Book Review: Room by Emma Donoghue

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Review of Room by Emma Donoghue

Imagine your world was 11ft by 11ft, with no windows and a locked door. That the only reminders of the outside world are what you see on the TV supplied by your kidnapper.

Now add a child, one born of rape. In this case a boy of five.

How would you explain your limited world to your child? An innocent soul who offers you unconditional love.

How would they experience it?

That’s the premise of Room by Emma Donoghue.

The story is told from the child Jack’s perspective with all the self-obsessed innocence of a five-year-old. His friends are Wardrobe, Table and Dora on the TV. He has relationships with objects as he has no contact with anyone other than his mother (Ma). An insect or animal entering his world is a big deal as it’s a living thing; they immediately gain the status of ‘friend’ in Jack’s mind, and he is fascinated by them. This was a great technique to demonstrate how alone and how intensely emotionally painful Jack’s experience in Room is.

At such a young age Jack has little sympathy for his mother, he has tantrums like any normal little boy when he doesn’t get what he wants. Emma Donoghue has captured the language of a five-year -old well, but without it becoming grating on an adult ear, except when it’s within the context of the plot. Anyone who has been around small children for a day will experience empathy with both Jack and his Ma when he flies into a tantrum.

Ma adores her Jack so much that she tries to give him as normal a childhood as possible, by giving him a daily routine of exercise, regular meals, games and limited TV. Each day they Scream as loudly as they can near the glass dome in the top of Room. Jack has no idea why they do it; he just thinks it’s a game.

“When we get up we do Scream. I crash the pan lids like cymbals. Scream goes on for ages because every time I’m starting to stop Ma screeches some more, her voice is nearly disappearing. The marks on her neck are like when I’m painting with beet juice. I think the marks are Old Nick’s fingerprints.”

Ma takes care to hide Jack when Old Nick comes to visit. There is more emotional pain in what is not said than what is during these scenes. Donoghue emphasizes the horror of Ma’s situation through Jack’s simple reaction to these visits; he counts the sound of the bed springs. Sometimes he loses count when they run into hundreds.

When they finally escape to Outside Jack undergoes an equally painful readjustment. Outside scares him more than Old Nick’s visits, or the days when Ma was ‘gone’ on Bed in Room and he had to entertain himself. There are so many things and too many people in Outside for his little mind to assimilate. Ma doesn’t want to hear about Room she wants to forget it and move on, but for Jack Room was his safe place.

Room is a remarkable book. The writing is deceptively simple as it explores the bond between mother and child in extreme conditions. As it states on the cover, when you finish it you will see the world differently.

Room by Emma Donoghue was shortlisted for the Booker prize 2010.

Published by http://www.picador.com/

IBSN 978-0-330-51901-4

Price £12.99 hardback

By Pam McIlroy