I like to call myself an avid reader. But I wouldn’t always come across a sensational read which would leave me all overwhelmed for days even after I finish reading. Hardly a book would excel in making a reader feel so saturated that they wouldn’t like starting off with another book immediately just because they would like to live in the story for little longer. “Room” written by Emma Donoghue is such kind of a masterpiece which I was fortunate to come across.
Can you imagine yourself being locked up in a 11 square feet room for seven long years? For most of us it would be hard to even imagine! The young lady who is one of the main two characters in this story had to go through even a lot more than that. She was snatched out of her world to be captivated for sexual assault which resulted in giving birth to a baby and raise the child all by herself inside that very cage she was a prisoner of. No matter what kind of a hellhole she was doomed to be, she starts a new life with the birth of her baby boy, Jack. She gathers up all her courage to raise him up and does a wonderful job in parenting given all the circumstances and the strangest environment they were forced to live with. Deep within her she always knew that they deserve much more and life cannot be settled here permanently just like that. So one day she comes up with a new plan to break free with the help of her young son who never knew that a world outside really exists till that moment.
The story starts when Jack turns 5. It was narrated by him, the way he sees things and the way he understands. The author really has gotten to the skin of the characters and does a marvelous job in presenting the story in a very heart touching way. The innocence, honesty and the pureness of a small child’s imagination and thought process is radiated in each word. The wrong verb conjugations (cutted, brung, knowed, etc) used here and there by the author was a good trick to constantly remind us that the story is being told by little Jack. Regardless how bitter and severe the theme of the book is the narration has its own charm on the readers. One had to be really heartless to not fall in love with Jack.
The book is divided into five sections (Presents, Unlying, Dying, After and Living). Each depicts a phase of life the little boy and his “Ma” had to go through. Its not just about being captivated or trying to escape. Its a story about all of them and so much more, all woven together and leading us to a well defined closure. The grounds of uncertainty the boy and the mother lives by makes it quite gripping and you will be hooked to the story till the last page. I’m sure the impact and the intensity of it would be greater if you could read it in one go. Alas I couldn’t! It was so compelling that I hated every moment whenever I had to put down the book and had to tend to something else. At times it made me feel that I was ignoring and abandoning this cute angel when he is all ready to share his story with us.
Readers would surely sympathize on the poor young lady who was forced to go through such a torment but the same time they would be amused by her courage, strength and intellectuals to cope up with the inevitable for so long and make the best out of her life rather than cracking up. As she later on mentions, she is not just the only one who had to go through a misery. According to her, “People are locked up in all sorts of ways”. The specificity would differ each individual’s story but ultimately we all have to deal with our own demons. The book represents all of us, who are caged in some or other way, scared and helpless, but all we need is the courage to take the chance and break free.
I highly recommend this book to everyone. Its a must read that would tickle your brain, stir up all your emotions and make you wonder about life. Ending up with a thought from little Jack.
“When I was four I thought everything in TV was just TV, then I was five and Ma unlied about lots of it being pictures of real and Outside being totally real. Now i’m Outside but it turns out lots of it isn’t real at all”
