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Emma Donoghue

Room Paperback – May 18, 2011

by Emma Donoghue (Author)

4.3 31,367 ratings

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The award-winning bestseller that became one of the most talked about and memorable novels of the decade, Room is "utterly gripping...a heart-stopping novel" (San Francisco Chronicle).

Held captive for years in a small shed, a woman and her precocious young son finally gain their freedom, and the boy experiences the outside world for the first time.

To five-year-old-Jack, Room is the world. It's where he was born, it's where he and his Ma eat and sleep and play and learn. At night, his Ma shuts him safely in the wardrobe, where he is meant to be asleep when Old Nick visits.

Room is home to Jack, but to Ma it's the prison where she has been held for seven years. Through her fierce love for her son, she has created a life for him in this eleven-by-eleven-foot space. But with Jack's curiosity building alongside her own desperation, she knows that Room cannot contain either much longer.

Room is a tale at once shocking, riveting, exhilarating — a story of unconquerable love in harrowing circumstances, and of the diamond-hard bond between a mother and her child.

Print length

352 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Back Bay Books
Publication date

May 18, 2011
Dimensions

5.5 x 1 x 8.25 inches
ISBN-10

0316098329
ISBN-13

978-0316098328
Lexile measure

HL730L
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Editorial Reviews

Review

"Emma Donoghue's writing is superb alchemy, changing innocence into horror and horror into tenderness. Room is a book to read in one sitting. When it's over you look up: the world looks the same but you are somehow different and that feeling lingers for days."―Audrey Niffenegger, author of The Time Traveler's Wife and Her Fearful Symmetry

"I loved Room. Such incredible imagination, and dazzling use of language. And with all this, an entirely credible, endearing little boy. It's unlike anything I've ever read before."―Anita Shreve, author of The Pilot's Wife and A Change in Altitude

"Room is that rarest of entities, an entirely original work of art. I mean it as the highest possible praise when I tell you that I can't compare it to any other book. Suffice to say that it's potent, darkly beautiful, and revelatory."―Michael Cunningham, author of The Hours and By Nightfall

"Powerful.... Seen entirely through Jack's eyes and childlike perceptions, the developments in this novel--there are enough plot twists to provide a dramatic arc of breathtaking suspense--are astonishing.... Donoghue brilliantly portrays the psyche of a child raised in captivity...will keep readers rapt."―Publishers Weekly

"a novel so disturbing that we defy you to stop thinking about it, days later.... This blend of allegory and true crime (Donoghue has said she was influenced by several recent news stories) is beautifully served by Jack's wise but innocent voice.... And while a first-person, child-narrated tale can sometimes feel like a gimmick, the enviable trick here is that Donoghue makes you want to stay with Ma and Jack, whether they're in their own private prison or out in the so-called free world."―Sara Nelson, O Magazine

"a bravura performance"―ELLE

"Only a handful of authors have ever known how to get inside the mind of a child and then get what they know on paper. Henry James, Mark Twain, William Faulkner, and, more recently, Jean Stafford and Eric Kraft come to mind, and after that one gropes for names. But now they have company. Emma Donoghue's latest novel, Room, is narrated by a 5-year-old boy so real you could swear he was sitting right beside you.... Room is so beautifully contrived that it never once seems contrived. But be warned: once you enter, you'll be Donoghue's willing prisoner right down to the last page."―Malcolm Jones, Newsweek

"one of the most affecting and subtly profound novels of the year"―Ron Charles, The Washington Post

"a riveting, powerful novel.... Donoghue's inventive storytelling is flawless and absorbing. She has a fantastic ability to build tension in scenes where most of the action takes place in the 12-by-12 room where her central characters reside. Her writing has pulse-pounding sequences that cause the reader's eyes to race over the pages to find out what happens next.... Room is likely to haunt readers for days, if not longer. It is, hands down, one of the best books of the year."―Liz Raftery, The Boston Globe

"remarkable.... Jack's voice is one of the pure triumphs of the novel: in him, she has invented a child narrator who is one of the most engaging in years - his voice so pervasive I could hear him chatting away during the day when I wasn't reading the book. Donoghue rearranges language to evoke the sweetness of a child's learning without making him coy or overly darling; Jack is lovable simply because he is lovable.... This is a truly memorable novel, one that can be read through myriad lenses - psychological, sociological, political. It presents an utterly unique way to talk about love, all the while giving us a fresh, expansive eye on the world in which we live."

