FlumeAward – Room //Room// by Emma Donoghue
Four-year-old Jack has grown up in Room with only his mother for company. Each day they work through their routine complete with breakfast, play, lunch, PE, dinner… At night Jack sleeps in the wardrobe in order to stay hidden from Old Nick who comes in and makes the bed squeak. Shortly after Jack turns five, Ma makes Old Nick angry and Old Nick shuts off the power to Room. Together, Jack and Ma come up with a plan of escape – and a path to a new life. – This is a story of a woman abducted and the child from her union with her abductor. This bridges the time between when Ma and Jack are in Room and then later in the real world. The psychology in this book is fascinating – imagine your whole life lived in a small room and then discovering grass, birds, people. The teens in my library who have read this have been enthusiastic about the story. ~ Sharon Flesher-Duffy, Nashua High South
Love how it’s told from a young child’s perspective. Adults and teens like this. I highly recommend it.
Kelly B. Keene High School, 2/9/12
Upon reading the first few pages, I wasn’t sure this would be appealing. I loved it! Thought provoking when you realize the adjustmens that need to take place between Jack and his mom once they are rescued. Teens would enjoy this although I haven’t seen the book in our library – it’s always checked out!
Denise Schaaf, Goffstown Public Library
Very popular here. This would be a good adult-YA crossover title for the list.
Kathy Pearce, Oyster River HS, Durham
I really think this is a book you’ll either love or hate. I thought I was going to like this a lot more than I did. It gets 3 stars because I really wanted to know how it ended so I kept reading. I think I never found the ‘voice’ of the 5 year old protagonist believable which was the real sticking point. It was a cool concept, however, as horrific as it was. I feel as though I should say it is a rather twisted ‘beach book’. I do not find this to be a book I ever recommend to teens in particular because it is so twisted. I am not in favor of this book on the Flume list because it felt like a sensationalist book that is not, in my view, well-written.
Kathy Watson
Kimball Library, Atkinson
I liked the book for an adult audience but not sure how I feel about it for teens. I listened to it which helped so I could "hear" the voices. Many of my patrons who read it felt it was hard to get into because of the kids speaking style. It was interesting but I felt something was missing..I wanted more about the healing process and how the lived after this incident. Not a top choice for me for Flume. –Amy Inglis
I was horrified by this book, and while listening to it, found myself crying every time I delved back into it! While I believe that it has lots of teen appeal, I’d hate to deliberately put it into a teen’s hands b/c I wouldn’t want to be responsible for the emotional scarring that I feel the book would incur.
Kirsten Rundquist Corbett, Lane Memorial Library, Hampton, NH
I don’t think this book is appropriate for The Flume Award list. It is the story of a woman who is repeatedly raped and imprisoned and the son that is the product of that. They survive in a small room until she can’t stand it anymore and she uses her son to break out (by rolling him up in a carpet that she gives to the rapist to "dispose of"). It discusses the rape scenes graphically (with the boy counting how many times the rapist makes the bed squeak). Not very believable for several reasons – the young boy, who has a unique way of looking at the world from his imprisonment and deprived upbringing is portrayed as both very childish and also having adult reasoning powers. The getaway scene takes a leap of faith that this boy is going to be able to get away from the kidnapper and get help for himself and his mother when he is so young and noncommunicative. I decided not to read it with my book club students due to the graphic content. -Beth Strauss Laconia High School