Room, by Emma Donohue
Little, Brown and Company, New York
978-0-316-09833-5
Oliver Wendell Holmes once wrote, “Pretty much all the honest truth-telling there is in the world is done by children.” Especially by five-year-old Jack, whose world is the eleven-by-eleven Room in which he and his Ma have lived all his life. Every day Jack wakes up, eats at Table with his Meltedy Spoon, watches Television (hopefully his friend Dora), does Phys Ed with Ma, looks out Skylight, and goes to sleep in Wardrobe. Until a few days after his fifth birthday. Then Ma tries to tell him why they must live in Room. Donohue gives this dark, haunting tale a lightness that can only be achieved by a child’s perspective. Entirely original in its horrific innocence, Room will have you entirely captivated, make you thankful that your bedroom Door opens, and leave you strangely satisfied.
