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AUGUST 22, 2011
Room ~ Emma Donoghue
***** comments by CarolK
Hats off to Emma Donoghue for taking a literary risk with Room. Room is just that, an 11x11, four walled prison, home to the characters, Ma and Jack, locked up and held by a man called Old Nick. Jack, just five when we meet him, was born here and knows no other world than that of Room and like any young child depends on Ma for his every need. Inspired by the story of Elisabeth Fritzl, the Australian woman imprisoned by her father for 24 years in a basement, who bears several children, Donoghue conjures up a world you wish was fantasy, but is all too real. Donoghue could not get the Fritzl case out her mind and the thought of Felix Fritzl who was five when finally released, haunted her. The exploration of what Felix would think emerging into a world he didn't know existed spurred Donoghue to write the character Jack in a story told mostly from his point of view. She likens it to writing a good historical novel, using many of the same techniques.
Initially this plot sounds depressing but under the skilled hands of Emma Donoghue, nothing could be further from the truth. Room is a powerful, beautifully told story of a mother's love, a child's dependence and trust, a small world that somehow is huge and filled with hope. Jack and Ma's world, day by day is spent in a calculated routine. Ma realizes that at some point she must let Jack know that there is a real Outside but for the now she surrounds him with all she can in Room; games, exercise, learning and most of all language.
It took me a long time to pick up Room. I was worried that I would be sickened by the plot and that it would be a voyeuristic study of a depraved rapist at the expense of the two imprisoned characters. Though there were parts of the story that did make me uneasy, Donoghue never took me down that path. Room is so much more than just a kidnapping story. There is much to think about here. Jack's voice, both inner and outer, are so well written by Donoghue, that his story will remain with me for some time.
Emma Donoghue won several awards for Room, including the Hughes & Hughes Irish Novel of the Year, Writers’ Trust Fiction Prize, Canada. I can see why.
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