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)

Captivating, thoughtful, and awesome

Would you consider the audio edition of Room to be better than the print version?

Having not read the print version, I was taken away by the story, from minute one, and had no preconceived ideas about the characters or the scenes.

What did you like best about this story?

Seeing such a horrific situation through the eyes of an innocent and blissfully ignorant child was a unique experience. It amazes me that someone thought of this, and also makes me think differently about the world from time to time.
The mother's unravelling, and the boy's journey to enlightenment was captivating.

What does the narrators bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

The innocence of the boy really shone through in the narration, and I can imagine that the "child like speech" patterns would have been tough to read through ( like reading a southern belle accent in gone with the wind....

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

Yes! I listened to this book when I was driving to work and home... It was tough to get out of the car when I arrived at my destination, and I found myself looking forward to the long drives!

Any additional comments?

ROOM is a book I refer people to regularly... It still haunts me and is one I will listen to again and again.

One of the best books I've read.

I was lucky enough to read Room and The Help back to back. Not similar books, but two of the best I've ever read. Easily. I read them months ago and just realized I forgot to review.

Room is unbelievable. I don't want to ruin ANY of the plot. So just want to say, this is a must read. Rare sort of novel.

A surprise!

What did you love best about Room?

This one started out slowly for me because by the time I downloaded it, I'd forgotten what the story was about. What enchanted me from beginning to end was the narrator's reading of the story,--could this have been a 5-year-old? Certainly sounded like it. Now that we, the reading public, have several "kidnapping" stories under our belts, the story is not implausible and was pretty fascinating listening. I highly recommend it.

What does the narrators bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

The narrator actually made this story for me as told by a 5-year-old. I had to go online to find out who the narrator was, I was that charmed by her. I was devastated to learn that the narrator had recently died in childbirth. I felt very close to her after listening to the book.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

Who has that kind of time?

The story is good....

So many reviews here seemed to dwell on the experience of the mom who was kidnapped and locked up in this room for so long, but that was far from the point. The point was the child's experience, that he could have thought that the room was the whole world, and could have experienced a relatively rich existence there. Then there was the rescue, and the child being confronted with the world at large and learning to live in it. That is why the story is told from his point of view, rather than his mom's.

If this audible book suffers, it is once again from the narration. At the beginning, I did not know if I would be able to listen to the voice of the child. It was really grating at first, although by the end it was fine. The voices of the other characters were off, though. The mom was a monotonous middle aged voice, and the grandmother ... well, she was the mother of a woman in her twenties, yet she had this vibrating voice that few people even of age 95 actually have.

When oh when will these producers start coming up with narration that doesn't hurt the story?

It did, however, hold my attention.

very good book - just wished for an epilogue

I loved this book! Truely couldn't "put it down". The boy's voice bothered me at first, but once you get into the book it's just Jack. I can't imagine his voice any other way now. To the person who said the first 10 minutes were interesting, but just couldn't read on and just ended up skipping around - what a shame! I loved Jack's perspective and all his naive questions. (I have young children, and I guess it made me think about how they must view things sometimes.) Anyway, stick with the book, it really opens up and gets so good! I usually think epilogues are predictable and cheesy, but if I had one complaint about this book, it is that I really think it needed one. Please don't take the opinions of people who didn't even read the whole book. It's a shame you can even write a review on something you didn't read.

"Room" by Emma Donoghue

The down side of listening to "Room" by Emma Donoghue is that it is nearly impossible to find a book as good to follow it! I consider this audio book to be my best listen to date. I thought the narration of the child's voice was really believable. The situation was similar to several true stories we have heard on the news of kidnapping and imprisonment. Listening to the audio sample of "Room", I was a little unsure if I would like it. I had tried to listen to the book "Me and Emma" by Elizabeth Flock and the narration of the child's voice in it was so annoying to me that I just could not get into the book. I gave it several tries. not wanting to waste my precious credit. When I finished "Room" I immediately went back to the beginning and listened a second time. A very well spent credit for sure!!!!

Unforgetable!

Some books come along that leave you thinking long after the last word, The Room is one of them. This book like, The Lovely Bones, is haunting and intriguing. I thought the narration by the 5 year old boy would grow old but you are sucked into this world of "Ma" and Jack. The nurturing role of motherhood is expressed so well in this story, especially as you learn what "Ma" has coped with. You will learn the difference of what is safe and secure for an adult and a child. Emma D. did an excellent job describing the psychological issues involved in the story. You will be fascinated, horrified, endeared, appreciative and much more as you listen to young Jack share his world. To the last page you will remember his voice and the message of the power of survival. Beautiful, remarkable and unforgetable...top 10 audios for me. Excellent narration.

Wonderful!

At first I was distracted by the childish narration and struggled for the first few minutes. But after awhile I got it and relished the different perspective of a child whose entire world is living in a garden shed. There is so much to rave about. So heartfelt to see the world from the eyes of a child who has experienced the worst and best from humanity.

Interesting plot idea, ensemble narration, no

Very unique and imaginative plot, well written. The ensemble narration works well when it's just Ma and Jack, and even Old Nick, but when other characters are added, the volume is inconsistent and the tone jarring.

I understand the negative reviews here, HOWEVER

I listened to the sample audio after reading the complaints about the narrator's voice and yes, I hesitated to purchase but I did anyway and I'm glad I did. Yep, the child voice is annoying...at first. then you get used to it (at least, I did). I can imagine it was a struggle for producers of this novel to put it in audio form with the story being told from a 5yr old boy. casting would have been a nightmare. So I think they managed to do the best they could with it; including the actor/narrator. Anyway, about the book itself: I don't regret the purchase however there were a few plot holes that bugged me and I was frustrated with wanting to like the mom because I understood she was coming from a very traumatic place and did ok by Jack considering but she seemed to only use her son as a coping mechanism. This made the story exhausting at times with my mind at war with itself so often. Overall though, good (not amazing) book. :)