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)

Beautiful

Beautiful. it took a moment to get used to it being read by a child voice but I loved it; it added character and made it seem more real. I found myself feeling what the characters were feeling at some parts especially innocent little Jack. very interesting. I recommend this!

Almost believable.

Good story. Not quite believable when the Australian accent was attempted. Given the time line presented, the accent would not have developed so strongly. That particular performance did not sound genuine.

Amazing writing!

I think the author's writing is amazing! The decision to tell the story through five year old Jack is brilliant! I was right there in the room with them! One of my favorite listens yet! Can't recommend it highly enough!

Very interesting - very good

Thoroughly enjoyed the story and the narrators - although the second male voice did not differ much for the different male roles- but not important when considering the primary narrator is the voice of a 5 year old. The subject matter of a woman held captive at first made me hesitate to download this book, but after reading it - the life she creates for her son is the story - not the captivity. That part is very well handled in the book- yes creepy and chilling for the reader but wonderfully obscured for the narrator. Great job. Looking forward to other novels by Emma Donoghue.

Captivating, but disturbing

This story is so deeply disturbing, it's like watching a train wreck - I didn't want to listen to it anymore, but I had to see how it was going to end. I wish I could get that child's voice out of my head. The story is well done, but the subjective matter is hard to become submerged in.

An enjoyable listen

Since this story is told from the point of view of 5 year old Jack, I was expecting a child's voice as the main narrator. Unfortunately, I found it very difficult to set aside the fact that Jack sounds almost exactly like Ralph Wiggum.

The book is at turns funny and sad, and is absolutely worth a credit, and worth the listening time. The thing I enjoyed most is the author's seemingly perfect translation of how a child's mind works. Sometimes, this led to a certain amount of repetitiveness, which was a little bit annoying, but probably also unavoidable.

Outside of the Ralph Wiggum voice, the narration was exceptionally well done.

It’s a small, small world!

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

Might

What did you like best about this story?

Uniqueness

What about the narrators’s performance did you like?

N/a

Who was the most memorable character of Room and why?

The little boy

Any additional comments?

It was a really unique story, though I think the author might have done a bit more research on the results of this sort of confinement on two people of their ages, since their reactions didn’t seem right.

Great Start But Weak Ending...

I was initially enthralled with the situation and the two main characters, and how they were dealing with an unbelievable situation. Unlike other reviewers, I found Jack's voice the most endearing of the readers. It was spellbinding imagining what would come of these prisoners - could there be an escape, how would the captor handle their effort to free themselves... and then the book... (like this review) seemed to lose energy... "its like a crater, a hole, where something happened...and then I close the door." Goodbye Room!

A WONDEROUS journey!

Jack & Ma will completely captivate (pun intended) you!!!
From the opening lines to the "crater-ous" ending, you will probably want to read this in one setting, I wanted to! Jack's view if the world is destroyed by plan "B" but he has decades and decades of wonderment ahead of him. Ma is so completely committed to making Jack's world normal that you'll be totally submerged in her honesty and the forthright truth that she wraps around Jack...

I highly recommend this book, but be forewarned, you might want to finish it in one setting!

Really well done, but hard to hear

Would you listen to Room again? Why?

No, it's difficult territory.

What did you like best about this story?

It forced the listener to understand different points of view.

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

I was surprised by my own desire to throttle the child! His desire to stay in and then return to the room--perfectly natural, was one of the most interesting elements of the story.