A claustrophobic novel that establishes an entire universe within its one room boundaries.
Book: Room
Author: Emma Donoghue
Publication Date: September 13th, 2010
Rating: 4.5/5
Stories sell. Headlines that appear on the news often appear as the subjects of award-winning films and documentaries within the next two years. We eat up these absorbing stories of human triumph in the face of adversity, especially those faces are the manicured visages of our favorite actors. Why else would films like Wild and 127 Hours do so well? They take real stories of humans challenging nature and themselves, and set them to visuals that allows us to go on that horrifically enlightening journey with them. Books, however, have a little more freedom. Instead of directly transcribing the experience, they can instead draw upon the story and weave their own characters into it. That's exactly what Emma Donoghue has done with Room, a novel based upon a headline about a young woman and her five-year-old son being held captive in a shed.
The story is told from the perspective of five-year-old Jack, who knows nothing except the eponymous room he shares with his mother, whom he lovingly refers to as Ma. He believes the rest of the world exists inside the room's small television set. Jack has spent the five years of his life playing with his few toys, "exercising" with his mother, bathing, eating, and sleeping in the room's wardrobe. The only other person he knows is Old Nick: the man who captured Ma, who brings them food and necessities, and occasionally lingers to have forced sex with Ma. Jack doesn't know he is the child of Old Nick, who kidnapped and raped Ma when she was only nineteen-years-old. One day, Ma convinces him to pretend he is deathly ill, hoping they can somehow escape captivity. Jack reluctantly plays along and pretends to be dead so that Old Nick will remove him from the room; he manages to jump out of the truck and find help. With Ma and Jack finally freed from their prison, Ma must pick up the shards of her past life and Jack, who has never been in the real world before, has to adjust to life outside his four, familiar walls.
The description above may seem like it contains spoilers, but Jack makes his grand escape a little less than halfway through the book. Donoghue doesn't let her source material limit her: she tackles the concept of recovery and adapting head on. She explores every aspect of Jack's healing process, as well as Ma's, who is justifiably shaken by her seven years in captivity. The story never shies away from the details of their experiences: the yelling, the interviews, the mental hospitals. However, Donoghue never tries to dramatize their experience. It's not a Lifetime movie: it's reality.
What really keeps the story grounded is having it written from Jack's point-of-view. Donoghue has an excellent grasp on how five-year-olds perceive things (Jack has specific names for his possessions, is easily confused by his own feelings, and believes most things he's told), as well as how a five-year-old under such unusual circumstances might behave once returning to society. The handling of Jack and his reactions is so adroit that it occasionally reads like a textbook on traumatic stress; fortunately, Jack's perspective keeps the story grounded by its characters.
Room is a beautiful book, detailing--as described above--human triumph in the face of adversity. Ma overcomes her intensely traumatizing experience in order to return to society and raise her son the way she had always hoped to. Jack eventually moves past his ordeal and begins to grapple with his separation issues, as well as his inexplicable longing to return to the familiar Room. The intriguing story, coupled with Donoghue's spellbinding prose, make this a deeply moving, unforgettable read.
0 comments:
Post a Comment