For the past seven years she’s been held captive in a garden shed fitted with soundproofed cork, lead-lined walls, and a coded metal security door and raped repeatedly by her captor, a man she calls “Old Nick.” Two years into her abduction, “Ma” gave birth to a son, the five-year-old Jack mentioned above. Jack has never known a human being other than his mother, who he calls “Ma.” “Ma,” we come to learn, was abducted one night at age nineteen on her way to the school library. Room is narrated by a young boy, Jack, who has just “celebrated” his fifth birthday.
Room takes its basic plot from the Fritzl case as well as the cases of Jaycee Lee Dugard in California and of Natascha Kampusch and Sabine Dardenne. Three of her children, one daughter and two sons had been imprisoned with their mother for the whole of their lives (until rescue). She eventually bore him seven children and had one miscarriage. I can’t imagine anyone not knowing the basic plot of Room, but for those who don’t, the book was inspired by the true story of Elisabeth Fritzl, an Austrian woman who had been imprisoned in her father’s basement for twenty-four years, during which time he repeatedly assaulted and raped her. I really, really, really disliked Room and yes, I do have specific reasons why. I guess I’ll have to be one of the few dissenting voices. They talk about how riveting and suspenseful the book is and how they felt compelled to finish it in a single reading. Most people who review the book seem to love it. Told entirely in the language of the energetic, pragmatic five-year-old Jack, Room is a celebration of resilience and the limitless bond between parent and child, a brilliantly executed novel about what it means to journey from one world to another.Įver since its Booker nomination (it made the shortlist), Room by Irish writer Emma Donoghue has set the literary world on fire. What she does not realize is just how unprepared she is for the plan to actually work. She devises a bold escape plan, one that relies on her young son's bravery and a lot of luck. Through determination, ingenuity, and fierce motherly love, Ma has created a life for Jack. Room is home to Jack, but to Ma, it is the prison where Old Nick has held her captive for seven years. At night, his Ma shuts him safely in the wardrobe, where he is meant to be asleep when Old Nick visits. It is where he was born and grew up it's where he lives with his Ma as they learn and read and eat and sleep and play. To five-year-old Jack, Room is the entire world. Told in the inventive, funny, and poignant voice of Jack, Room is a celebration of resilience-and a powerful story of a mother and son whose love lets them survive the impossible. To five-year-old-Jack, Room is the world.
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