Room Reviewed

I would write an eloquent review about how much I loved the book Room by Emma Donoghue, except I'm too tired from staying up the last two nights reading it. I can't remember the last time I couldn't put a book down like this. (Okay, fine, it was last fall and it was about vampires and werewolves and, yes, I did run to Target at 10 pm to buy Eclipse. Go team Jacob.) The thing about Room is that it's a bumping-into-walls-while-reading, answering-everything-your-kids-ask-with-mmmhmmm-for-two-days type of book, but it's also incredible literature. I rarely buy hardcover books, but I bought Room because Newsweek gave it such a good review that I couldn't resist.

The "room" from the title is an 11 by 11 foot shed where 5-year-old Jack and his mom live. To Jack, it's home, but, when the book starts, his mother has been imprisoned there for eleven years by her kidnapper. Donoghue perfectly captures a 5-year-old's voice with Jack's narration and your heart will go out to his mother, bravely trying to raise a child and calmly answer his never-ending questions, even in their extraordinarily challenging circumstances.

I strongly recommend reading Room. Just don't start it at night if you have to get up early the next day.