| Room | |
|---|---|
| Author(s) | Emma Donoghue |
| Cover artist | Cassia Beck (photography) |
| Country | Ireland |
| Language | English |
| Genre(s) | Novel |
| Publisher | Little, Brown and Company |
| Publication date | 13 September 2010 |
| Media type | Print (hardcover and paperback) |
| Pages | 336 pp (hardback) |
| ISBN | 978-0316098335 |
Room is a 2010 novel by Irish-Canadian author Emma Donoghue. The story is told from the perspective of a five-year-boy, Jack, who is being held captive in a small room along with his mother.[1] Donoghue conceived the story after hearing about five-year-old Felix in the Fritzl case.[2]
The novel was longlisted for the 2011 Orange Prize[3] and won the 2011 Commonwealth Writers' Prize regional prize (Caribbean and Canada); was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize in 2010 and was shortlisted for the 2010 Rogers Writers' Trust Fiction Prize[4] and the 2010 Governor General's Awards.[5]
Contents |
The novel begins on the day before the fifth birthday of Jack, who lives with his Ma in Room, a small enclosed space containing a small kitchen, a bathtub, a wardrobe, a bed and a TV set. Since it is all he has ever known, Jack likes living in Room and believes that it constitutes the real world, while everything he sees on TV is completely separate and not real.
Jack and his Ma are "looked after" by Old Nick (so called for his satanic traits). He visits Room on most nights (via a door secured with an electric combination lock) to bring food and to go to bed with Ma while Jack sleeps in the wardrobe. Ma tries her best to keep Jack healthy via both physical and mental exercises, keeping a healthy diet, limiting TV watching time, and strict body and oral hygiene. She herself suffers from severe toothaches and has to take painkillers regularly.
A week after Jack's birthday, Ma learns that Old Nick has been unemployed for some months. Combined with an incident in which Jack startles Old Nick during the night, causing the latter to behave violently towards Ma and cut the power in Room for several days, this prompts her to decide that maintaining the status quo is too dangerous. She tells Jack that much of what he sees on TV is part of the real world outside Room, which Jack finds conceptually hard to believe.
Ma recalls how she was abducted from college at the age of 19, how she had another child before Jack, who died at birth, and how Old Nick broke her wrist during an unsuccessful escape attempt. She decides that she and Jack have to escape as soon as possible, and that the only workable plan is to simulate Jack's death, convince Old Nick to dispose of the wrapped body in a remote location, and on the way there have Jack escape and alert the authorities.
The plan is executed and works out well - Jack jumps off the car a few blocks away from "Room", and appeals to passersby for help, who call the police. The officers quickly realize the seriousness of the case and, despite communication problems, Jack manages to give them enough information to locate Room and free Ma. The two are taken to a psychiatric hospital, where they get medical care and Ma is reunited with her family, not entirely without conflicts. Jack however, has problems coping with the suddenly much larger world and wants to return to Room.
Meanwhile, the case has attracted much attention from the public and the mass media, making it even harder for Jack and his mother to start leading a normal life. After a television interview that ends badly, Ma suffers a mental breakdown and Jack lives with his grandmother for some days. Being separated from Ma is hard on Jack, but he slowly starts to adjust to the many changes in his life.
Eventually, Ma and Jack move into an Independent Living residence. At Jack's request, they go on a last visit to Room where Jack says goodbye to the items that used to make up his world, ending the book on a happy note.