From the Bookshelf of Challenge: 50 Books…

Room

Emma Donoghue

Start date: November 1, 2015

Finish date: December 1, 2015

Discussion: Group Reads

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What Members Thought

Nov 30, 2010 Liz B rated it it was amazing

Shelves: alltimefavorites, contemporaryrealisticfiction, ebook

This is my favorite book of 2010. I've read it twice already and will certainly read it again. When I read the review in the New York Times, I thought it sounded a bit too precious. I picked it up in the bookstore and read a few pages and was immediately captivated by Jack's voice.

It avoids sentimentality completely. It is so suspenseful in parts that I ended up having to re-read them because I sped through so quickly. And it manages to be about a mother and son relationship where the mother is ...more

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Jan 28, 2011 Cardi rated it it was amazing

I would actually like to give this book 4.5 stars

I think the reason this novel works so well is the POV used. Writing from the little boy's perspective you truly feel you're walking several brutal miles in his little shoes and that's what makes this read the "experience" I kept seeing it referred to as in critic's reviews.
The little boy does seem to have language skills well beyond his years, but this is nicely acknowledged within the text.

When I heard the plot of the novel I was worried it migh ...more

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Jan 29, 2011 Michelle rated it it was ok

Shelves: book-club-2

I teetered between giving this one or two stars. What the hell is wrong with me? I went to a book club meeting and was the only person criticizing it. I feel like a book snob because everybody's read or reading this book and everybody likes it. It was just okay.

The story is told from a five-year-old's perspective. This was normally okay with me. And I guess made it more digestible because to read it from the mom's perspective (the squeaking bed parts) would have been terrible. But sometimes I ju I teetered between giving this one or two stars. What the hell is wrong with me? I went to a book club meeting and was the only person criticizing it. I feel like a book snob because everybody's read or reading this book and everybody likes it. It was just okay.

The story is told from a five-year-old's perspective. This was normally okay with me. And I guess made it more digestible because to read it from the mom's perspective (the squeaking bed parts) would have been terrible. But sometimes I just felt like, This is gimmicky. Especially because sometimes the kid seemed so smart--his mom taught him as well as she could, he watched television, he could mimic very well--but sometimes the way he talked and thought felt like, This doesn't jibe with his obvious intelligence level.

So much of this book felt unrealistic. And I realize that might be ridiculous for me to say, because who am I to say how this situation should play out? Maybe the author did a lot of research on similar cases, child development, etc. **SPOILERS** But why didn't the mom try to figure out the combination to get out of the shed? That wasn't well-explained (or ever explained? Did I miss this?). Okay, Old Nick loses his job...which drives the mother to think, What? That he'll kill them? Or just abandon them? I'm not so sure, but it seems like he's done quite a lot to keep them, and to keep them alive, so I'm not sure where her fear comes from. Her fear is so great that she devises a scheme for her five-year-old to pretend he's dead, roll him up in a rug, then beg Old Nick not look at him but to bury him far away. We really think this is going to work?! Well, it does. And she also depends on her five-year-old to escape from the rug in the back of a truck and find help. You know, the five-year-old that has never lived outside a shed. Magically, this works. I will give you this--that was some crazy suspense. I was pretty certain Old Nick would go back and kill the mother and was on the edge of my seat. After a really boring first half of the book where I felt like, Omigod, we're never getting out of this room, are we? Oh, I'm sorry--we're never getting out of Room. Where Rug and Table live. I understand the capitalization but this still drove me bananas.

Anyhoodle, the second half of the book we're out of the shed! Somehow, this woman, who at 19 was kidnapped, has raised a smart, nice, disciplined kid. She has gotten them out of the shed (or she got him to get them out). She gets one bit of criticism, criticism that I think she expected, and attempts to commit suicide. What? That doesn't jibe either. And why are the people in the hospital letting her control her own meds anyway? That doesn't happen. So the five-year-old, Jack, lives with Grandma for a while, Mom gets better, and they go to live in an apartment together. For real? Because if I was kidnapped and kept hostage for, what, seven years, I would be living with my momma forever. With some crazy security system.

I can't even. ...more

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Oct 21, 2010 lisa rated it it was amazing

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Oct 13, 2010 MacDuff rated it it was amazing

Shelves: 2010

I read this on the plane from Miami, so it's not one you linger over for months. It's haunting and dramatic and beautiful, but it left me with many questions. ...more

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Dec 08, 2010 Melanie rated it it was amazing

Wow. I didn't want to like something like this, but the writing is fabulous and the characters suck you right in (especially the character of Jack - loved that little boy). ...more

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Jun 03, 2011 Jen rated it it was amazing

Shelves: 2011

I don't remember the last time i rushed through a book so fast! a great "What if" book. ...more

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Sep 25, 2010 Jamie rated it liked it

Shelves: books-read, mymap

It was a little tough to read this book from a 5 year old's perspective but it was definitely interesting from that point of view. The subject is difficult but overall it was an ok book. ...more

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