That Ma can engage and interest a lively, bright boy while enduring the despair of their situation turns her into a heroic figure. Once it is known that Ma doesn’t want to be there, the careful, painstakingly constructed framework of the characters’ days takes on a new tenor. Jack, interestingly, does not feel trapped that the two live in Room against his mother’s will is not something the son knows right away, and this contrast creates the major fissures and complexities in the book: Room is both a jail and a haven. Fierce claustrophobia sets in - what had seemed an odd mother-child monastery is now Rapunzel’s tower or Anne Frank’s annex or a story from the news about a stolen child living in a hidden compound. The reader learns as Jack learns, and often we learn more than he can yet grasp, but as with most books narrated by children, the gap between his understanding and ours is a territory of emotional power.Īlthough I hate to reveal plot points, some are necessary to discuss the book, and early on, the story reveals that Room is actually a prison, with a villain holding the key, and that Ma (as Jack calls his mother) is being kept against her will. Through dialogue and smartly crafted hints of eavesdropping, Donoghue fills us in on Jack’s world without heavy hands or clunky exposition. 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.

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. Jack, in this way, is a heightened version of a regular kid, bringing boundless wonder and meaning to his every pursuit.ĭonoghue navigates beautifully around these limitations. In a world where the only other companion is his mother, Bed is his friend as much as anything else. The main objects in the room are given capital letters - Rug, Bed, Wall - a wonderful choice, because to Jack, they are named beings. She has created a structured, lively regimen for him, including exercise, singing and reading. Jack seems happily ensconced in a routine that is deeply secure, in a setting where he can see his mother all day, at any moment. We know only what Jack knows, and the drama is immediate, as is our sense of disorientation over why these characters are in this place. We enter the book strongly planted within these restrictions.

Emma Donoghue’s remarkable new novel, “Room,” is built on two intense constraints: the limited point of view of the narrator, a 5-year-old boy named Jack and the confines of Jack’s physical world, an 11-by-11-foot room where he lives with his mother.

Room novel by emma donoghue