Room by Emma Donoghue

Please use this sub-forum to discuss any fiction books or series that do not fit into one of the other categories. If the fiction book fits into one the other categories, please use that category instead.
Forum rules
Authors and publishers are not able to post replies in the review topics.
Techforums123
Posts: 21
Joined: 18 May 2011, 03:41
Bookshelf Size: 0

Post by Techforums123 »

Thanks for the post, Its really Good :wink:
Rollins.marsha
Posts: 9
Joined: 15 May 2011, 16:45
Bookshelf Size: 0

Post by Rollins.marsha »

I think it's interesting how different the experience of Room was for mom and Jack. Room was a hell on earth for mom, yet it was the family home for Jack. Towards the end I think it's interesting how Mom tells Jack that he needs to think about the way she feels about Room. She has to consider his perspective. He has nothing but fond memories of growing up and being with his mother in that room. Maw made it that way! It's his entire history and all he has ever known. Jack needed time to come to grips with leaving something he cared a lot about.
Butterbescotch
Posts: 515
Joined: 13 Apr 2011, 08:27
Bookshelf Size: 0

Post by Butterbescotch »

Rollins.marsha wrote:I think it's interesting how different the experience of Room was for mom and Jack. Room was a hell on earth for mom, yet it was the family home for Jack. Towards the end I think it's interesting how Mom tells Jack that he needs to think about the way she feels about Room. She has to consider his perspective. He has nothing but fond memories of growing up and being with his mother in that room. Maw made it that way! It's his entire history and all he has ever known. Jack needed time to come to grips with leaving something he cared a lot about.
I agree. Can I repost my question?

Question:

Am I right to think that the reason Emma chooses Jack as a Narrator is she wants express the innocence of the child and his stunted growth, that we should be careful on what words we utter for the child might hear it wrong?
Image
User avatar
Fran
Posts: 28072
Joined: 10 Aug 2009, 12:46
Favorite Author: David Mitchell
Favorite Book: Anna Karenina
Currently Reading: Hide and Seek
Bookshelf Size: 1208
Reviewer Page: onlinebookclub.org/reviews/by-fran.html
Reading Device: B00I15SB16
fav_author_id: 3104

Post by Fran »

Butterbescotch wrote:
Rollins.marsha wrote:I think it's interesting how different the experience of Room was for mom and Jack. Room was a hell on earth for mom, yet it was the family home for Jack. Towards the end I think it's interesting how Mom tells Jack that he needs to think about the way she feels about Room. She has to consider his perspective. He has nothing but fond memories of growing up and being with his mother in that room. Maw made it that way! It's his entire history and all he has ever known. Jack needed time to come to grips with leaving something he cared a lot about.
I agree. Can I repost my question?

Question:

Am I right to think that the reason Emma chooses Jack as a Narrator is she wants express the innocence of the child and his stunted growth, that we should be careful on what words we utter for the child might hear it wrong?
I think the reason she choose Jack as narrator was mainly because she did not want to write an abuse story or a story from the point of view of the victim ... apart frm anything else that has been done! Jack isn't aware of being a victim or indeed of being in any way confined. IMO that is the real unique achievement of this book.
Butterbescotch
Posts: 515
Joined: 13 Apr 2011, 08:27
Bookshelf Size: 0

Post by Butterbescotch »

The book was a good read. I'm just wondering if her other novels is as equally good as Room.
Image
User avatar
Fran
Posts: 28072
Joined: 10 Aug 2009, 12:46
Favorite Author: David Mitchell
Favorite Book: Anna Karenina
Currently Reading: Hide and Seek
Bookshelf Size: 1208
Reviewer Page: onlinebookclub.org/reviews/by-fran.html
Reading Device: B00I15SB16
fav_author_id: 3104

Post by Fran »

Butterbescotch wrote:The book was a good read. I'm just wondering if her other novels is as equally good as Room.
Her first novel 'Slammerkin' is a very enjoyable read although completly different to Room, so different in fact that it's difficult to believe they have the same author.
It's based in 1800's England and follows the travails and adventures of a girl born in poverty & desperate to improve her situtation. I gave it a 10/10

Sorry forgot to add I've also heard good reviews of 'The Sealed Letter' from readers I would trust but as I haven't read it yet I can't endorse ... I have it on my TBR list. 
Butterbescotch
Posts: 515
Joined: 13 Apr 2011, 08:27
Bookshelf Size: 0