―Aimee Bender, The New York Times Book Review

About the Author

Born in Dublin in 1969, Emma Donoghue is an Irish emigrant twice over: she spent eight years in Cambridge doing a PhD in eighteenth-century literature before moving to London, Ontario, where she lives with her partner and their two children. She also migrates between genres, writing literary history, biography, stage and radio plays as well as fairy tales and short stories.

She is best known for her novels, which range from the historical (Frog Music, Slammerkin, Life Mask, Landing, The Sealed Letter) to the contemporary (Akin, Stir-Fry, Hood, Landing). Her international bestseller Room was a New York Times Best Book of 2010 and was a finalist for the Man Booker, Commonwealth, and Orange Prizes.

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Back Bay Books; Reprint edition (May 18, 2011)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 352 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0316098329
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0316098328
Lexile measure ‏ : ‎ HL730L
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 10.9 ounces
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.5 x 1 x 8.25 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #51,092 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #831 in Psychological Fiction (Books)
- #1,085 in Family Life Fiction (Books)
- #3,216 in Literary Fiction (Books)

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4.3 31,367 ratings

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Emma Donoghue

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Born in Dublin in 1969, Emma Donoghue is a writer of contemporary and historical fiction whose novels include the international bestseller "Room" (her screen adaptation was nominated for four Oscars), "Frog Music", "Slammerkin," "The Sealed Letter," "Landing," "Life Mask," "Hood," and "Stirfry." Her story collections are "Astray", "The Woman Who Gave Birth to Rabbits," "Kissing the Witch," and "Touchy Subjects." She also writes literary history, and plays for stage and radio. She lives in London, Ontario, with her partner and their two children.

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Josie Gannon

Great Read - Very Literary

Reviewed in the United States on November 28, 2010

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I have to say that this is truly an incredible read. I would honestly rank it among the types of books one would read as a college English Lit major. When I looked to see what the reviews were after reading it, I was so surprised to see that so many gave this 1's. I personally give it a 4 and here's why.

I think the author truly captured the perspective of a 5-year-old and how they would take in their world. Currently having a 5-year-old myself, I completely find the character believable.

The storyline is gripping being both heart warming and wrenching, along with bittersweet, traumatizing, beautiful, hopeful and cathartic.

Some people had difficulty with the language and I think one actually said "do five-year-olds really talk that way?" The answer: some do, especially if they have a mother who's been through an incredible emotional trauma as Jack's mother had. I think the language used was appropriate and added to the overall feel the book was trying to portray.

Another comment was that Jack went from being very simple to having deep, profound thoughts. Guess what? Kids have a tendency to be that way. I can remember a time when my nephew, all of 4-years-old, came right up to me and asked if I believed in God. I broke my answer down in very simple terms so that he could understand it, but the things he said back to me, which I could tell had not been spoon fed to him, were just amazing and I could not believe that we were having the conversation we had.

And yet another comment went on to say that the book didn't delve into the happenings enough (i.e. the abduction, Old Nick, etc.). How many 5-year-olds do you know that fully grasp the gravity of everything that goes on around them? That's part of the point. Jack doesn't realize everything. His world is Room and Ma and all the things they use to occupy their time. His mother is doing the best she can to establish a "normal" for him and explain the "good" even though they are in a truly bad - very bad - situation. The fact that Jack never really fully grasped that is amazing.

A very interesting thing I realized was that, halfway through the book, the only character's name I knew was Jack's. There are only a couple characters whose names we really learn, showing how a kid may think of the people around them (my 5-year-old just put two and two together that my first name really isn't "mom", but that's just what he calls me).

The mother in the book is an incredible character. The things she endures, the way she teaches her child to "handle" it, and the breakdowns she has along the way just make your heart hurt for her. What people have to remember is that this woman was really just a child when she was taken, and virtually a child when she had him. I think that considering the circumstances, she showed incredible strength and endurance.

I really loved the interaction Jack had with his grandmother and Steppa, especially Steppa since he's really the first positive male influence he's had. Bronwyn sounds like she needs a few more time outs, though, and Jack himself appears to need some socialization therapy. Again, mentioned in the book but not fully discussed, but who would discuss that with a child his age?

