Room-Emma Donahue

Room
Emma Donahue
Little, Brown, Sep 13 2010, $24.99
ISBN: 9780316098335

Seven years ago when Ma was a nineteen years old college student and Jack was minus years old, she was kidnapped by Old Nick. Jack went to bed in the wardrobe as a four years old child but has awakened magically as a five years old boy. The wardrobe is his safe zone inside the Room that has been his entire world since he came into being. It is the wardrobe of their soundproof cell that his ingenious mom places him in when Old Nick comes to see her.

Whereas Room is Jack’s home and world; Room is his Ma’s jail cell. Ma has invented a place for her beloved son to flourish, but she realizes he (and she needs) more. The time has come for her and her brave child to escape, but Ma is not ready for what awaits them on the outside if they succeed; her goal as it has been for seven years remains liberty from Old Nick.

This incredible thriller will hook the audience from the beginning as young innocent Jack tells the tale of his and his Ma’s life. Character driven with a strong sense of pending doom whether they escape or not, few novels told by children since perhaps The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold will match the intensity readers will feel as naïve even for a five years old child Jack tells his saga.

Harriet Klausner