Post by Butterbescotch »

Fran wrote:
Butterbescotch wrote:The book was a good read. I'm just wondering if her other novels is as equally good as Room.
Her first novel 'Slammerkin' is a very enjoyable read although completly different to Room, so different in fact that it's difficult to believe they have the same author.
It's based in 1800's England and follows the travails and adventures of a girl born in poverty & desperate to improve her situtation. I gave it a 10/10

Sorry forgot to add I've also heard good reviews of 'The Sealed Letter' from readers I would trust but as I haven't read it yet I can't endorse ... I have it on my TBR list. 
Thanks for the recommendation Fran. :]
Image
User avatar
Camartinsky
Posts: 11
Joined: 09 Nov 2015, 04:40
Bookshelf Size: 0
Reviewer Page: onlinebookclub.org/reviews/by-camartinsky.html

Post by Camartinsky »

What did everyone think of this book? I see it all the time so I'm tempted to grab it next
User avatar
Fran
Posts: 28072
Joined: 10 Aug 2009, 12:46
Favorite Author: David Mitchell
Favorite Book: Anna Karenina
Currently Reading: Hide and Seek
Bookshelf Size: 1208
Reviewer Page: onlinebookclub.org/reviews/by-fran.html
Reading Device: B00I15SB16
fav_author_id: 3104

Post by Fran »

Camartinsky wrote:What did everyone think of this book? I see it all the time so I'm tempted to grab it next
Scroll back over the posts on this topic & you will get the opinion of quite a few of us :doh:
We fade away, but vivid in our eyes
A world is born again that never dies.
- My Home by Clive James
User avatar
le dodo
Posts: 3
Joined: 22 Jun 2021, 14:45
Bookshelf Size: 0

Post by le dodo »

I've worked with kindergarten kids for several years, and this 5 year old child acts quite inconsistently from the children I've taught. You'd think the author would've had someone experienced with children giving this a read-over.

Here's what I've found in the first dozen pages:

Today I'm five. I was four last night going to sleep in Wardrobe, but when I wake up in Bed in the dark I'm changed to five, abracadabra. Before that I was three, then two, then one, then zero. "Was I minus numbers?"

Someone mentioned not learning negative numbers until they were about 12. Children learn negative numbers at around 11 or 12. There is no way this 5 year old child would understand what a negative number is; their brain is simply not mature enough to understand such an abstract concept. Any child would have stopped at zero and concluded that they must have been created at that time.

I look through the slats but it's too dark.

I actually had to look up what a 'slat' is: a thin narrow flat strip especially of wood or metal.

I'm staring at us at the same time and the us in Mirror are staring back. "Not same nose."
"Well, you've got a kid nose right now."
I hold it. "Will it fall off and an adult nose grow?"


I imagine the child is thinking about how his baby teeth fall out and are replaced with adult ones, so maybe his nose works the same way? Ask any 5 year old if they think this happens. Their response will be laughter. They might say something like, "That doesn't happen. You're so silly!"

But my cells are made out of her cells so I'm kind of hers.

Children at this age have difficulty understanding what something so small as a cell is. Around the time they learned multiplication, they'd have a much better idea. Not sure how a child so young would draw such a conclusion by themselves, even if they did know.

So now she always switches off after one show, then the cells multiply again in the day and we can watch another show after dinner and grow more brains in our sleep.


Children have no idea what the word 'multiply' is until they are about 9 years old and learn to multiply. I think most children would describe the cells as 'growing'.

...

Kids' brains don't mature enough to make logical abstract conclusions until they are around 12 years old. It seems that this author hasn't taken this in account. I can only imagine how much this one mistake will continue to affect the child's thoughts and actions throughout the story.

That said, I'll continue to read this book. I'm just too engrossed in finding out what happens, even if the child is nowhere near realistic.

This wouldn't be the first book that got it wrong with children; nonetheless, it aggravates me when people write such junk without checking facts first—if you don't know the workings and mindset of a 5 year old child, don't write a book on such a child's mind! The author could have easily lent her book to a kindergarten teacher to proofread. With corrections, the book would've been much more consistent with reality.
Post Reply

Return to “Other Fiction Forum”