Emma Donoghue - Room

"Room" the new novel by Emma Donoghue, is, in a word, riveting. I've never read anything quite like it. There is a part near the middle where I absolutely COULDN'T, WOULDN'T stop reading, it was that intense. It's a pleasure to give this unique novel a five-star rating. The story is told by 5 year old Jack, who is one of the most adorable, horrifying, precocious, interesting, pathetic and heartbreaking child narrators I've ever read. To see the world, even one as skewed and unreliable as Jack's, is to have one's eyes opened in a new way. Jacks discovery of the world awakens our own understanding. Jack and his "Ma" live in Room. Most of the things in the room have their noun for their names. For example, the chair is Chair and the bed is Bed. In Room there is Wardrobe where Jack sleeps when "Old Nick" visits Ma at night. I'm guessing that Donoghue got some of her ideas from several recent true abduction cases and built this fascinating and horrific scenario from them. The sense of dread builds exponentially as Jack reports on his daily life in Room. The reader, who is smarter than a 5 year old, begins to understand the gravity of the situation. The suspense builds beautifully and the pages keep turning. Donoghue masterfully creates a sense of horrible dread as well as any vintage Stephen King! She also builds a story of familial love and support that alternately both breaks and warms the reader's heart. When the scene shifts, what happens "After" is as interesting, suspenseful and touching as what happened in Room.