Adult Book of the Month
Room by Emma
Donoghue
Published by Picador in 2010
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. Ma has spent her last seven years in the room since being abducted at the age of 19. Since Jack’s birth, she has devoted herself entirely to nurturing the boy, limiting the amount of time that he spends watching TV, making sure that he gets physical exercise and protecting him from the awful reality of their situation.
Then one 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. Although Donoghue got the idea for the book from the Fritzl case, this is not a horror story but a gripping and uplifting read.
'Set to be one of the big literary hits of the year . . . More than a victim-and-survivor story, it works as a study of child development, shows the power of language and storytelling, and is a kind of sustained poem in praise of motherhood and parental love.' Observer
'Part childhood adventure story, part adult thriller, Room is above all the most vivid, radiant and beautiful expression of maternal love I have ever read. Emma Donoghue has stared into the abyss, honoured her sources and returned with the literary equivalent of a great Madonna and Child. This book will break your heart.' The Irish Times
Emma Donoghue was born in Dublin in 1969. She now lives
in Canada.
Room has been shortlisted for the 2010 Man Booker Prize.
By the same author:
Hood
Kissing the Witch
Life Mask
Slammerkin
Stir-fry
Touchy Subjects
Woman Who gave Birth to Rabbits