The one issue I had with the book was that the language was more in "British" English than "American" English even though the story took place in America. I understand that the author is Irish and this is probably a big reason why. I can't say I would do any better writing about something happening in Ireland. Not a huge deal - still beautifully written - just something that kind of kept me from giving it 5 stars. That, and the ending seemed a bit flat for me (however, not sure what I really expected). It definitely gave the reader closure, though, which I truly appreciate.

7 people found this helpful

Helpful

Haunting, Unique, Compelling ... You Won't Forget This Book

Reviewed in the United States on November 29, 2010

Verified Purchase

I'm sure that somewhere in your home you have a room that measures about 10×10 or 11×11.

I want you to imagine this room. Now take out all the windows (but you can have one little skylight). Put a locked door on it that cannot be open from the inside. Soundproof it. Strip it down to only the bare essentials: a bed, a hotplate, a wardrobe, a table, two chairs, a rug, a bath, a rocker. You can a TV, a few books, a few games. Get comfy. You're going to be spending quite a bit of time here. About seven years in fact.

The first few years you'll be alone except for some nightly visits from the person who has put you in this room. (Let's call him Old Nick.) Eventually these nightly visits will result in the birth of a child. Your child. Let's call him Jack. Let's call you Ma.

You now have a baby in a windowless locked room. You have to raise this child by yourself, while protecting him, as much as possible, from Old Nick.

How would you do it? How would you keep yourself from going insane? How would you provide Jack with as "normal" a life as possible, considering that the only world he has ever known is this room? And, what do you think would happen if someday, someday, you managed to get out of the room?

I believe Emma Donoghue must have went through a thought process like the one I posed to you above, and the results can be found in her brilliantly disturbing yet heartbreakingly beautiful novel ROOM. And, in a genius twist, Donoghue chose to write the novel from the point-of-view of Jack--and this makes all the difference.

By writing from 5-year-old Jack's point-of-view, we are spared the unbearable horror of Ma's experience. Instead of being a torture chamber, Room becomes not such a bad place after all. Oh sure, the things Outside that Jack sees on TV seem kind of cool, but they are just pretend. (After all, in Room Jack doesn't feel wind or see clouds or dogs or other children or animals or dirt.) But Room has plenty to keep Jack busy--from Egg Snake under the bed to Phys Ed time to a seemingly endless variation of word games that Ma has invented. And there is Sundaytreat, which might sometimes even result in chocolate!

And most of all, there is Ma. What child doesn't want a mother who is always present, attentive and creative? In Jack's view, Room is a cozy little world of two. Of course, Ma is Gone sometimes, but she always comes back eventually. And yes, Old Nick makes those nightly visits and all kinds of weird creaking sounds, but Jack just hides in the wardrobe. (Ma doesn't like Old Nick to see Jack.) Room is Jack's whole world. It is all he's ever known, and he doesn't really need anything else.

So when Ma suddenly starts "Unlying" and talking about Outside and how they might get there, you can imagine that Jack might not be all that excited. It is a lot for a 5-year-old to take in. It is like someone told you were going to go live on the moon, away from everyone who loves you. Could you go? What would happen if you made it? What would happen to your world?

I cannot even tell you how brilliant and engrossing this book is and how riveted I was by Jack's world and, behind it, the darker shadow world that Ma lived in. In some ways, ROOM reminded of Kazuo Ishiguro's Never Let Me Go--in that the protagonists live an almost dream-like existence in a nightmare world, protected and sheltered from the reality of their situation by their innocence and ignorance. Although we see Jack's story unfold in the book, within it and behind it we come to know Ma's story too, which is as horrific and nightmarish as anything I can imagine. Yet by not telling the story from Ma's point of view, Donoghue elevates ROOM to something magical and special and amazing. Yes, this book will disturb you, but it will also uplift you and show you how good can grow from evil, that love can save you, and that what is broken can be put back together again. Read it.

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Aleksandra

Sehr interessantes Buch!

