Room

A Novel

By: Emma Donoghue

Narrated by: Michal Friedman, Ellen Archer, Robert Petkoff, Suzanne Toren

Length: 10 hrs and 45 mins

Publisher's summary

To five-year-old Jack, Room is the entire world. It is where he was born and grew up; it's where he lives with his Ma as they learn and read and eat and sleep and play. At night, his Ma shuts him safely in the wardrobe, where he is meant to be asleep when Old Nick visits.

Room is home to Jack, but to Ma, it is the prison where Old Nick has held her captive for seven years. Through determination, ingenuity, and fierce motherly love, Ma has created a life for Jack. But she knows it's not enough...not for her or for him. She devises a bold escape plan, one that relies on her young son's bravery and a lot of luck. What she does not realize is just how unprepared she is for the plan to actually work.

Told entirely in the language of the energetic, pragmatic five-year-old Jack, Room is a celebration of resilience and the limitless bond between parent and child, a brilliantly executed novel about what it means to journey from one world to another.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying reference material will be available in your My Library section along with the audio.

©2010 Emma Donoghue (P)2010 Hachette Audio

Critic reviews

"The award-winning best seller that became one of the most talked about and memorable novels of the decade, Room is "utterly gripping...a heart-stopping novel" (San Francisco Chronicle).

"Emma Donoghue's writing is superb alchemy, changing innocence into horror and horror into tenderness. Room is a book to read in one sitting. When it's over you look up: the world looks the same but you are somehow different and that feeling lingers for days." (Audrey Niffenegger, author of The Time Traveler's Wife and Her Fearful Symmetry)

"This is a truly memorable novel, one that can be read through myriad lenses - psychological, sociological, political. It presents an utterly unique way to talk about love, all the while giving us a fresh, expansive eye on the world in which we live." ( The New York Times Book Review)

Really good until . . . [contains spoilers]

This was an easy listen and a very interesting story. There were 2 possibilities for approaching this story, one from the perspective of a young mother who has been kidnapped, held hostage, raped. The other option is the perspective of a 5 year old who has never known anything other than an 11 x 11 room, who only knows the rest of the world as something you see on TV, whose mother does the best she can under the circumstances to educate him, keep him occupied, and protect him from the realities of their incarceration. I note the objections to the narration, and that's a personal thing (either you like the voice or you don't), but the fact that Jack is full of questions makes so much sense given the context. Please make sure you listen to the sample so you'll know how you'll react to this 5 year old's voice for 10 hours!

The only part of the story that had me befuddled -- and nearly ruined things for me -- was Ma's attempted suicide. Why would someone who believes her son is her whole world, who has done everything in his first five years to protect him, why would Ma suddenly attempt suicide? It just didn't make sense to me. Murder-suicide maybe (or just try to take Jack's life?) but not suicide. Not much was going on in the story so possibly it seemed like the suicide attempt was just a way to spice things up. The "slowness" others complain about, well, I think that's all part of the context. How do you transition back to civilization after years and years alone in a room? It takes time.

If you listen to this book as a character study you'll like it a lot. If you want something with a high energy, fast moving plot, find another book.

Thought provoking.

This story was well written and performed. The characters are developed well. It added interest telling the story from the child’s point of view.
It is not a story for children. The entire plot is an adult issue. And there are some violence and language issues.
I would recommend it for adults. It is thought provoking. Hopefully, it will make some people question how they react to news stories. Maybe some people will start choosing not to watch shows that sensationalize such stories because of the impact they have on people’s lives. If we don’t watch the shows, they won’t make them. People have a right to their privacy.

hmm.

the mothers voice really bothered me at the beginning. the little boys voice was amazing and expressive. wonderful story.

Not as bad as the reviews made it seem!

I'll be honest, I only briefly scanned the reviews, but I kept seeing one star because listening to an adult try to sound like a kid was so annoying. I can't exactly argue that, but it didn't actually bother me for long.
The story itself was recommended to me because I'm a big suspense fan. Have to say, it really only had one scene I would consider suspenseful, and it wasn't necessarily thrilling.
Although it's truly a very sad and pretty grotesque plot, so many aspects were endearing. Jack was a great character and his mom was very real.. Loving to her son but also trying to pick up where she left off in the world as a regular 19 year old.
All in all, I enjoyed this quick listen and am looking forward to the movie

Voices

The child's voice does not appeal to me.
The mother's voice is soothing but it seems too old for the part. and too soft.
The child's voice just gets on my nerves.

Haunting

I am an early childhood educator by profession. I was raised in a rather unorthodox manner by a single mother who chose to raise her five children in an old farmhouse in a small Vermont town. What was so compelling about this story was NOT the horror of the mother being captive; it was her creativity and resilience in creating a world for Jack within the room. The narration is unbelievably good. You will never forget Jack and his mom.

A Great Read

By having the book written from the child's viewpoint enables you to see this story of survival from a different perspective. I think it would be almost unbearable to read the story from the mother's viewpoint simply because of her own grief and anger and hate. Without all of Jack's questions, you really would not believe the story because that is what kids do - they ask a million questions. It is truly a story of the love of a mother for her child.

Pretty good and certainly unique

A unique POV for a horrifying situation, proving that we can get used to anything.

Most people seemed to despise the child's voice, but personally I thought it was pretty charming. The voice I couldn't stand was the mother's. She was flat and unemotional for the amount of trauma she had supposedly been through and sounded far too old / intelligent for the role.

Powerful

Very well written...how do you write such a sad story and make it uplifting? Tell it through the eyes of Jack. I enjoyed it all, from start to finish.

Unexpectedly Amazing!

This was an amazing read! At first I didn't like that it was mostly told from Jacks perspective but now I wouldn't have wanted it any other way! Great story, great ending, throughly entertaining!! Loved that there was no profanity too :)