound of the book? Buy it here on Amazon or at your local bookstore. 

Please let me know what you thought of my review below please. Its my first time doing this since a year five book report so I am feeling rusty!  Agree with me? Think I'm spouting a load of rubbish? Let me know :)