Room
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- $9.99
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- $9.99
Publisher Description
Shortlisted for the Man Booker and Orange prizes
NOW A MAJOR MOTION PICTURE
"This is a truly remarkable novel." New York Times Book Review
It's Jack's birthday, and he's excited about turning five. Jack lives with his Ma in Room, which has a locked door and a skylight, and measures 11 feet by 11 feet. He loves watching TV, and the cartoon characters he calls friends, but he knows that nothing he sees on screen is truly real - only him, Ma and the things in Room.
Until the day Ma admits that there's a world outside . . .
Told in Jack's voice, Room is the story of a mother and son whose love lets them survive the impossible. Unsentimental and sometimes funny, devastating yet uplifting, Room is a novel like no other.
PRAISE FOR ROOM
"I've never read a more heart-burstingly, gut wrenchingly compassionate novel . . . As for sweet, bright, funny Jack, I wanted to scoop him up out of the novel and never let him go" Daily Mail
"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 Traveller's Wife
"Room is one of the most profoundly affecting books I've read in a long time . . ." John Boyne
APPLE BOOKS REVIEW
Five-year-old Jack knows nothing beyond the small garden shed he shares with his “Ma”, who is determined to cultivate her child’s imagination and intelligence even as she shields him from the terrifying truths of their imprisonment. Emma Donoghue's spot-on dialogue and inspired plot choices make Jack and Ma—and their heartbreakingly beautiful relationship—unforgettable. Told entirely from Jack's perspective, Room is a hugely original thriller that’s been made into a buzz-getting movie starring Brie Larson. Clear your schedule before you start this fast-paced, atmospheric and supremely riveting book.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
At the start of Donoghue's powerful new novel, narrator Jack and his mother, who was kidnapped seven years earlier when she was a 19-year-old college student, celebrate his fifth birthday. They live in a tiny, 11-foot-square soundproofed cell in a converted shed in the kidnapper's yard. The sociopath, whom Jack has dubbed Old Nick, visits at night, grudgingly doling out food and supplies. Seen entirely through Jack's eyes and childlike perceptions, the developments in this novel there are enough plot twists to provide a dramatic arc of breathtaking suspense are astonishing. Ma, as Jack calls her, proves to be resilient and resourceful, creating exercise games, makeshift toys, and reading and math lessons to fill their days. And while Donoghue (Slammerkin) brilliantly portrays the psyche of a child raised in captivity, the story's intensity cranks up dramatically when, halfway through the novel and after a nail-biting escape attempt, Jack is introduced to the outside world. While there have been several true-life stories of women and children held captive, little has been written about the pain of re-entry, and Donoghue's bravado in investigating that potentially terrifying transformation grants the novel a frightening resonance that will keep readers rapt.
Customer Reviews
Room
So well written from the child's point of view.
Room - read this book!
I don't mind admitting that I struggled initially with the concept of this book and was unsure, after reading the preview, whether to continue - as a mother I found the subject matter quite disturbing. However, I'm really glad I bought the book and read it - it's so beautifully written and the little boys narration is brilliant. Enjoy!
Room
Wow, what a book! I can't wait to read something else by this author, what a talent.