A Review of The Book Room by Emma Donoghue

Emma Donoghue’s mesmerizing novel ‘Room’ is a captivating and inventive story about sexual assault and motherhood. The book is built on young 5 year old boy named Jack, where he is held captive in a small room with his mother. In the beginning of the book we notice that ‘Room’ is like a small jail cell. Jack tends to call his mother ‘Ma’ in the book.

It certainly is a category of books I fancy and I believe that the books main task is to examine the experiences of what women can undergo. As we enter the book, we are instantly given these restrictions, we only hear from Jack’s perspective. What I thoroughly appreciated in the beginning was the instant drama we were slammed with, in our sense of confusion over why this mother and child are trapped in this place. Donoghue accurately displays the actions of what a mother would do in that situation by creating a regime for Jack, including, exercises, drawing, bed etc.

Donoghue eases these limits by the exciting day-to-day activities that Jack does. Donoghue adds a sense of what a real parent would do outside of the room they are trapped in through her characters by Ma giving Jack rules such as you can watch TV, but not too much, because “it rots our brains”.

An eye catching piece throughout most of the book was that Jack is the narrator of the story. I find it very appealing to listen to. Donoghue exploits basic language to arouse the understanding that Jack is a child learning and we are in his world, learning with him. Jack surprisingly, doesn’t feel like he is locked away and has nowhere to go because ‘Room’ is all he has ever known, the circumstances that he lives in, is what he was brought thinking that this is how things are meant to be in life.

It is a different story with Ma, Ma was taken (abducted) when she was a teenager by a man given the name by Ma called “Old Nick”. She was Locked away for an extensive amount of time and was raped, which led to the birth of Jack. But Jack has grown up not knowing the knowledge of the brutalities in which he has been exposed to. Ma was willing to sacrifice herself so Jack wouldn’t be a victim. This contrast constructs the extensive abyss and complications in Room. Room is both paradise and hell.

Jack says the line “but I’m a me and Ma as well.” Which expresses his complete attachment to his mother. In my opinion, I believe that in this part of the book, Donoghue exacerbates the cruelties of childhood as well as adulthood through the confronting scenes with Ma and Jack.

In the beginning of the novel, we see that Ma breast-feeds her son, It is on his birthday, she tries to convince him he’s old enough now but he adores the loving affiliation to his mother’s body as much as he enjoys the routines and objects of Room. There’s a sense of instability for the reader here. Room is a sanctuary for Jack, but where does it draw the line?, the boundaries amidst mother and son? Why is she still breast feeding when he is 5? I believe In my opinion that is wrong.

Writing about someone else’s sufferings is justly wrong in my opinion. I’m not saying that you can’t be creative or imaginative, I think that the issue emerges when the author does not know how to appropriate the suffering of that person simply because they have not experienced it in their life. So the author is adopting stereotypes in that situation not actual true facts (which might not be intentional). Particular articles mostly focus on the victim’s captor and their horrible experiences. By contrast, Donoghue expands our sympathy and knowledge for Ma and Jack, by constructing characters that are relevant, tough and probably exceedingly of all…human. Ma and Jack are predominantly established not by their torment but by their bravery to survive it.

Donoghue goes that extra mile with ‘Room’ and guides her novel to an compelling end that gives the reader and the characters a comfortable close. In my opinion, this is a truly memorable novel, it presents an entirely unique way to talk about devotion and sacrifices for others, as well as giving us an extensive view on the nature in what we live in.