Reviewed in Germany on September 1, 2023

Verified Purchase

Das Buch hat mir sehr gut gefallen. Die Geschichte ist sehr interessant, mir hat es sehr gut gefallen die Emotionen, die Gefühle, die Ängste von dem Jungen zu verfolgen.
Am Anfang passiert nicht so viel und es war nicht so spannend, aber dann könnte ich das Buch kaum aus der Hand legen!
Es war sehr interessant zu lesen, wie die zwei sich das Leben in diesem kleinen Raum gestaltet haben, und vor welchen Herausforderungen die später draußen standen, das war alles nicht so einfach. Das Thematik fand ich sehr interessant.
Ich war ein bisschen traurig als ich das Buch zu Ende gelesen habe, ich hätte sehr gerne ein zweites Teil, um zu erfahren wie es Jack und seiner Mutter weiter ging. 🙂
Ich kann das Buch nur weiterempfehlen!

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A to Z

Room - for one five year old it's their whole world...

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on November 7, 2010

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I wasn't supposed to finish this book in less than 24 hours, there were other things I should have been doing (such as sleeping), but "Room" is the kind of book that once opened demands to be read. The characters in it stay with you long after the final page is turned.

The Room of the title (capital letter intended as it is what the narrator calls it), is an eleven foot by eleven foot shed which is the whole world for one little boy, Jack, aged five and his mother. At the start of the book it is Jack's birthday, all seems normal as he is woken and given his present, but we soon realise that this is not a five year old in a normal situation by any means. As the book unfolds we learn that his 27 year old mother has been imprisoned after being kidnapped in a sound proofed shed with no windows and just a skylight for 8 whole years. In this time she has given birth and has constructed a whole universe for her son where there is no "outside" but where there are routines and rituals as the mother fights for some sort of normal, and indeed to survive.

The whole book is seen through the eyes of Jack and in his language. Having a four and a half year old myself I did wonder how much this style would grate, but actually it works really well as we as readers discover the world along with Jack himself. On the cusp of leaving infanthood behind him Jack is beginning to wonder how things work, where does the man who brings food in the night time when he is asleep in "Wardrobe"get the food from and is the world he sees on TV real or imaginary? I was totally convinced by the veracity of Jack and never doubted his dialogue or his ability to process the world. Jack is beyond an average five year old in some ways, able to read fluently; this made sense as with endless hours to occupy in a small place, only five books and next to no actual toys, his childhood is obviously far from the average and given few distractions I imagine you would focus your child's development on the few areas you can control whilst trying to make the ones you can't bearable. Though bizarre in the extreme, this childhood is punctuated by a few familiar things like "dora the explorer" that any mother would probably recognise and his behaviour is authentic in terms of representing a five year old who wants to watch TV a little longer or doesn't want to go to bed, even if bed is the place you are hidden at night so you are not seen.

All this might sound as if it makes for a depressing book - it's not at all, though it is at times horrifying it's never horrific as such. I found myself having to re-evaluate the things that surround my everyday existence, in Jack's world where items are so few and far between that they are almost personified - there's "Bed" and "Light", the limited things he knows being made proper nouns as, as far as Jack knows they are the only ones that exist. In my life there are probably too many "things"- only the bare essentials fill Room and any of them can be removed at any time, and the only way to fight back is to hide a race track you have drawn under Rug or make a toy fort out of bottles. It's a lesson in the inventiveness and resilience of the human mind.

We never see anything through Jack's mother's eyes and indeed never know her name but by seeing the way she keeps her child occupied with PhysEd of sorts and making things out of old egg shell, and by what is a very authentic mother-child relationship we come to have a fair idea of who she is. For me she became more than a victim of an abuser and was a real, though not idealised mother - she's not perfect and there are days where she is "Gone", as Jack puts it, an adult reader can interpret the images that Jack gives and work out that her absences are depression and the "screaming game" at the skylight is an attempt to escape.

Clearly the idea for this book has a basis is reality as there have been several high profile cases of late such as that of Natascha Kampusch who was kept imprisoned from the age of 10, that clearly inspired the book. I find it remarkable that the author could convince me so completely of the existence of Room and the characters, I really did want them to escape and could understand why the mum hadn't told Jack about the world outside. I felt scared for him as he started to find out more about the wider world where there are germs, hundreds of other people and far much more complexity - how would he cope if faced with a world where the amount of food and things there were was not controlled by a monster who comes at night and is named "Old Nick" - would real life measure up to life on TV that up to now was the only other reality you believe to exist? How would you cope with a world ready to label you as the "bonsai boy" or where journalists wanted to take pictures of you to share with a news hungry world?

