menu
cover image Room

Room

Emma Donoghue, Little, Brown, $24.99 (336p) ISBN 978-0-316-09833-5

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. (Sept.)
close
Details

Reviewed on: 07/12/2010

Genre: Fiction

Compact Disc - 978-1-61113-843-6

Compact Disc - 978-1-4789-3674-9

Compact Disc - 978-1-4450-1874-4

Compact Disc - 978-1-4789-3674-9

Compact Disc - 9 pages - 978-1-60788-627-3

Compact Disc - 978-1-61113-843-6

Hardcover - 336 pages - 978-1-55468-831-9

Hardcover - 408 pages - 978-1-4448-0671-7

Hardcover - 408 pages - 978-1-4448-0671-7

Mass Market Paperbound - 384 pages - 978-0-316-22323-2

Mass Market Paperbound - 384 pages - 978-0-316-26835-6

Mass Market Paperbound - 384 pages - 978-0-316-22323-2

Mass Market Paperbound - 384 pages - 978-0-316-26835-6

Open Ebook - 432 pages - 978-1-4434-0436-5

Open Ebook - 432 pages - 978-1-4434-0436-5

Open Ebook - 408 pages - 978-2-234-07128-5

Open Ebook - 978-0-316-12911-4

Open Ebook - 220 pages - 978-0-316-17462-6

Open Ebook - 1 pages - 978-1-60941-943-1

Paperback - 352 pages - 978-0-316-09832-8

Paperback - 96 pages - 978-1-78682-176-8

Paperback - 408 pages - 978-2-234-06498-0

Paperback - 496 pages - 978-0-316-12057-9

Paperback - 96 pages - 978-1-350-41914-8

Paperback - 432 pages - 978-1-4472-0281-3

Paperback - 328 pages - 978-7-02-008829-4

Paperback - 305 pages - 978-4-06-277739-1

Paperback - 332 pages - 978-4-06-277740-7

Paperback - 352 pages - 978-0-316-39134-4

Paperback - 440 pages - 978-986-213-218-0

Paperback - 432 pages - 978-1-4472-0281-3

Paperback - 332 pages - 978-4-06-277740-7

Paperback - 352 pages - 978-0-316-39134-4

Pre-Recorded Audio Player - 978-1-60788-988-5