Review: Room

Title: Room
Author: Emma Donoghue
Genre: Fiction
Type: Suspense & Fiction
Release Date: 13^th September, 2010

When I was small, I only knew small things. But now I’m five, I know everything

Room, Emma Donoghue’s brilliant art of work, was long listed for the Orange Prize, 2011 and won The Commonwealth Writers’ Prize in the same year. It was also shortlisted for The Man Booker Prize and Governor General’s Awards in 2010. The story was adapted for a motion picture with the same title and released in November, 2015, starring Brie Larson and Jacob Tremblay, also nominated for four Academy Awards, with Brie Larson winning The Academy Award for Best Actress.

The story is narrated from the perspective of a five years old boy, Jack, who lives with his Maa (mother) in a Room. A small single secured room with a small kitchen, bathtub, wardrobe, bed and TV set. His Maa, Jose, was locked up from past seven years, now. To Jack, his room is his entire world, his home, where he was born and grew up. But for his Maa, the room is like a prison where she was imprisoned and sexually assaulted ever since she was seventeen years old. The only voice other than that of Maa, Jack heard was of Old Nick, the person who captured Jose and use to bring all the necessary stuffs for a living as a Sunday Treat. The Room was in his backyard, far away from the country with high security, impossible to escape. Maa, giving up all the hopes of rescue, allows Jack to believe that the rest of the world exists only on Television. She tries her best to keep Jack healthy and happy both physically and mentally, by having their own fun times and rules for everything. A week after Jack’s fifth birthday, she makes up a bold plan for their escape, one that relies on her young son’s bravery and a lot of luck.

The story is about the unconditional love a mother shares with her son, who himself is a world to her and vice-versa. The complete novel is beautifully and well divided into four parts indicating four phases of Jack’s and Jose’s life- Unlying, Dying, After and Living. How would one feel if someone is sent to an entire new world, a world which only existed for Jack in television? How would Jose feel coming back to the world where she belonged to? A brilliantly executed novel about what it means to journey from one world to another. “Room” is a novel with a gripping plot which will leave you wandering for days. Both, highly suspenseful and deeply emotional, it is a unique and touching exploration of the boundless love. It is rightly said, “Love knows no boundaries.”