To find out I really suggest you read this book, it's perhaps the most remarkable work of fiction I have read for some time, at times I found it disturbing but at other points it was heart warming, funny and throughout I kept turning the pages to find out what would happen next, when I ended I wanted it to go on. Though the idea of a character who doesn't know the world is bigger than it seems is not new (think "The Truman Show" or even"Bolt"), this book does have an interesting twist on that idea and the author manages to turn the horrific into the compelling, for me the book worked on every level. I highly recommend it, it could be your most unforgettable read this year as it is mine.

Note: I read this book in kindle format, it is also available in paper back and hardcover form - I haven't actually seen a physical copy of this book , but should note that in kindle there were a few typos and some odd formatting in parts, but this did not detract from the book.

12 people found this helpful

Dr. Simon Howard

REVIEW: ROOM BY EMMA DONOGHUE

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on March 19, 2014

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Room by Emma Donoghue is a novel about a mother kept in captivity in an abductor's shed. It is told from the perspective of the mother's five-year-old son, Jack, who was born in the shed and hence believes that it represents the full extent of the 'real world'. The book, which was inspired by the Josef Fritzl case, is a critically-acclaimed bestseller, and was shortlisted for the Man Booker prize in 2010. The morality of profiting from a novel inspired by someone else's suffering seems a little questionable, even if it has been done many times before.

In the humble opinion of this blogger, as opposed to the far more informed opinion of leagues of experts, Room has some serious problems. But before I describe the worst of these, I'd like admit that I found the work thoroughly engaging and enjoyed reading it despite the problems.

The largest and most frustrating problem is with the narrative voice. The novel is told from the point of view of Jack, a five-year-old with an intellect which is unusually developed in some areas, yet lacking in others. I found his voice inauthentic. At one point, he had the intellect to use the word "cells" and understand that they make up the body. At another point, his knowledge does not extend to the word "palm", leading to him referring to "inside hands" or "hand insides". While I understand that his varying levels of language are intended to be reflective of his unusual experience, this does not seem to explain these odd inconsistancies.

Similarly, there are irritating editing inconsistencies in Jack's voice, which make it seem still more inauthentic: Jack refers to 'Sunday treat', 'Sunday-treat' and 'Sundaytreat' consistently in different passages. Perhaps this inconsistency is reflective of some grander point that I'm missing, but I simply find it irritating.

My second over-arching concern is one of plausibility. We are told that the door to 'Room' is locked with a four-digit combination lock, and that Ma and Jack regularly try to crack this with Ma calling out different numbers and Jack entering them when they play 'Keypad'. On a four digit combination lock, there can be only 10,000 combinations. Assuming they play 'Keypad' systematically – and I assume that the system is the reason for Ma calling out the numbers – it seems unlikely that they wouldn't have it cracked fairly quickly.

There are also odd inconsistencies in the narrative. Perhaps these are designed to establish Jack as a somewhat unreliable narrator, but to me, they simply read as mistakes. For example, it is established early that Jack and Ma play 'Scream', in which they scream daily in the hope that a rescuer might find them. They do not do this at weekends, as their captor might hear them. It is later revealed that their captor has been unemployed for some time – so it seems odd that he hasn't heard them.

A third major source of irritation in the text is the number of laboured metaphors. I lost count of how many times there is a 'separation', presumably inserted to portend future events in the narrative. However, they are discussed in such a heavy-handed way as to be groan-worthy. Similarly, there is an over-reliance on hackneyed 'life-lessons':

"In the world I notice persons are nearly always stressed and have no time"
"Lots of the world seems to be a repeat"
"Sometimes there’s a small kid crying and the Ma of it doesn’t even hear"
The final source of annoyance is the frustratingly short chapters used. These become particularly irksome in the second half of the book, where short chapters are given which bear no relation to the preceeding or following chapters. At some points, it isn't even clear how much time has passed . Initially, I thought the author had an eye on a film adaptation, which is often easier with shorter chapters. By the end, I thought that the author had scribbled a list of events and experiences she wished to cover, and simply rattled through them.

Despite these problems, I enjoyed Room. The frustrating elements marred the reading experience somewhat, but the book's positives, by and large, outweighed the negatives. I cannot give a hearty recommendation – and, indeed, cannot begin to fathom its critical and popular success. However, it is not so bad as to be worth going out of your way to avoid it.

