Emma Donoghue
Rating: 8/10
Date Finished: 18/03/12
Review:
Room is narrated by a 5 year old boy, instantly attracting my attention. Books with such naive narrators are often far more interesting in my opinion; To Kill a Mockingbird and The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime are two prime examples. Having a child narrator means a lot of the deeper issues are only hinted at allowing the reader to take as much (or as little) from the book as they want, plus we often learn what is going on at the same time as our narrator does, our shock or confusion is often mirrored in them.
This is all definitely true with Room. Jack turns five at the start of the story and we learn about his daily life in Room, where he has spent his life, along with his Ma. It is slowly revealed to us the series of events that led to this, which I'm not going to spoil for you, although it is fairly transparent; I guessed the general plot within the first ten pages.
Never the less, Donoghue's story telling is superb, her insight into the mind of such an insular character is quite remarkable. Room probably would have had a higher rating if my attention span had have been a bit longer. The pace can be pretty slow at times, which is to be expected based on the book's concept, but still....I got bored!
I'd still recommend this to anyone with an attention span longer than a gnat though.
