Book Review: Room: A Novel by Emma Donaghue

I've been in a bit of a book rut the past couple of weeks.  A combination of being too busy with other stuff and trying desperately to finish the awful-but-can't-just-stop-reading Outlander series kept me from my precious Kindle.  Luckily an Amazon gift card I received on Christmas made for the perfect excuse for me to shell out the bucks for Room: A Novel after it's been on my list to be read for months.

To put it simply: you must read this book.  I thought it would be tough to read an entire novel in the perspective of a super-innoccent five year old boy but the boy, Jack, has a sophistication that makes for a compelling read.  It's not unlike Mark Haddon's Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime (also a great read) in that, in addition to the story you're reading, you're also reading behind the narration to see how this boy perceives the events unfolding around him.

I don't want to spoil anything by my description but the gist of it is this: Jack is five years old and lives in Room with his mother, who had been kidnapped before he was born.  His whole world revolves around his mother and Room.  He doesn't know that there is a greater world outside of Room.

Now go download it.  You won't regret it.  I raced through it in two days and look forward to a reread for my online book club eventually.