3 people found this helpful

India Cane

Room by Emma Donoghue

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on December 3, 2012

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Room by Emma Donoghue is the seventh of her novels, and takes a more alternative direction in terms of literary writing style and content in comparison with her other works. Room, can be described as a literary fictional drama, and was inspired by the harrowing imprisonment by Joseph Friztel upon his daughters. The novel is narrated by Jack in a noticeably childlike manner, a five year old boy who lives locked away with his "ma" in room, a purpose built shed within Old Nick's garden.

Room is a disturbing, traumatic tale of a mother who tries to raise her child after having been kidnapped at age nineteen by Old Nick, and consequently bears a child from him. Yet at the same time the relationship between Jack and "Ma" is a beautiful representation of the power of love, and the human instinct to survive and make the best of things in the most unusual situations.

Through Jack's innocent and honest narration, we learn of the true horrors they both endure within their captivity, such as "Ma's" instruction for Jack to sleep in the wardrobe during the night, due to Old Nick's arrival. Jack refers to counting how many creaks Old Nick makes, a seemingly innocent childlike statement which reveals the horrific continuous rape his mother endures daily.
Room is also a story of child development, and accentuates the necessity of reading and parental interaction upon learning and growing up. Jack appears extremely competent and literate which shocks yet pleases the reader, and his yearning to learn more about what's "in outside" highlights the inquisitiveness of children and their desire to learn new things about the world. In addition, as a reader we learn to care for Jack and almost want to protect him, especially when he becomes vulnerable towards the middle of the novel.

It could be argued that the novel is a representation of the hidden unspoken struggles within modern life, or an eye opener of the true suffering that goes on in the world. Specifically noticeable through the representation of "Ma" who remains extremely brave, level headed and composed apart from when she is "gone," in order to ensure her son has a reasonable level of sanity and somewhat normality. However later on in the novel, the cracks most certainly begin to show, highlighting the alarming mental effects that can occur after such a horrifying ordeal.

Room is most certainly an alternative read that opened my eyes to the selfishness, and unnecessary desires of material possessions within modern life. The novel highlighted to me how all you really need is an appreciation of what's around you, as well as an unconditional love for the people within your life. It could be said the novel has taught me some life lessons, and opened my eyes to what is really important, and if you are looking for a different and somewhat emotionally challenging read then Room is definitely the perfect choice.

2 people found this helpful

Louise's Reading Corner

Unique and Fabulous

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on April 19, 2011

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There are certain books which seem to be everywhere that you look, over the next few weeks I'm making an effort to get them read and reviewed so that I no longer feel as though I'm missing out. I made a great start by reading When God Was a Rabbit the same week that it was released and since then I've also read The Help, the next one down my list was Room by Emma Donoghue. This book has had me intrigues for some time but I think it's one of those books where you've got to be in the correct frame of mind to even make a start on it.

It's very difficult to review this book without giving away spoilers, however, I'm going to give it a try!

The book opens as Jack is celebrating his 5th birthday and it is through Jack's eyes that the novel is narrated. Room is all that Jack has ever known, as far as he's concerned there is nothing outside of Room other than outer space, everything he knows about is either in Room or is tv (other children, the sea, shops are all tv - him and Ma are real). Donoghue does a wonderful job in creating characters that you can believe, Jack is not street smart but he is intelligent, his relationship with Ma is difficult for most people to comprehend but then considering their situation I think it is quite believable. Ma has obviously known freedom prior to Room and this allows Donoghue to explore the two different perspectives; that of someone who has known freedom and had it taken away and that of someone who understands that the world is 11 feet square. The use of Jack to narrate the story rather than Ma was I think the right choice, it takes a bit of getting used to at the start of the novel but after a few pages you get into it and it really adds to the story.

A few years ago a book such as Room would have seemed like a complete work of fiction however, since April 2008 when Elizabeth Fritzl escaped the confines imposed on her by her father, the world is now painfully aware that tragic events such as this can happen, Donaghue has actually stated that although Room is not based on it, the Fritzl case was the inspiration for the novel. I think that Donaghue has done a brilliant job of taking a thought that the entire world had "what must it have been like for them?" and turning it into a novel as good as Room.

This is one of those books that makes you stop and think, it'll stick with you long after you finish reading it. I've found myself making reference to "Sunday treat" in conversations and expecting other people to know what I'm talking about, unsurprisingly, quite a few people give me a look of recognition.

One person found this helpful

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