Room

Room
Emma Donoghue
321 pages
Publisher: Back Bay Books
Source: Target
★★★★☆

You can read the Goodreads summary here.

Jack was born in Room and has never left.  When he turns five Ma finally tells him that there's more to the world than Room and the TV and, after seven years of her captivity, comes up with a plan to escape.

This was a pretty powerful book, told from a unique point of view - that of five year old Jack.  It took some getting used to reading Jack's vernacular, but I think that added to the story.  What was a heinous crime to Ma and the rest of the world was just a way of life to Jack and when he finally saw the outside world, he was overwhelmed.  The great part of this novel is we get to see it all like he saw it.  I'm glad Donoghue decided to tell the story from Jack's point of view, I think it made the story something special and not just another crime novel.  

I also enjoyed the character of Ma.  She easily could have been portrayed as a perfect hero in the novel, but I was actually glad to see her written with flaws, especially towards the end of the book when we got to see her more as a human being than as Ma.

Overall I really enjoyed this book and I'm glad to have finally experienced it.  I didn't feel like I was just reading it, I felt like I was experiencing it because of all the emotions it provoked.